The TAC As An Epistemological Exercise

Fr Anthony Chadwick has undertaken a survey of the current Traditional Anglican Communion. This has been part of my intent here, but I have two differences of approach from Fr Chadwick. First, I'm not sure if it matters whether ACA Diocese A has 11 parishes or 12, and whether this totals 400 members-in-good-standing or 350. I see little moment in whether someone can eventually send a message in a bottle from the Torres Strait as to the current number of the worshippers there. As far as I can see, the worldwide membership of the Traditional Anglican Communion is, optimistically, about 3000. If on the off chance Fr Chadwick can assert "Aha, Bruce! Adding the now-verified numbers in South Africa to the newly-establilshed total at Torres Strait, the actual membership of the TAC faithful stands at 4,358! Thus do I confute you!" my response to that will be a yawn.

But second, while it doesn't make much difference which small number we're talking about, there are nevertheless serious issues of credibility here. The TAC prelates have been consistently dishonest about the actual size of the denomination. Fr Chadwick reposts a description from 2010 concerning the Anglican Church of India:

The Anglican Church of India consists of six dioceses: Lucknow, Chotanagpur, Amritsar, Madras, Travancore & Cochin and Nandiyal. The Indian Church uses the 1928 English Book of Common Prayer, the English Missal and the King James Bible. . . . The Diocese of Nandiyal has 41 congregations “with 2672 communities”.

Except that I've already cited here the first-hand account of a retired TAC priest of what he actually saw in India:

When I arrived .... I found out from +Prakash that I would be living in the "Diocese of Nandyal" - - unfortunately, there is only one "parish" here... and "here" is the village of Nandyal - around 300 km. due-south of Hyderabad - and the Bishop is the Rector..."parish" is his family, meeting in his [house]...and no English is spoken - only Telugu.

So which do I choose to believe? I've mentioned here my experience as a juror and the need to evaluate testimony to determine truth and falsehood. It is, in effect, an epistemological exercise, and commentators have pointed out that the accounts of the Gospels are similar, in that they give testimony about events, with those who hear them obligated to determine their truth. One statement, from someone connected with the TAC, insists that the Diocese of Nandyal or Nandiyal has 2672 communities that use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and the KJV. An eyewitness says instead that the bishop and his family make up the entirety of this diocese, and that they have no English with which to read said BCP or KJV.

Here's how I have to approach this: I've discovered Archbishop Falk, one of two former Primates of the TAC, telling an apparent untruth via Anthony Morello, himself well thought of in the TAC, although his own reputation for veracity is not good. If, as a juror, I had to make a choice between the TAC's version of the Anglican Church of India and that of an eyewitness, I'd have to rely on what would almost certainly be the judge's instruction: if a witness tells a lie about one matter, jurors are entitled to assume the witness is telling lies about other matters.

I've been taking a close look at my experience with the ACA and the TAC over the past two years. I'm concluding that the TAC is basically a con game, and the current disputes are, in my view, largely the result of a collapse in temporary arrangements of convenience among thieves. On the other hand, as the saying goes, you can't cheat an honest man. If Fr Chadwick is now taking statements from demonstrably dishonest clerics in the TAC at face value -- and acknowledging that some of these clerics are in fact "despicable" -- it doesn't speak well for him. Fr Smuts, for that matter, is promising that Bishop Gill will get the South African totals to Fr Chadwick real soon now. We'll see.