Monday, October 18, 2010

Why the Bishop of Fulham's departure for Rome isn't just about women bishops


From The London Telegraph-

It’s sad that the Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Rev John Broadhurst, should have decided to take advantage of the Pope Benedict XVI’s Ordinariate for those who cannot accept women bishops in the Church of England. It’s similarly sad that an Anglican congregation in Folkestone should be seeking the protection of Rome. And it’s sad not just because no adequate accommodation could be found in the Church of England for those who cannot in conscience accept women’s episcopacy, but because such departures to Rome represent an erosion, with the possibility of eventual eradication, of the catholic tradition within our established Church.

But there is an aspect of all this that receives little attention: These departures for the oversight of the Holy See have been reported throughout this weekend (by the BBC among others) entirely separately from the story of the prospective closure of Ushaw College in County Durham, which is the home of the historic St Cuthbert’s Seminary, which trains young men for the Roman Catholic priesthood. It is to close for lack of seminarians; there are 26 currently at St Cuthbert’s, where once year-groups could be counted in the hundreds. If it closes next June, as is expected, there will be no Roman Catholic seminary north of Birmingham.

More here-

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/georgepitcher/100059320/why-the-bishop-of-fulhams-departure-for-rome-isnt-just-about-women-bishops/

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