The editor asked me to write to the faithful in the Church of England concerning the recent vote allowing the purported consecration of women as bishops by the General Synod. I write this with a sad heart and as a warning of the likely scenario that will unfold in the Church of England over the next few years.The consequences of consecrating woman bishops, as Bartus explains them, though, are basically that someone like Andrew Bartus will have a hard time. The piece is, to put it mildly, self-absorbed.
There is orthodoxy (Catholicism) and there is heresy (everything else to one degree or another).Well, we know where he stands, huh? But wait:
I am originally from the Diocese of Texas. I was confirmed at the parish of St. Andrew’s in Bryan, Texas. When preparing for ordination, I had to move to Dallas because I was too conservative for the bishop or standing committee of the Diocese of Texas. I opposed the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals, not to mention the ordination of women or of divorced and remarried men! I even had trouble in the Diocese of Dallas. So I had only one option, which by the grace of God worked out: The Diocese of Fort Worth under the godly Bishop Jack Iker.I think we need to grant Protestant denominations the choice, correct or not, to be Protestant. Dcn Bartus starts out by insisting he's Catholic, or at least admires Catholic doctrines -- fine -- but then he begins complaining that a Protestant denomination isn't Catholic. That's less fine.
He goes on to explain that via the Diocese of Fort Worth, he was sent to Nashotah House, a seminary of The Episcopal Church. Although Nashotah House is somewhat more conservative than the other Episcopal seminaries, it nevertheless has trained its share of women and openly gay Episcopal priests, although Dcn Bartus is clear in his opposition to this practice. So why even go to Nashotah House? Did he remonstrate with the authorities there? Well, he graduated, quite possibly not. But
Right before graduation, I learned I couldn’t return to the Diocese of Fort Worth, as it was already full of incumbents and curates, as many had fled there from the disintegrating Episcopal Church. And where was I to go to?He attributes an oversupply of Episcopal clergy in the (now ACNA) Diocese of Fort Worth to the disintegration of TEC. However, the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, one of the most liberal in the US, has just as big an oversupply -- Bishop Bruno recently had to release all his seminarians from their vows, because there was no place to put them. The fact is that all of TEC has had an oversupply of clergy for generations, probably because the Episcopal priesthood is regarded as a prestigious and well-compensated profession, which is at the same time not very demanding. Join the club, Dcn Bartus. But
I tried applying at many ACNA parishes and many were eager to hear from a ‘high church’ graduate from an ‘orthodox’ seminary. This was until interviewing with them they learned that I wasn’t simply ‘high church’ but believed and practiced the entire Catholic faith.I can imagine how that went. In fact, the whole tone of Dcn Bartus's warning implies that only he and the Holy Father have things right, but he's not quite sure about the Holy Father. Except, er, he's applying for jobs in a Protestant denomination.
But there's a happy ending!
I ended up, again by God’s amazing providence, as the curate at St. Mary of the Angels, Hollywood.We know how that went. And all because TEC consecrated women bishops. I suppose there is in fact a warning here, but not what Dcn Bartus had in mind.
