Let's Rethink the Continuum -- I

Here and there on the web, I see favorable references to Douglas Bess's Divided We Stand, his history -- really, the only one we have -- of the schismatic Anglican movement surrounding the Affirmation of St Louis. I keep wishing I could get in touch with Mr Bess, but so far haven't found a contact. The book unavoidably leaves a great deal out. While Louis Wahl Falk III is a major figure in the movement, Mr Bess doesn't mention at all that Falk was "defrocked" by The Episcopal Church under circumstances that almost certainly included confidentiality agreements on the part of aggrieved individuals. Although Falk-apologists have said that he's been open about the situation, he's clearly gone to some lengths to conceal it: I added a reference to the Diocese of Fond du Lac's 1966 deposition of Falk to Falk's Wikipedia entry, but this was subsequently removed -- either by a Falk adherent or at Falk's request. Falk has definitely not been open about the circumstances. This is something that would add greatly to the quality and context of Bess's history.

Second, Bess's book stops about 1999, before the Portsmouth letter, Anglicanorum coetibus, the Patrimony of the Primate, the controversies surrounding John Hepworth, and the impact (large or small) of the Ordinariate. It also leaves out the 1993 meeting between Bishop Clarence Pope, Jeffrey Steenson, and Cardinal Ratzinger, which it probably suited Steenson in particular to keep under wraps. In other words, Bess's book suffers from not knowing details the principals were interested in concealing -- but the fact that they were downplayed or concealed is itself significant. The story of St Mary of the Angels seems to me something that cuts across the nature of the Continuum much like a highway cut slices across local geology and shows something about it. This is one big reason I'm pursuing this blog: the Continuum is an interesting story, and St Mary of the Angels is an important part of it. Douglas Bess's account stops just before things get really, really interesting!

If anyone knows how I might be able to contact Mr Bess, I'd be most interested to find out. In the meantime, I'm going to offer in subsequent posts an assessment of the Continuum, what it's meant for my own spiritual growth, and what I think it ought to mean for intelligent observers.