The Pensive Pilgrim

I'm glad I'm not a bishop and never will be. Why? Because today's Church of England (and indeed the wider Anglican Communion) is no longer the tolerant, inclusive 'broad church' that it once was but is now a rather unpleasant (some would say 'toxic') and belligerent beast in which political expediency often trumps truth and justice and where bullying tactics and emotional coercion have become almost everyday currency. Leading such a wayward institution - whose dirty laundry when made public supports the very common charge of hypocrisy - must be a huge challenge and an unenviable task. Many would say, however, that the bishops have brought this on themselves through decades of weak leadership, a cowardly response to theologically conservative bullies who seem hellbent on changing Anglicanism's entire character so they can have it on their own terms, and a series of unfortunate, mealy-mouthed 'Pastoral Statements' that are often notable only ...

We are all, I guess, products of our time. My serious involvement with the Church of England started in the 1970s; I began to discern a vocation in the latter half of that decade, and commenced training for ordination in the early 1980s. It was a time of liturgical upheaval. In most parishes, the pseudo Prayer Book Language of 'Series One and Two' was giving way to the contemporary language of 'Series Three' - a process that culminated in the publication of the 'Alternative Services Book' of 1980. Meanwhile, across the Tiber, Roman Catholics were adjusting to Mass in the vernacular and a much simplified liturgy. Following the clear spirit of Vatican II, if not its precise letter, Catholic clergy were pulling their high altars forward or abandoning them altogether for new Nave Altars where Mass was celebrated Versus Populum ('facing the people' or 'Westward-facing') rather than 'Ad Orientem' ('Eastward facing, with the priest's...