Did you know that there's an Anglican Centre in Rome? Well there is, and it's all about promoting Christian unity, not least between Canterbury and the Holy See. The Centre says as much on its website.
The Anglican Centre in Rome is the permanent Anglican Communion presence in Rome. It is a living symbol of our Communion's commitment to the full visible unity of the Church.
Unity
Sounds good, right? All very ut unum sint, which is doubtless why this venerable outpost of Anglican ecumenism has appointed a new director who does believe in gay marriage but doesn't believe in the bodily resurrection, the Very Rev. Dr. John Shepherd.
Shepherd, who served as Dean of Perth Cathedral, is married to a woman and was famous for supporting gay marriage. You can read his line of reasoning here and if you do, note the privileged clergyperson enlisting the aid of St. Paul. It's a clever trick, St. Paul was really in favor of same sex marriage because he was so against it. Whatever, John.
Walk Into The Light!
But that was then, this is now and Shepherd's famous again for denying the bodily resurrection of Christ. So much for the Apostle, the Gospels, the Church Fathers, and every Christian worth the name from the beginning up until now. And that's just it.
How can someone like Shepherd even say they're a Christian while denying the resurrection? To quote Shepherd's favorite Apostle, "your faith is in vain." So too, we have to imagine, is the Anglican Centre's claim to be a "living symbol" of "the full visible unity of the Church."
A Typical Mantid
The problem here is that Christians, even Pope Francis, believe in the resurrection. The Anglican Communion's representative in Rome doesn't. Unity, obviously, isn't in it. I'll leave you with Kirk, via Ignatius:
Quite simply there is no firm or fixed ground on which such discussions can be based. What price agreement on the real presence in the Eucharist, for example, when the bodily resurrection itself is in question? Agreement on the former whilst the latter remained an open question would quite simply be absurd. Of course, one cannot know for certain how many Anglican clergy, like the Very Rev’d John Shepherd, deny the resurrection. But one can be assured that unbelief is no impediment to preferment. And be pretty well certain that its incidence increases up the hierarchy.
And be pretty well certain that its incidence increases up the hierarchy. Exactly.
All Means All, Justsin
Rumours that Lambeth Palace is controlled by Heisenberg Principle beings from another dimension are entirely that, rumours.
All means all,
LSP
