The situation of the Anglican Communion grows more parlous each day. We now hear that a decision to uphold traditional Christian moral teaching proposed by the Archdiocese of Sydney and passed by both clergy and laity in the Australian National Synod was blocked by the House of Bishops. In so many of the Anglican Churches of the West a similar pattern emerges. After all the arguments are over, the voices of the majority are silenced and the will of the bishops wins the day.
Now that we have all sorts of alternative liturgies replacing the 1662 Ordinal this will come as no surprise. The robust statements and promises which characterised the old Consecration service have been replaced with rather more woolly words which entirely fail to remind would-be bishops of the main purpose of the episcopal office and the deadly serious nature of the public vows they are about to make.
The two prime purposes of the bishop are to guard and proclaim Apostolic teaching and care for the flock of God in the image of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. At the very beginning of the human race God created us male and female, with all the physical, emotional and functional differences that this involves. Like everything else God created, it was very good and designed for the happiness and fulfilment of all His creatures. Thus when we obey the rules God made for us it will inevitably prove to be for our greatest benefit. If we do not, very unhappy consequences will follow. When have we heard this teaching from any Anglican bishop in recent years?
When it comes to caring for the flock of God the behaviour of the bishops is even more unsatisfactory. In Wales they have enforced the creation of so-called “Mission Areas” which in their dissolution of the autonomous parish and its minister and their disregard for the lay people they have so wantonly abandoned, they are assisting just about anything except mission. Many English dioceses are going down the same silly road, spurred on by weakened finances as the Covid pandemic has killed or maimed the elderly givers of most parochial income and diminished the size of almost all congregations. The Bishop of Truro recently refused to meet the representatives of the national body which defends the interests of parish and people – a shameful and witless response in a rural diocese where villages are often far apart from each other, as indeed they are in so much of rural Wales. People who have lost their church and vicar don’t willingly move down the road to the next parish. They vote with their feet and the Church can kiss goodbye to their money!
The truth is that bishops are now nothing more than third rate bureaucrats, sitting down next to a map and a set of accounts and making far-reaching decisions upon which the health of Jesus’s flock ultimately depends. And to achieve the contraction they are so desperate to enforce they employ veritable armies of pen-pushers at head office, while cluttering cathedrals with all sorts of expensive clerical functionaries with fancy titles. For this neglect of the flock and misdirection of resources they will have to give an account to our Lord God Almighty, as BCP2020 reminds us so forcefully in the service for the Ordination of Priests. “Should the Church, or any member of it, be hurt or hindered by your negligence, you know the greatness of the fault, and also the horrible punishment that will follow.” What a powerful warning
However, this is no time to abandon the episcopal model. In an age of Facebook, Tik Tok and the myriad of “influencers” on the web, a bishop with genuine Gospel faith and Gospel courage and an ability to communicate effectively with the masses might yet work wonders in stirring people out of apathy and attuning their minds to the Saviour who calls us out of darkness into His marvellous light. The fact remains that in the public mind the bishop is still seen as the Christian spokesman – not the local pastor or parish priest. It is high time for at least one orthodox bishop – Catholic or Evangelical – to step up to the task of doing this evangelistic heavy lifting. St. Peter and St. Paul show us how to do it and in some senses it is today’s bishops who are the successors of these holy and illustrious Apostles. Bishops must give up their penchant for bureaucratic time-wasting and instead proclaim the Gospel of the forgiveness of sin through Christ’s cross and eternal life through Christ’s resurrection. They must also care for Christ’s precious flock with much more than token interest. Fulfilling these two primary tasks is, after all, their sole reason to exist!
