I
was struck by the curious alignment of some Anglo-Catholics with some
Evangelicals and Charismatics in the groups that left the Episcopal Church to
start their own new churches. What on
earth do those three groups have in common?
In asking that question, I am not questioning their basic doctrines;
after all many of the Anglo-Catholics, Evangelicals and Charismatics who
remained behind believe essentially the same things. It is true that some of those who departed
were driven out and I share their pain and grief, but some of them certainly
fit in with the following remark of C. S. Lewis. “I think just as you do about
the Anglo-Cats.[i] Their prevailing quality is the very non-Catholic
one of disobedience. They will obey
neither their own book nor Rome.”[ii] The dominant trait seems to be problems with
authority. Or am I just blowing
smoke? Excuse me, “blowing
incense.” While I’m at it, I think C. S.
Lewis today would need to differentiate between High Sacramentalists who have a
low doctrine of the Church (the true Anglo-Cats), and true Anglo-Catholics who have
a high doctrine of the Church, and treasure its unity as a primary value.
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