One of things that this past year has shown me quite clearly is that there is most definitely a spiritual vacuum that our so-called "continuing" Anglican parishes fill. I meet more and more people - especially young people - who tell me how glad they are that St. Francis is here. They express to me what a void this small parish fills in their lives. I think that many other continuing Anglican parishes are the same way. Our parishes are the perfect home for people who want orthodoxy, tradition, and beauty in worship and theology without a lot of the accompanying cultural baggage. We are not scary, happy-clappy evangelicals, fundamentalists, or charismatics. But neither are we dead mainliners who hold NPR and the NY Times to be God's new revelation to "humankind" today and don't believe in truth or the divine. We invite people to use their God-given faculty of reason so they really grapple with God and their faith, and the big questions of life. But we do this within the context of a living tradition of faith and liturgy going all the way back to the ancient Church, spanning the medieval and Reformation ages, and going into the future. In short we are unique, and offer something that no other church today does, and we should be proud of that. There are indeed other ways to be Catholic nowadays (e.g. Rome, Orthodoxy), but for many people those churches are not options. I do not know what I would do if I was not a priest or did not have a traditional 1928 BCP parish to attend! And the same goes for many others.
Still, it can be discouraging from time to time being in one of our parishes as either a layman or cleric. Often it seems (at least here at St. Francis at this point in her history) that we are in a race against time to grow lest we fail to make ends meet and have to fold. The truth is that we grow but at a much slower pace than other churches and ecclesial bodies. I think this is mainly because our service requires a certain level of cultural sophistication and appreciation that is sadly lacking in this age of "American Idol" and mass consumerism. It is much easier to go to some protestant mega church and be "entertained" with the gaudy trappings of immediacy (e.g. mindlessly repetitious and poetically banal "praise choruses") than to meditate (and sing!) the great hymns and Psalms of the faith. Even many "well-educated" people cannot figure out what phrases like, "...very God of very God..." mean. In short, we live in a dumb and lazy age, and it is getting dumber and lazier with each passing day. This is too bad for us, but we cannot abandon our traditions without losing that which makes us who we are. So it is what it is... Thanks be to God, there are still some people out there who appreciate and long for that which is true, beautiful, and good. Thanks be to God that there is a spiritual home for people who want the ancient, unchanging faith of the Fathers of the Church and the seven ecumenical councils, without its Roman additions, Protestant subtractions, or neo-Anglican postmodern deletions. We have a definite spiritual vocation in the 21st century. May God help us to fulfill it.
One of my main tasks this next year is to formulate a more definite "spiritual vision" for the parish, and think about how this parish should be formed spiritually. The purpose of the ministerial priesthood is to help people be "saved through Christ forever" - i.e. to help them get to heaven. We clergy have to ask ourselves from time to time: am I doing this? Or are we more focused on "growing the parish" in terms of numbers rather than forming our parishioners into the men and women God wants them to be? I am still in the process of thinking this through, but in general I want the parish to become more aware of the supreme importance of the Holy Eucharist and other sacraments, and of the sacramental structure of the spiritual life and indeed all of life. I also want us all to appreciate the Divine Office more, and have everyone integrate praying it into their rule of life. As Thornton reminds us in English Spirituality our tradition is rooted in the mass and offices. There are other things as well. It is all pretty vague at this point, but if I can begin thinking about the question itself - how do we form our parishioners - the answer will, with God's help, present itself. I think that it will cause me to reflect more on my own rule of life and continuing spiritual formation, as the life, manner, and spirituality of the priest determines to a large extent that of his cure.
Please keep us in your prayers this next year! Pray for priests.
