Patrimony, patrimony, patrimony...

Yesterday’s announcement, the resignation of the five bishops seeking to enter the Ordinariate and therefore into full communion with the See of Peter is a seminal moment. Though the Ordinariate has yet to be erected, it seems that it will be become a reality in the new year and, for those of us prayerfully discerning the Holy Father’s offer, Bishop Andrew Burnham’s words about the Church of England are especially relevant:

‘Women bishops is a presenting issue, but it’s the question of whether the Anglican church is, as it says it is, is part of the universal church going back to the time of Jesus or whether it is going off in its own way and making its own rules. We think it is going off in its own way and making up its own rules and we therefore need to belong to the older body.’

This makes a powerful point: it is not just about women bishops. It is about the wholeness of the Church.

It is also about embracing the Ordinariate with a positive spirit. I was struck by Bishop Edwin Barnes’s comments about Bishop David Silk and Patrimony. You can read his piece on the Anglo-Catholic Blog:  http://www.theanglocatholic.com/.

Many of us have over the years (myself included), been diehard Romanists, who would have died a thousand deaths rather than use Anglican books; and as for that BCP nonsense...or that English Missal...

And yet, there is clearly much still to learn about that quiet but solid brand of prayer book Catholicism which has shaped and sustained so many people. And it is about to find a new home where, please God, it can flourish.

I am sorry now that I have not thought about this more over the years. As a thoroughgoing anglo-Papalist I have always been rather sniffy about Anglican liturgy. Oh well, live and learn...