Holy Orders
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Why Women Cannot Preside over Communion
Introduction As the Ordinal tells us, a Priest is essentially commissioned and ordained to be a Minister of Word and Sacrament. He is above all else called to preach, teach, baptize, and preside over Communion. Showing from Scripture that a woman cannot perform the role of teaching the congregation is rather simple, as it is…
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Why Women’s Ordination Cannot be Tolerated
Introduction The error of women’s ordination has stalked, cursed, and haunted Anglicanism for nearly half a century and no matter where we go or what efforts we make to correct our wrongs, we cannot seem to fully rid ourselves of it. For many conservative Anglicans, women’s ordination is like the relative you cannot stand but…
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Women and Men in Ministry
In 1970 the Episcopal Church USA eliminated the canon for deaconesses and included women in the canon on deacons. In 1976 its General Convention approved the ordination of women to both the diaconate and priesthood. Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Church condemned both moves, protesting that these changes were made unilaterally and against…
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How to think like an evangelical catholic about the proposal to ordain women as pastor-bishops
Confessing Anglicans are divided on the question whether women’s ordination is in accord with the teaching of Scripture and consistent with the doctrinal heritage of the Church. On the one hand, there is great exegetical disagreement regarding the status of women in pastoral ministry in the New Testament itself. That, certainly, is the really decisive…
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Pascal’s Wager and the Ordination of Women
“IF women cannot be priests but are allowed to “act” as priests then they are putting the souls of God’s children at risk.”
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Holy Orders Within Anglicanism
OR…If Anglicans don’t have priests, nobody does Archbishop Frederick Temple is not known as an original theologian or scholar. In fact, Frederick Temple is probably best known as the father of a future Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple. However, one extremely important event occurred in 1896 while Frederick was Primate of all England: The…
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Convenient Forgetting and the Jerusalem Declaration
“Forgetting pain is convenient, remembering it; agonizing. But uncovering the truth is worth all the suffering.” ~Lewis Carroll Convenient forgetting. Over thirteen years have passed since the Jerusalem Declaration was released in 2008. At the time, I was a 28 year old priest, and the recipient of a young leader invitation to this pivotal conference….
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Catholicam Fidem: An Open Letter on the Consecration of Female Bishops in GAFCON
To the Primates and Bishops of the Holy Catholic Church in the Global Anglican Future Conference: Every Trinity Sunday, we confess that “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith.” This faith has been passed down to us from our Fathers. It is the faith by which…
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On the Origins of the Deaconess
The ancient order of deaconesses seems to be making a comeback of sorts in the Reformed Episcopal Church. In his presiding episcopal report a few weeks ago, the Most. Rev. Ray Sutton mentioned the continued interest in this order by women of the subjurisdiction. Moreover, the Anglican Province of America and other bodies feature a…
Hail, Thou That Art Highly Favored
Unable to answer these arguments, I remained silent toward these people; but now I beg you Father, to instruct me in what I should say to defend the truth, so that (following the Apostle’s injunction) I may “be ready to give an account of the faith that is in us.” —St. Gregory Palamas I’ve been…