Me on the Greg Venables show?

(With apologies to whoever wrote the book for "Bye Bye Birdie")

Am I the only one who finds it odd that the two examples of agreements that the Anglican Church of Canada has broken which spring to ++Venables's mind (Lambeth I.10 and Windsor) are in fact, not "agreements"? Of course, if they represented consensus in the Anglican Communion, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

Churchmanship

Serge has a Field Guide to Anglican Churchmanship that I have found to be somewhat helpful in articulating the vagaries of churchmanship. Because it is somewhat polemical in nature, I have adapted it here to better reflect the self-identification of the groups themselves. (For example Open Evangelicals do not consider themselves "former" Evangelicals, nor AffCaths "former Catholics").

For the evangelical section, instead of Serge's original categories, I have drawn on Stephen Bates's taxonomy from A Church at War: Anglicans and Homosexuality, which differs slightly.

I have omitted the "Anglo-Orthodox" category, since I have only ever encountered isolated individuals using it. (I call myself an "Affirming Anglo-Lefebvrist" but I am certainly a party of one). I have also inserted English Use as a subcategory, since it still has some currency in some circles in the CofE.

1. Anglo-Catholic
a. Anglo-Tridentine (Predominately North American).
b. Modern Anglo-Papalist (UK only).
c. Prayer Book Catholic. Considers the classical line of the Book of Common Prayer (1549-1962) a sufficient expression of Catholic faith. Eschews “Italianate” liturgical norms.
d. Modern “Prayer Book” Catholic. Non-Papalist, uses contemporary worship book of his/her Province. Most (but not all) Anglo-Catholics who hold liberal views on women clergy and homosexuality fall within this category.
e. English Use. Looks to pre-Reformation English ceremonial, often as adapted by the The Parson’s Handbook.

2. Central
a. High Central – Similar to 1c or 1d but with less “localised” view of the Eucharist.
b. Middle of the road
c. Low Central – Protestant, into emotive worship, sometimes charismatic. Shies away from Calvinism and believes in the necessity of the historic episcopate.

(Traditional and modern streams with regards to the ordination of women).

3. Evangelical
a. Conservative Evangelical. Biblically inerrantist and literalist. Opposes “headship” of women. Often Calvinist.
b. Charismatic. Conservative view of Scripture, but open to continued revelation by the Holy Spirit.
c. Open. Most theologically liberal strand, and least "Romophobic". Higher view of sacraments and liturgy. Accepts women in positions of leadership. Some are also more progressive than other Evangelicals with respect to homosexuality.

Whew!

Well, I've been away too long! I've attended a few exciting liturgies this month. On 4 November, I was able to take in Solemn Evensong and Benediction at St Mary Mag, which was delightful as always. On Remembrance Day, I played conscientious objector and instead of my own parish's Choral Mattins visited the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields for their Patronal Festival.

I've become something of a regular at Trinity College's Monday Community Sung Eucharists. This month I saw an Agape Meal, a valiantly-attempted Tridentine Mass, and a wonderful 1552 Communion Office.

My own parish celebrated its feast of title this past Sunday, and had a visiting retired suffragan as homilist. She also dedicated the children's chapel, now under the patronage of S. Nicholas.

Tonight I will be going to Evening Prayer at Wycliffe College and comparing it to my experience across the street and up the candle at Trinity.

After a period of neglecting the Office, I am experimenting with online sources. This morning I used the Book of Divine Worship website.

Also, Toronto has elected a new suffragan bishop, Canon Linda Nicholls. She is said to be a moderate conservative and an introvert.