No Choice

From Damian Thompson comes word that the Right Rev'd John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham in the Anglican diocese of London and also Chairman of Forward in Faith, "is to resign his post later this year to join the Pope’s Ordinariate." Well, bully for him but I cannot say I agree with Thompson's (or whomever wrote the headline for his Telegraph blog) assertion his Grace's move is "an earthquake in Anglo-Catholicism," significant though it is. Anyone mindful what has occurred in the Anglican Church these past forty years, particularly in the western hemisphere, should come to the reasonable conclusion that Bishop Broadhurst could do no other.

The Church of England, furiously playing catch-up with its American counterpart so that it, too, may shout triumphantly: "Look how progressive we are!" is, like the Episcopal Church, so far down the road to apostasy it cannot possibly reverse course. With Pope Benedict's uncommonly gracious invitation to Anglo-Catholics to embrace the full faith in numbers, Bishop Broadhurst has realized, as every orthodox Anglo-Catholic in England and abroad has or will, the moment has come: if one cares about the well-being of his soul, there is no possibility of remaining any longer in the Anglican Church.

The dramatic events described above will, I think, make things rather difficult for those Anglican parishes that profess "Catholic worship" yet stray from Catholic teachings. As the number of orthodox Anglo-Catholics heading Romeward increases to a steady, albeit non-torrential, stream (as I believe it will), those Anglo-"Catholics" remaining behind will not only appear increasingly and glaringly protestant (which they are, of course) but also (and sadly, in a way), as they continue their practice of elaborate pre-Vatican II choreography liturgies with accompanying frippery, downright ridiculous.