We returned from 5 days in Somerset on Friday evening. The weather here has been pretty awful our neighbours have told us but, for once, we hit the jackpot and enjoyed quite reasonable weather – it rained hard on Wednesday morning but apart from that, it was dry and very occasionally, sunny.
I wondered if I might have received a reply to the letter I sent to the Superior-General of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament by the time I arrived home but so far nothing. Perhaps I might hear something in the future; perhaps not! However in this week’s Church Times there appeared the following:-
When asked to respond to
Anglicans who have expressed anger
about the donation from the CBS,
Monsignor Newton said: “There are
obviously some vociferous people
who feel very hurt and annoyed
about it. On the other hand, I think
that the trustees thought this was a
way to further their aims and
objectives. That may be debatable,
but they behaved in good faith.
First of all, I don’t see myself or many of the others who are querying this donation as “vociferous”; we are asking why this matter was not put to the membership especially in view of the fact that all of the Trustees, with one exception, are members of the Ordinariate. That in itself makes it “debatable” .They may very well have acted in good faith as Monsignor Newton expresses it but I still query the wisdom of making such a large donation amounting to in excess of half the CBS Funds without a mandate from the membership. As members have recently received circulars from the CBS surely it would have been entirely possible to have posed a suitable question with a reply slip.
Would it not have been better to have made several donations of smaller amounts over a period of time? I want to re-emphasise that I support the Ordinariate, and want to see it succeed.
Perhaps you do not understand the concept of a charitable trust. The trustees are not delegates of the membership.
ReplyDeleteSo far as their duty is concerned they are bound by their conscience and the terms of the trust instrument and they are subject to the supervisory jurisdiction of the court.
I have no window into their souls nor access to the papers surrounding their decision, but it is said that they acted on the advice of leading Counsel. If you think about it, the trustees might very well have come to the conclusion that the state controlled Church of England is no longer a safe haven for those professing the faith of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and that the future of that faith lies with clergy in communion with the successor of St Peter.
You describe yourself as "Father" and speak of celebrating "mass" so you plainly think of yourself as a priest in the "catholic" sense as hundreds of other CofE clergy have done over the years.
But if you think the practice of that faith is safe in the hands of the General Synod or the PEV's or Parliament (which ultimately decides the doctrine and practice of the CofE), then I suggest you are living a dream and it is time to wake up before it turns into a nightmare.