Thursday 17 October 2013

Just run that past me again

Non Catholic pastors as Chaplains in a Catholic school?

Worth School in Sussex is run by the Benedictines and is, according to the blurb on their website, in accord with what St Benedict would expect:

Their website  states:-

St Benedict wrote in his Rule, "We mean to establish a school for the Lord's service", and his wisdom inspires our community in all that we do.

One would not expect, however, that St Benedict would approve of two Church of England vicars being on the school's chaplaincy team.

Yet that is what this 'Catholic' school offers. It is unclear as to whether they are there for the benefit of Protestant pupils or whether they are at the behest of all; I suspect the latter.

Here is how the school describes their chaplaincy offer:

"The Chaplaincy seeks to keep Christ at the centre of the School's life and this is achieved by a variety of experiences and opportunities. The School Chaplain is Father Peter and he is assisted by a team of Chaplains from the monastery. In addition,  two part-time Anglican priests - Revd Gordon Parry and Revd Anthony Ball - are part of the team and their presence and work strengthens Worth's ecumenical outlook. A Housemaster and a member of the Religious Studies Department are also members of the team".

It may just be worth reminding those responsible for running this school that there are some major,   fundamental differences of belief between the Church of St Peter and the Church of Henry VIII.

The C of E does not, broadly speaking, accept any of the following:

1. The Sacraments
2. Transubstantiation
3. The sanctity of Holy Matrimony
4. Purgatory
5. Opposition to abortion
6. The Virgin birth
7. The role of Our Lady
8. Sin
9. Priestly celibacy
10. Papal infallibility

It is a religion where its followers may or may not, believe what they like to believe.
And that is entirely up to them.

But, C of E vicars should not be in a position where they can advise and counsel young Catholic minds, that way lies madness and the spread of heresy.

I suppose that we should be grateful for the fact that, as yet, the school does not have an Imam on the staff.

Watch this space!

2 comments:

  1. I bet that the school has no concept of what ecumenism actually means.

    As well you know, most think that it is an exercise in befriending other denominations, whereas in fact Vatican II clearly states that:

    1.Other denominations scandalise the Will of Christ and scandalise the World by proclaiming to be the true inheritors of Christ's teaching.

    2. It also calls Catholics to pro-actively draw members of other denominations back to the Catholic Faith by using apologetics, solid catechesis, and common sense.

    It is shocking how many Catholics are unaware of this and blindly go on and assume that they have to befriend those from other denominations.

    Even Pope Benedict stated that at best we could describe other denominations as 'ecclesial communities', and not churches.

    Why is this school not using correct catechesis?

    Or maybe it is actively drawing back these anglican back to the Faith (I suspect not).

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  2. The list could go on and on regarding what the CofE does not teach. It's probably to easier to count up the things they do believe in actually.
    I don't mean to tar all Anglicans with the same brush but really it's hard not to because they all believe a different version of Christianity.

    How confusing for the students!

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