Why I Didn't Convert to Eastern Orthodoxy

From a man now studying for the Anglican priesthood at Nashotah House.

RIP, Vatican II Catholicism (1962-2018)

I have to say that this searing article penned by a traditional Roman Catholic just.says.it.all.  Excerpts:

But, as many writers have pointed out, this pontificate has been, in spite of all the evils, a tremendous gift of Divine Providence to us. Yes, we can truly say this. For Francis has brought to a clarity past any reasonable (or unreasonable) doubt, one might even say has amplified to fever pitch, the utter bankruptcy of “Vatican II Catholicism,” with its lightweight liturgy; its unserious opposition to the world, the flesh, and the devil; and its continual compromise with the reigning forces of liberalism. . . .

Earlier I spoke of “unserious opposition to the world, the flesh, and the devil.” This is the mark of postconciliar Catholicism. Oppose the world? No, we have to dialogue with it, understand it, sympathize with it, come to terms with it, make common cause with it, recycle its garbage and adopt its slogans. Out went all the ancient prayers of the Mass that spoke of spiritual warfare, the deceits of the evil one, the need for ascetical violence against our fallen nature. Everything was smoothed over in recognition of the goodness of everything and everyone (if only they knew it).

Heavy-duty exorcisms were stripped out of the baptismal rite, where they had been since apostolic times, because of the revealed truth that mankind after the Fall is under Satan’s princedom and the citizens of heaven have to be torn away from his influence. Days of fasting and abstinence were canceled out left and right; instead of renewing ancient tradition (as the talking heads claimed), it was ignored or shrugged off as superstitious. The only direction was downhill: dispensing, simplifying, abbreviating, abolishing. . .

For a long time, I thought John Paul II and Benedict XVI were fighting the good fight against this revolutionary reinterpretation of Christianity, but after a few high-profile interreligious meetings, osculations of the Koran, book-length interviews with dialectical answers to every question, and other such indicators, I lost my enthusiasm for them as pastors, whatever I might have admired in their philosophical or theological writings (which, however you slice it, are not the primary job of a pope). It was a shock to the system to realize that these popes, though undoubtedly well intentioned, were swimming in a lake of Kool-Aid rather than the ocean of Tradition – the only difference being that they were strong enough to keep swimming and occasionally cry out to heaven for help, instead of drowning and sinking to the bottom like a millstone with a cardinal tied around its neck. . . .

The alternative is equally clear: the complex but internally consistent religion taught by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church; savored by monks and mystics; authoritatively proclaimed by the great councils; unanimously codified in hundreds of catechisms; and, above all, luminously, exultantly embodied in the great liturgical rites of East and West, the common heritage of all orthodox Christians who worship the thrice-holy Trinity in an unbroken tradition. (Bolded emphasis mine.)

This, this is Catholicism. Nothing else. Do not look for it where it cannot be found. Do not strain or break your neck trying to find a way to look at the novelties as if they were tradition, for it cannot be done. Do not strain the gnats while swallowing the camels. Hearken again to the one true Faith that missionized the globe in the Old Evangelization. . . .

Yes, the alternative is clear:

The Continuing Anglican Communion is small, and we are belittled by our neighbors and enemies who have imbibed the metrics of McDonald’s to determine the work of the Holy Spirit. We are small, but we are growing as an international communion that maintains the medium and message we have been tasked with safeguarding. Our smaller size frees us of the crushing institutional weight which hamstrings the radical conservation our world desperately needs. Further, our catholic bishops are doctrinally and sacramentally linked with the twelve chosen by Christ, and we are the blessed recipients of a reformation spirit that focuses our piety in Word and Sacrament. I am a priest in the Anglican Catholic Church, and I am happy to report that traditional Anglicans are coalescing to stand firm on the Catholic Christian foundation that survived the fall of Rome, the Black Death, and two world wars. Four of the largest continuing jurisdictions are now in full communion and are preparing for organic unity within the next two years. Churches are banding together to build schools and form alternative communities to protect and promote the next generation of saints.

At this exciting time, I ask my fellow Christian brothers to consider joining us in the fight. I do not care where you come from; I do not care if we were enemies in the past. First, traditional Anglicans, evangelical and anglo-catholic alike, must band together to stand firm against our common enemy. To my evangelical Anglican brethren, you will find that there are “high churchmen” in the Continuum, but these are men who care scrupulously about serving as a living link back to the apostles; men who believe that rules matter. Are you not better off with a brother who prefers Tract 90 and the first prayerbook of Edward VI than you are with a Montanist or progressive moved by the spirit of the age? Why not band together with reformed catholic Christians who truly value the Word? To my anglo-catholic brothers, the progressive Christians in Canterbury and Rome (and other American Anglican bodies) are simply waiting for you to die off so they can build one more temple dedicated to suburban Christianity-lite. Why stay with people who have such disdain for what you hold dear? Why not band together with catholic Christians who truly value the Eucharist?

Beyond traditional Anglicans, here in the Continuing Anglican Communion, there is a home for all Christians who want a church devoted to saying, “Enough, we will stand against the tide—especially if it kills us.” A church attempting to recapture the comprehensive catholicity of the first 1500 years of the faith. To my Evangelical brethren, I say here is place in which a reformed catholic is protected, where he knows the rules will be cherished and followed. To my Roman Catholic brethren, unhitch yourself from the papal experiment before it is too late. To all, rather than spending your time trying to evangelize the members of your elder boards and presbyteries and bishops’ conferences, why not join a church that is outward focused because it knows what it believes and why? Why not trust in a tradition that has actually survived the worst the world can throw at it? I realize this call is asking clergy and their families to make financial sacrifices, and I know some among the laity will be forced to lose prestige and the comfort of the crowd, but for those who are called to this path of righteousness—this way of the cross—please contact me, and let us continue the fight together.  (Bolded emphasis mine.)

New to the Blog Roll

Fr. William E. Mouser's blog, Faith and Gender: Five Aspects of Man.  Fr. Mouser along with his lovely wife Barbara run the International Council for Gender Studies (ICGS).  From the web site:

(ICGS) was founded in 1991 by evangelical Christians in America and Europe who are committed to speaking the historic Christian faith to Christians in the Twenty-first Century. We think that non-biblical tenets of religious feminists within the professing modern Church are not only corrosive to society at large, but also pose a threat to the spiritual vitality and integrity of the Church. Persuaded that God has spoken through the Prophets and Apostles in the Bible concerning human sexuality, the original founders and supporters of ICGS joined together to call Christians to reaffirm and to live anew the whole counsel of God as He has spoken concerning gender issues.

ICGS researches, writes, and distributes curricula designed for use in churches, home Bible studies, and the mission field.

Fr. Mouser and Mrs. Mouser gave talks on their work at the recent Clericus of the Orthodox Anglican Church - North America (OAC).  Fr. Mouser is the rector of of St. Athanasius Anglican Church in Waxahachie, Texas (OAC).  There are a number of excellent resources available at the site that hosts Fr. Bill's blog, which you can use to teach the Apostolic and Catholic view of gender issues to your parish or to refute the egalitarianism that has infected much of Realignment Anglicanism.

Azusa Pacific Okays Gay Romance (But Not Sex and Marriage)

It's officially time to excommunicate mainstream modern Evangelicalism.

For those Evangelicals who remain true, isn't it about time for you to reconsider the Catholic Faith? And I'm not talking about Rome. Far from it.

Western Rite Critic

When we argue that the days of the Orthodox Western Rite are likely numbered due in large part to hostility towards it from the greater part of the Orthodox world, this is an example of what we're talkng about.

Great Schism 2.0, or, 2018 - The Year Institutional Christendom Died

From Bishop Joseph Boyd (HCCAR):

In 2013, as a toddler convert to Eastern Orthodoxy, I saw an ugliness that I was trying hard to ignore as the reality of a “soft schism” between Hellenic and Slavic worlds settled into our daily lives in China, at the fringe of the Christian world. Both the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Moscow Patriarchate claimed China as their own, and neither one would give in to the other, concelebrate with one another, or recognize the mere presence of the other, revealing the deep division that was already solidly in place by the time I came onto the scene. I wanted Eastern Orthodoxy to be the answer for Western apostasy, to be an easy alternative to the hard process of rebuilding faithfulness and piety one generation at a time, through persecution and marginalization over many centuries. The understanding that communion could exist on paper for apologetic reasons and not in reality was deeply devistating. It was an extremely difficult time, and one that helped me understand the importance of the Anglocatholic theological inheritance, even though I had gone straight from being a lifetime Baptist to converting to Eastern Orthodoxy, and had no love for Anglicanism beforehand. I wrote extensively during this time, writing much of the deeper material that I have posted on this blog, as a way to work myself through the cognitive dissonance. Here were two churches that claimed to be the “one, true church,” and within them, there were factions that said that other weren’t really a part of that church - secretly, even if canonically compliant, ideologically and morally compromised. Trying to wade through these claims, as someone without a “horse in the race” and coming from the outside, I was overwhelmed with how much of the debate was about political loyalties, cultural affinities, and the assumption that something is good or right just because it reflects “our” identity or because it is familiar or resembles “us.” The strangeness, newness and liberating qualities of the Ancient Church in opposition to the Roman Empire was nowhere to be found, and in its place was a loyalty to a Romanitas that mistook the Roman Ecumene for the Kingdom of God. 

 Read the whole thing here.

Indeed.   In light of the recent revelations about the homosexual culture that pervades the Church of Rome and the spats between the Orthodox over turf which seem to have led to a new schism in Orthodoxy, one might ask, "Where, really, is the Catholic Church?" As my friend Bishop Boyd opines, what's happened in Rome might be the death of the institutional church. We can only hope that's true, because the instiutional Church isn't necessarily the Catholic Church. So, where is the Catholic Church? From St. Ignatius of Antioch, c. 110 AD:

...Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.

I am a priest in the Orthodox Anglican Church. Our Presiding Bishop, who "entrusted" me with the preaching of the Word and the confecting of the Sacrament, stands squarely in the succession from the apostles. The protestations of Roman Catholic and Orthodox apologists don't matter: we are the Catholic Church per the defintion of St. Ignatius, and of the two kinds of apologetes, the Orthodox ones should have a clue as to what I'm talking about, because our ecclesiology is essentially the same as theirs.

Are you finally done with your fallen institutional churches, my Roman Catholic and Orthodox friends? Are you ready to drain the swamp? If so, start talking to us miniscule Anglican Continuers. Whether you want to believe it or not, we may very well be the ones pointing the way back to Catholic authenticity. Your move.

Robert Wolfall, Presbyter, and the First Anglican Eucharist in North America, 1578

Frobisher abandoned the plan to establish a permanent settlement on Baffin Island and returned to England. It would be almost a century before an Anglican priest again celebrated the Holy Eucharist on Canadian shores, but in 1607 Robert Hunt, priest to the Jamestown settlement in Virginia, would celebrate the Holy Eucharist on the North American continent for a second time using the Book of Common Prayer.

The Collect

Eternal God, you caused a company of English explorers, when they entered this land in quest of wealth, to remember the riches of our crucified Lord in the mystery of bread and wine. Grant us, who now prosper beyond their imagining, ever to seek the true wealth which comes from above; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

A Prediction

The Dems are staking all their hopes on the midterm elections.  But whatever happens this Fall doesn't really matter.   The American republic is slowly but surely winding down, thanks largely to the culture wars waged by the liberal-left against the created order, Christian faith, tradition, our federal and state constitutions, common sense and elemental sanity.  Politics will be done by other means both here in the US and in Western Europe in the not-too-distant future, and liberal-leftism will be consigned to the dustbin of history.  You heard it here first.

Deo Vindice.

Christus imperat.

Psalm 104:15

 A Theology of Wine.

Verily

"I (a member of the Anglican Catholic Church) attended a pro-life conference in the Toronto area about 25 years ago and was speaking with a couple of significant (Roman Catholic) pro-life leaders in Canada. They were curious about the ACC. I mentioned a few things and one broke out in a great smile and said, 'you mean you're saving all the good stuff so that it will be there when we come back to our senses again.'" - Robert Mansfield

Jerycho

I just added the Jerycho web site under the Christian Music for Christian Men section of the left sidebar.

These are Polish Catholic men, showing us through their music the way out of the feminized church of the West, including -- and especially -- the Roman Catholic Church to which they belong.

Look to the East, brothers: Poland, Hungary, Russia.  It's all happening there.  Let's create a Continuing Anglican version of it.

Holy Discontentment

The future generation of Continuing Anglican Churches should have a holy discontentment with the status quo, a restlessness that does not allow us to sit in our hands and remain ineffective for this present and coming generation of unbelievers. In the past, the Continuing Anglican jurisdictions have exhibited inertia that causes them to settle in and makes them very hard to move off of dead center.

Moving forward, we need to have a desire to change, to move, to reach out, to grow, and to take the traditional Anglican Church into new dimensions of ministry. We should have the spirit of St. Paul, who said in Philippians 3:13–14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Leaders are always very goal-oriented people. We need to be goal oriented people in the Continuum.

God’s history of redemption is not finished. The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is shot through with imperfections, lost sheep are still not in the fold, needs of every sort in the world are unmet, sin infects the saints. It is unthinkable that we should be content with things the way they are in a fallen world and an imperfect Church, regardless of past schisms, unrest, and personality conflicts.

Therefore, God has been pleased to put a holy discontentment and restlessness into some of his people, and those people will very likely be the leaders of the Church in the coming decades.

The Rt. Rev. Robert Todd Giffin
Bishop Ordinary, Diocese of Mid-America, Anglican Province of America

New to the Blog Roll

When I Consider How My Light is Spent: The Crier in the Digital Wilderness Calls for a Second Catholic Revival.

FIFNA Bishops Stand Firm Against Ordination of Women

Here.  An excerpt:  a quotation from Bishop Jack Iker.

I am extremely dismayed, because the [ACNA] College of Bishops has decided to fudge the issue by allowing ‘two integrities.’ There are two practices, one is apostolic, universal, scriptural, the other is schismatic, rebellious, feminist and revolutionary. Begun by the Episcopal Church illegally and forced upon the Church.

You need the Continuum, My Lord Bishop, and the Continuum needs you. Please, let's talk. 

I Wonder If Any of Those Continuing Anglicans Who Left Us for Rome. . .

might now be wondering if they made a terrible mistake.  Again, Fr. Tarsitano:

There are two paths to follow, become the chaplaincy of the dying world or joyously receive its rebuke and disdain in the name of Christ. The Continuing Anglican Communion is the space in which men and women of faith can take up their cross and die. Join us. . . .

The Continuing Anglican Communion is small, and we are belittled by our neighbors and enemies who have imbibed the metrics of McDonald’s to determine the work of the Holy Spirit. We are small, but we are growing as an international communion that maintains the medium and message we have been tasked with safeguarding. Our smaller size frees us of the crushing institutional weight which hamstrings the radical conservation our world desperately needs. Further, our catholic bishops are doctrinally and sacramentally linked with the twelve chosen by Christ, and we are the blessed recipients of a reformation spirit that focuses our piety in Word and Sacrament. . . .  Four of the largest continuing jurisdictions are now in full communion and are preparing for organic unity within the next two years. Churches are banding together to build schools and form alternative communities to protect and promote the next generation of saints. . . .

Beyond traditional Anglicans, here in the Continuing Anglican Communion, there is a home for all Christians who want a church devoted to saying, “Enough, we will stand against the tide—especially if it kills us.” A church attempting to recapture the comprehensive catholicity of the first 1500 years of the faith. To my Evangelical brethren, I say here is place in which a reformed catholic is protected, where he knows the rules will be cherished and followed. To my Roman Catholic brethren, unhitch yourself from the papal experiment before it is too late. To all, rather than spending your time trying to evangelize the members of your elder boards and presbyteries and bishops’ conferences, why not join a church that is outward focused because it knows what it believes and why? Why not trust in a tradition that has actually survived the worst the world can throw at it? I realize this call is asking clergy and their families to make financial sacrifices, and I know some among the laity will be forced to lose prestige and the comfort of the crowd, but for those who are called to this path of righteousness—this way of the cross—please contact me, and let us continue the fight together.

Attracting Youth in the Continuing Anglican Churches

From Robert Todd Giffin, Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of Mid-America, Anglican Province of America:

Attracting Youth in the Continuing Anglican Churches

As a “youngish” Bishop in the Continuum (Anglican Province of America) at a sprightly 47 years of age, I have often pondered why I, at a much younger age, was attracted to the prayer book and the Elizabethan language and cadence found within its pages.

Often times, those of us outside of the Episcopal Church or the ACNA find ourselves constantly on the defense, answering questions as to why we are so “stuck in our ways”, “rigid”, and “uncompromising”. The list goes on and on, with many amongst us having to explain what we oppose rather than what we are attempting to proclaim! Having been baptized in the Episcopal Church, confirmed in the Episcopal Church, attended and graduated from one of its seminaries, and then served as a priest in the Episcopal Church, I am quite familiar with its particulars in every way.

I will never forget a middle aged woman visitor at Nashotah House asking me at a dinner, “So, exactly what are you continuing?”. She was extremely perplexed that I would advance the notion that the Episcopal Church was not for everyone and for all times. However, it was, in fact, a good question!

Well, for many, there is a sense that the Church is attempting to be too rational in the modern world. Many are sick of being the object of marketing campaigns. Therefore, church services that are obviously staged to be “attractive to young people,” can look silly or even offensive. Moreover, pop culture changes so quickly, that a church may be years or decades behind the times even as it tries to be cutting edge. A service that has its roots in tradition can be refreshing in comparison.

Many people desire to know God in a way that transcends an intellectual profession of faith. When young inquirers look at the lives of the saints, they see that that is possible. Most are done with fundamentalism (of liberal or conservative stripes) and want a faith that applies to real life. How can traditional Anglicanism provide this kind of faith when it looks, feels, and sounds so old?

It is precisely the repetition, the postures, the discipline and language that allows us to leave the world and enter into a different realm. A way of approaching God that is not in the common parlance or expressions, but one that has proven itself through generations of professing Christians and seekers of the authentic Jesus and the authentic early western Church.

I am reminded of a scene from the movie Emperor’s Club.

William Hundert: Excuse me?

Louis Masoudi: Huh? What me?

William Hundert: Yes, sir. What is your name?

Louis Masoudi: Uh, Louis.

William Hundert: Just Louis?

Louis Masoudi: Louis Masoudi, sir.

William Hundert: Mr. Masoudi, could you define the word "path" for me?

Louis Masoudi: Well, there are several definitions, I suppose.

William Hundert: Would "a route along which someone or something moves" be among them?

Louis Masoudi: Yeah. Oh, yeah. No. Yeah. I'm s-sorry, sir.

William Hundert: Follow the path, Mr. Masoudi. Walk where the great men before you have walked.

Louis Masoudi: Yes, sir. It's, uh - It's better for the grass.

William Hundert: It's better for you.
Indeed. Walking along the pathway of those before us IS better for us.

+RTG

Musings

In the 19th century, when the traditionalist likes of John Henry Newman and Gilbert Keith Chesterton left the Church of England for the Church of Rome, the latter was then truly a haven for Catholic tradtionalists, because all Roman Catholics were Catholic traditionalists.  There was then a certain logic for Tractarians in crossing the Tiber, though not necessarily a compelling logic, which is why most of the Tractarians stayed put and why most Anglo-Catholics since then have stayed put.

I wonder what Newman and Chesterton would have done, however, had they been able to foresee the current Episcopalianization and homosexualization of the Church of Rome, and had they been able to foresee that even a modern Pope would begin to argue that because of such things a smaller and purer church was probably in the offing, a sentiment seemingly echoed by one Fr. Dwight Longenecker:

In my opinion, the death of cultural Catholicism can’t come too soon.

From it will emerge not only a smaller and more vibrant church, but also a church that is truly multi racial and multi national…and surely that’s an important part of what it means to be Catholic.

As Fr. R.R. Tarsitano recently argued here, Continuing Anglicanism, which he has interestingly dubbed the "Continuing Anglican Communion" since it appears the old divisions are healing and the Continuum is finally coming together, provides one genuinely Catholic option for traditionalists, including those traditional Roman Catholics who find themselves increasingly marginalized.

For conservative Roman Catholics, the confidence of the John Paul II and Benedict XVI pontificates has been replaced with a growing sense of uneasiness at the power invested in the modern papacy. In both groups, compromised leaders are finding that earthly power comes through progressivism, and whether one wants to somehow hold lightning in a bottle or build temples to Jove, these two forms of polity—one whose hierarchy is based upon status and success (Evangelicalism) and the other on the longevity of an office (Roman Catholicism)—will have leaders who seek greater and greater conformity to the sources of earthly power. Conservatives will be in their way, and they will need to be crushed, sacrificed on the altars of progress. . . .

For Roman Catholics, while traditionalists fight a rearguard action, the hierarchy of their church is quickly being replaced by bishops and cardinals loyal to the progressive vision of Francis I. This story will end in tears. There are two paths to follow, become the chaplaincy of the dying world or joyously receive its rebuke and disdain in the name of Christ. The Continuing Anglican Communion is the space in which men and women of faith can take up their cross and die. Join us. . . .

The Continuing Anglican Communion is small, and we are belittled by our neighbors and enemies who have imbibed the metrics of McDonald’s to determine the work of the Holy Spirit. We are small, but we are growing as an international communion that maintains the medium and message we have been tasked with safeguarding. Our smaller size frees us of the crushing institutional weight which hamstrings the radical conservation our world desperately needs. Further, our catholic bishops are doctrinally and sacramentally linked with the twelve chosen by Christ, and we are the blessed recipients of a reformation spirit that focuses our piety in Word and Sacrament. I am a priest in the Anglican Catholic Church, and I am happy to report that traditional Anglicans are coalescing to stand firm on the Catholic Christian foundation that survived the fall of Rome, the Black Death, and two world wars. Four of the largest continuing jurisdictions are now in full communion and are preparing for organic unity within the next two years. Churches are banding together to build schools and form alternative communities to protect and promote the next generation of saints. . . .

Beyond traditional Anglicans, here in the Continuing Anglican Communion, there is a home for all Christians who want a church devoted to saying, “Enough, we will stand against the tide—especially if it kills us.” A church attempting to recapture the comprehensive catholicity of the first 1500 years of the faith. To my Evangelical brethren, I say here is place in which a reformed catholic is protected, where he knows the rules will be cherished and followed. To my Roman Catholic brethren, unhitch yourself from the papal experiment before it is too late. To all, rather than spending your time trying to evangelize the members of your elder boards and presbyteries and bishops’ conferences, why not join a church that is outward focused because it knows what it believes and why? Why not trust in a tradition that has actually survived the worst the world can throw at it? I realize this call is asking clergy and their families to make financial sacrifices, and I know some among the laity will be forced to lose prestige and the comfort of the crowd, but for those who are called to this path of righteousness—this way of the cross—please contact me, and let us continue the fight together.

These are inspiring words, and ones that make me feel proud to be working as a priest in this corner of the Lord's vineyard (the Orthodox Anglican Church) and in this branch of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  I think Newman and Chesterton, if they're looking down from heaven, find themselves in agreement with Pope Benedict XVI and Fr. Longenecker, and even with Fr. Tarsitano.  

UPDATE: There Is No ‘Biological Solution’ to the Catholic Church’s Spiritual Crisis.

Convert Orthodoxy as Media Echo Chamber

Article posted today  at The Continnum, penned by Christopher Cox, who is currently in a discernment process re: Holy Orders in the APCK.  Mr. Cox's analysis of the relationship between "Convert Orthodoxy" and today's dumbed-down mass media is most insightful.  His comments on the Orthodox Western Rite, which mirror some things I've posted here about it, are particularly important for Contining Anglicans.  Kudos, Mr. Cox, and may Our Lord bless you as you seek to discern His will.

The Continuing Anglican Communion: A Call to Arms

A hard-hitting, clarion call to orthodox Anglicanism from The Revd R.R. Tarsitano writing at The North American Anglican.  This is a must read.  An excerpt:

The churches which will survive this storm are those bodies who have access to a radical and conservative Christianity which sees the forces of modernity as soul-deadening enemies with whom no truce can be wrought. Unfortunately, for Evangelicals, the goal of cleansing their churches of what they deem “Romish practices” has created a vacuum in which Woodstock and Oprah have crept in to write their liturgies—theology is following. One need simply listen to the average Baptist’s extemporaneous prayer to hear more Dr. Phil than Edwards or Spurgeon.   For Roman Catholics, while traditionalists fight a rearguard action, the hierarchy of their church is quickly being replaced by bishops and cardinals loyal to the progressive vision of Francis I. This story will end in tears. There are two paths to follow, become the chaplaincy of the dying world or joyously receive its rebuke and disdain in the name of Christ. The Continuing Anglican Communion is the space in which men and women of faith can take up their cross and die. Join us.

Those familiar with the work of writer John O’Sullivan will know his famous “O’Sullivan Rule,” which simply states that any organization that is not essentially and doctrinally conservative will eventually become liberal. This rule explains why organizations like the Boy Scouts of America and the American Association of Retired People are becoming more and more politically progressive. Unfortunately, the same holds true for the all too human organizations we call churches. All Christian churches should be fundamentally conservative because the Bible expressly claims that the greatest revelatory moment in human history happened 2,000 years ago—we are a people always looking to the past to understand the present and the future (basically the definition of a good conservative); however, in this present age—an age in which all new things are deemed good or useful—a church must be radically committed to the conservation of the apostolic deposit or it will trade it away to be last on the firing line. A church is either progressing or conserving, there is no neutrality in the 21st-century war between evil and good.

The Continuing Anglican Communion is small, and we are belittled by our neighbors and enemies who have imbibed the metrics of McDonald’s to determine the work of the Holy Spirit. We are small, but we are growing as an international communion that maintains the medium and message we have been tasked with safeguarding. Our smaller size frees us of the crushing institutional weight which hamstrings the radical conservation our world desperately needs. Further, our catholic bishops are doctrinally and sacramentally linked with the twelve chosen by Christ, and we are the blessed recipients of a reformation spirit that focuses our piety in Word and Sacrament. I am a priest in the Anglican Catholic Church, and I am happy to report that traditional Anglicans are coalescing to stand firm on the Catholic Christian foundation that survived the fall of Rome, the Black Death, and two world wars. Four of the largest continuing jurisdictions are now in full communion and are preparing for organic unity within the next two years. Churches are banding together to build schools and form alternative communities to protect and promote the next generation of saints.

At this exciting time, I ask my fellow Christian brothers to consider joining us in the fight. I do not care where you come from; I do not care if we were enemies in the past. First, traditional Anglicans, evangelical and anglo-catholic alike, must band together to stand firm against our common enemy. To my evangelical Anglican brethren, you will find that there are “high churchmen” in the Continuum, but these are men who care scrupulously about serving as a living link back to the apostles; men who believe that rules matter. Are you not better off with a brother who prefers Tract 90 and the first prayerbook of Edward VI than you are with a Montanist or progressive moved by the spirit of the age? Why not band together with reformed catholic Christians who truly value the Word? To my anglo-catholic brothers, the progressive Christians in Canterbury and Rome (and other American Anglican bodies) are simply waiting for you to die off so they can build one more temple dedicated to suburban Christianity-lite. Why stay with people who have such disdain for what you hold dear? Why not band together with catholic Christians who truly value the Eucharist?

Beyond traditional Anglicans, here in the Continuing Anglican Communion, there is a home for all Christians who want a church devoted to saying, “Enough, we will stand against the tide—especially if it kills us.” A church attempting to recapture the comprehensive catholicity of the first 1500 years of the faith. To my Evangelical brethren, I say here is place in which a reformed catholic is protected, where he knows the rules will be cherished and followed. To my Roman Catholic brethren, unhitch yourself from the papal experiment before it is too late. To all, rather than spending your time trying to evangelize the members of your elder boards and presbyteries and bishops’ conferences, why not join a church that is outward focused because it knows what it believes and why? Why not trust in a tradition that has actually survived the worst the world can throw at it? I realize this call is asking clergy and their families to make financial sacrifices, and I know some among the laity will be forced to lose prestige and the comfort of the crowd, but for those who are called to this path of righteousness—this way of the cross—please contact me, and let us continue the fight together.

Fr. Tarstitano's challenge to Roman Catholics might be considered brash and laughable, as it emanates from a newbie mouse presuming to speak truth to an ancient behemoth.  But newbie the Orthodox Anglican faith ain't, and I think his prediction that the "papal experiment" will "end in tears" will ultimately come true.  Consider this from Road Dreher:  The Queering of the Catholic Church.  And if the Eastern Orthodox think they are exempt, well, they should consider the serpents that have slithered under their door:  Three Trojan Horses: Insider Attempts to Disorient the Orthodox; Metropolitan Kallistos and The Wheel.

Smaller and purer, as Benedict XVI put it.  That's what the Contining Anglican Communion is.  No more "the Church of here comes everybody."

Christian Men and Beards

"The beard signifies the courageous … the earnest, the active, the vigorous. So that when we describe such, we say, he is a bearded man.” —

Glad our presiding bishop of The Orthodox Anglican Church, Thomas E. Gordon, encourages his clergy to have beards.