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The sound of waffling from Canterbury

The Church of England hits bottom, starts digging. From the UK Daily Mail:

Church of England plans male 'superbishops' for rebel clergy who refuse to be led by women
The Church of England today launched a plan for a new class of �superbishops� to try to keep its rebel clergy within the fold.

The superbishops were the key to a rescue package to keep the CofE from breaking apart as its leaders move towards the consecration of the first women bishops.

Under the last-minute deal put forward to the Church�s parliament, the General Synod, superbishops would be given authority over traditionalist clergy and parishes which refuse to accept the leadership of a woman bishop.

Emphasis mine -- let's go over that last bit one more time: superbishops would be given authority over traditionalist clergy It is the abject failure of the leadership of the Church of England to show any kind of moral backbone that is causing the traditionalists to become 'uppity' in the first place. I was brought up in this Church and I am dismayed at how much of a wishy-washy feel-good love-fest it has become. I am not advocating hair shirts, scourging and bread and water -- not by any means. There was a lot of spirituality and beauty in the music when I grew up, there was a lot of pageantry, a lot of wonderful times but you also had to toe the line at some things. You could not take communion unless you had been confirmed and to be confirmed meant several months of study. The current management of the Church is trying to be everything to everyone -- if that is the case, if you want your Church to be more like the U.C.C. for instance, for Christ's Sake, quit the CofE and go and join the United Churches in Christ, I am sure they would love to have you as a parishioner. Do not wreck the Church you are in and cause it to become a bare shade of what it once was. But I digress... The rest of the article is just as bad:

They would be picked from the ranks of Anglo-Catholic traditionalists to provide alternative leadership for those who will not obey women bishops and who still do not accept the idea that women can be ordained as priests.

The superbishops plan was unveiled amid allegations that senior conservative bishops in the CofE have held a meeting at the Vatican to discuss �closer ties� with the Roman Catholic Church.

News of the meeting sparked speculation in the CofE that traditionalists are considering a mass defection to Rome because of the row over women bishops and the worldwide Anglican headache over homosexuality.

One possibility is that parishes and entire dioceses might transfer their allegiance to Rome and move towards conversion to Catholicism.

No shit Sherlock -- I have been thinking about checking out a local Catholic Church. Jeb Bush converted and George W. has been spending time at the Vatican whenever he travels to Europe leading to speculations there. I think that the issue here is that the Church of England is a very wealthy Church and if a Parrish becomes independent or (shudder) goes to the dark side (Catholicism), the Archbishop would lose that income. Look at this bunch of smug idiots: False Pride was a sin when I was growing up... Posted by DaveH at July 6, 2008 7:24 PM