"THE ANGLICANS ARE COMING?!"

“having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:5)

What a delight it was to flip on Jay Severin’s program on Monday afternoon (on “Boston Talks” 96.9 FM) and to hear a very spirited, enlightening, and engaging discussion about the (controversial) October 21 decision of the Roman Catholic hierarchy allowing Anglican (and Episcopalian) clergy and laity to “convert” while keeping their own practices, including married priests and the Book of Common prayer, in tact.

Whether or not the characterization of him has been fair, Jay Severin has developed a reputation as a foul-mouthed, angry, racist “shock jock”. I believe he’s been “suspended” from the airwaves more than once. It’s hard to believe Jay’s friend Pat Buchanan appreciates his libertine views. In fact, I suspect Pat DOESN’T share them! So, it was a pleasant surprise to hear a “kinder, gentler” Jay on Monday afternoon. I don’t think I’ve heard such a classy and thoroughly well presented discussion of a “religious” issue on secular talk radio since David Brudnoy passed away. Initially, Jay made himself very vulnerable on the airwaves, admitting he doesn’t pay much attention to God, and honestly asking callers why God should help him when he’s in a crisis if HE hasn’t been loyal to God. There were some great callers and some great discussion in response to Jay’s questions. Then Jay had a very knowledgeable Episcopalian clergyman from South Carolina on as a guest to discuss the new Vatican policy.

This may shock a lot of my readers, but there is already a long-standing precedent in the Catholic Church for married priests and whole “communities of faith” who differ in their rites and practices from mainstream Roman Catholicism but do submit themselves to papal leadership. For centuries, “Eastern Rite Catholics” (who do NOT call themselves Roman Catholics) have been in good standing with the Vatican and have been considered part of the fold. They have married priests, and their ceremonies and practices are much closer to the Eastern Orthodox Churches than they are to the main Roman Catholic Church. These include the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and the Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. These churches even have PARISHES IN THE U.S with married priests!

A similar arrangement has been proposed for Episcopal and Anglican churches. In some cases, whole parishes may come under the umbrella of the Roman Catholic Church while essentially keeping things at their individual parishes pretty much the way they are. (I don’t want to spend a lot of time on the difference between “Episcopal” and “Anglican”. There is NOT much. The Church of England in the U.S. became known as the Episcopal Church after the American Revolution. It tends to be more culturally and theologically liberal than many of the other Anglican churches around the world. Further complicating this, some American Episcopal churches have pulled themselves out of the U.S. denomination, but have come under the umbrella of theologically conservative African Anglican Bishops and now call their churches “Anglican” rather than “Episcopal”.)

Jay speculated about whether the real goal of the Vatican is to “solidify Christian denominations together” against Islam, and the Episcopalian leader from South Carolina agreed that is possible. I hope this theological and cerebral piece has not caused many readers to fall asleep, because like Jay, I find this topic very interesting. I want to add, however, that what SO many miss is that God’s TRUE Church is not an institution or a denomination. Sadly, there are millions of people around the world who have religion up to their ears but don’t have Christ in their hearts! In my opinion, the majority of Catholics are not “truly saved” and will end up in Hell (although there is a huge minority of genuine Christians within that institution who will be in Heaven). Likewise, it’s my opinion that the majority of Protestants are not “truly saved” and will also end up in Hell (although there is a huge minority of genuine Christians within Protestantism). Listen, I’m not saying the Assemblies of God is perfect, either. It’s not! The important thing is NOT the religion, but whether a person has a true relationship with God! There will be people from a myriad of denominations in Heaven because they’ve put their faith in Christ for salvation.

There are some wonderful Believing Christians within the Episcopal, Anglican, and Catholic churches. And, there are also lots of folks who are culturally or intellectually “Christian” but “don’t have a clue” within those churches. Even so, this story of the Vatican reaching out to Anglicans and Episcopalians “just as they are” (to paraphrase a famous altar call song) is a very interesting development.

And, Jay Severin, let’s have more programs like Monday’s!