Hundreds of Traditionalist Clergy Poised to Leave Church of England
THE TELEGRAPH: Hundreds of traditionalist clergy are set to leave the Church of England over plans to introduce women bishops.

Leading Anglo-Catholic clergy warned that the failure to provide concessions to opponents of the historic reform would force many of them to defect to Rome.

In a highly-charged debate at the General Synod, the Church’s parliament, members rejected a compromise deal put forward by the archbishops of Canterbury and York which would have averted a schism.

The archbishops’ plans would have seen the creation of a new class of male-only bishops to look after conservative evangelical and Anglo-Catholic parishes opposed to female leadership in the Church.

Canon David Houlding, a prebendary at St Paul’s cathedral, estimated that as many as 200 traditionalist clergy could leave the Church, taking thousands of worshippers with them.

“People’s patience is running out and many will now be asking whether they should try and practice their Catholic faith in the Church of England,” he said.

“The vote was a severe blow to the archbishop [of Canterbury] and it has pushed us closer to the door.” >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Monday, July 12, 2010

A Divided Church Faces Its Darkest Hour
THE TELEGRAPH: By rejecting a compromise over women bishops, the General Synod has plunged the Anglican Church into crisis. Jonathan Wynne-Jones reports.

Humiliated: the authority of Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has been wounded by his defeat in the Synod Photo: The Telegraph
On Saturday night, the Archbishop of Canterbury suffered the most humiliating defeat of his time in office when the Church rejected his compromise deal over women bishops. It followed a week in which Rowan Williams had found himself at the centre of a storm over the blocked appointment of Jeffrey John, the homosexual Dean of St Albans, to be Bishop of Southwark.

Castigated by liberals who accused him of betraying his old friend by not securing his promotion, the Archbishop arrived at the General Synod in York also facing a mutiny over his plans to avert an exodus of traditionalists opposed to women's ordination.

On the eve of one of the most pivotal debates in the Church's recent history, liberal bishops had met to discuss how they would derail proposals put forward by Dr Williams and Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York.

They were well aware of the impact that their rebellion would have on Dr Williams's authority. But they were still prepared to take drastic action because of their despair at his suggestion that a new tier of male-only bishops should be created to minister to traditionalists. This would undermine the role of women bishops, they believed. >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones | Monday, July 12, 2010

Vatican Controversy Spreads to the Netherlands
NRC HANDELSBLAD: The controversial rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop by pope Benedict XVI is arousing strong reactions in the Netherlands. A theologist is leaving the church and the minister of foreign affairs is getting involved.

Roman Catholic bishop Ad van Luyn of Rotterdam has said that the pope's decision to rehabilitate renegade British bishop Richard Williamson is "disastrous". Speaking on public television, Van Luyn said that Williamson's denial of the Holocaust and its gas chambers are "shocking, totally a-historic, and at odds with the second Vatican Council [the 1962-65 church reform - see below*]". Williamson has claimed that the Nazis did not kill six million Jews, but 300,000 at most.

Following his opposition to modernising the Roman Catholic church, bishop Williamson was excommunicated in 1988, together with three other traditionalist bishops who had turned against reforms. The pope reinstated the four conservatives last week, as part of his stated ambition to reunite all forms of Christian worship under the umbrella of Rome.

A professor of theology and ethics at the Roman Catholic Radboud University in Nijmegen is leaving the church over the issue. Professor Jean-Pierre Wils told Radio Netherlands Worldwide, "For many years it has been known that Williamson and the other three traditionalists are anti-Semites. The pope must have known about this. Only now are people beginning to see what is really happening in the Vatican. People were idolising the pope over the past few years without asking themselves what his political ambitions were. These are political actions, it's not just a theological problem. It is important that political consequences are drawn from this." >>> By Rob Kievit for Radio Netherlands Worldwide | Monday, February 2, 2009

*Traditionalists and the Roman Catholic church

The four bishops whose excommunications were remitted by pope Benedict XVI are Richard Williamson, Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, and Alfonso del Gallareta. They are the leaders of a schismatic society, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) inspired by the late archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of Switzerland. Lefebvre, who died in 1991, founded the SSPX in 1970. It is named after pope Pius X, who firmly opposed modernism in the church.

The society rejects the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965 which decided, among other things, that neither today's Jews nor the Jews of the time of Christ were all responsible for the death of Christ. The council also revised the liturgy, lifting some of the restrictions of the traditional Latin mass. Finally, the council aimed for pan-Christian unity (ecumenism) without requiring the conversion of non-Catholic Christians.

Traditionalists view the changes ordained by the Second Vatican Council as contrary to the interests of the church, and want to roll them back.

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback – The Netherlands) >>>