I had no idea that the Conciliar Anglican blog was already dead. I didn't see everything on that site, but I had visited it from time to time. It did help inform me about the faith. Didn't know the author had converted to something else. I do actually hear more conversion stories through Google of Anglicans becoming Roman Catholics than the other way around. And whenever a Roman catholic converts to Anglicanism, it's actually to the Episcopal Church for the sake of accepting gay marriage, female priests, baptizing pets, or something questionable like that.
Only cleric I've ever heard of converting from Roman Catholicism to Anglicanism is Fr. Peay of Nashotah House, who did a short stint as a congregationalist minister before rejoining the sacramental end of things. He left the Roman Church due to the Church essentially protecting pedophiles, but not for any liberal reason. He is still a staunch traditionalist, even for Anglicans.
I think our fellow forum member Fr. @Mark, was an Anglican priest who converted to Rome, realized he'd made a mistake and returned to the Anglican fold, as a priest in the REC if I am right.
Yes Lowly you are correct. Half of one of my parishes consist of former Roman Catholics. The parish I am praying the Bishop transfers me too next year has a large number of former Romans. I was there last Sunday, a couple of them were traditionalist. They over heard a conversation I was having with the Deacon and Senior Warden and thought I was offering to say the Mass in Latin. Got their hopes up.....I reminded them we say or sing the Mass in the language of the people. You hear more of the Anglican to Roman converts due to the strange need of the Anglican convert to convince him or herself they made the right choice. The Roman Church makes a big deal as they believe it proves they are correct. When a Roman becomes Anglican, I have yet to hear one "bash" the Roman Church or pontificate reasons as though to convince either themselves or anyone they made the correct choice. Just my observations. Blessings Fr. Mark
Sorry to seem uninformed here everyone, why does everyone say the Episcopal Church is crumbling? I'm sort of new here to Anglicanism.
We are suffering a hard hit because there are many within the Episcopal Church that are more concerned about feeling good about themselves than preaching the Gospel. It isn't quite so bad on a parish-by-parish level, so I wouldn't say myself that it is "crumbling," but it is certainly in the midst of change. Older folks will leave a social club behind and my generation will enter into a Church proper in several years, the way things are going. Revival is around the corner. But we have a lot of Baby Boomers and cradles with old money and a need to feel relevant in a world far more different than they can really handle, try as they might.
But what assurances do you have that the aging hippies will relinquish their control on power... Just see what has happened in Rome, where until a few years ago the young conservatives were on the inevitable trajectory for success, and in just the last 5 years by his control of the Church machinery Pope Francis has despoiled the seminaries of any tradition-minded young men, has drawn heretics and young liberals into the Church, and in general set back the Traditional Revival in the RCC by at least 50 years, if not permanently broke its back (by embedding heresies in the official magisterium itself)
Well, as morbid as it sounds, and I hate to say it, but aging folks tend to, if not retire, die. So they can't stranglehold the Church forever.
For some, emphasizing the downfall of TEC has served as a therapeutic form of positive reinforcement for their own choice to depart. Some left with a level of animosity which is, unfortunately, playing out in a desire to see and, for a few, even participate in burning down the old institution. As with any reactionaries, they tend to be more vocal than the calmer voices even in their own fold. They usually have a few hot button issues that they key on: Prayer Book revision, women's ordination, homosexual practice, etc. Any disagreement with their stance on these issues sends them into some sort of emotional-psychological episode. Even when they have a valid point, they lose the ability to present it reasonably. It is also true that the statistics coming from places like Pew Research or Barna Group, and even from TEC dioceses themselves, are currently indicating a downward trend. In many cases, this trend exceeds similar parallel trends in other 'main-line' churches. Of course, one can analyze the statistics objectively and see the trend, but then the subjective consideration of significance and causation comes in after. For some of the critics, if TEC has exceeded their own numbers by 0.01% in a negative direction, that is a significant variation; and naturally, the cause must be TEC's equivocation on their favorite issue.
I've always enjoyed his blog though I felt he unnecessarily downplayed the reformed theological influence in Classical Anglicanism. Sad to see him swim the Tiber.