Nothin' from Nothin' Leaves Vatican

Well, something is amiss. Everybody is talking about the "opportunity" to have an ordinariate within the Roman Catholic Church. As Fr. Mark points out,

"This process is presented as part of the ecumenical hope for the reunion of Christians into one body, but it really is that hope made a dream, the Roman dream that all Christians might finally return to one church, the Roman Catholic Church. It is a dream of the past, not of the future. The ecumenical hope is not reunion with Rome, but reunion with one another in Christ. This thing is no part of it."

Here is the first verse:

Ode To Pope Benedict

Nothin' from nothin' leaves the Vatican
You gotta have somethin'
If you wanna be with me
Nothin' from nothin' leaves the Vaticn
You gotta have something
If you wanna be with Benny

We have done this to ourselves. Yes, because we, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, were unable to use the process of reflective and prayerful consensus effectively we now have choices like:

1, be devoured by ACNA,
2, be devoured by the Roman Church, or
3, drift into oblivion.

All really great choices folks. I would like to start by thanking my clergy, particularly the deposed bishop and his cronies for a major portion of this screw up. We could have sat in convention and when faced with difficult decisions prayed and then returned to discussion. What's that you say, that would never work? Well I have been on at least 3 different vestries that worked on prayerful consensus and it ALWAYS worked!

Then I would like to thank the current clergy and power structure of the Episcopal Church and more specifically the now, Archbishop of Canterbury (and the entire Anglican communion), soon to be priest in charge. Faced with devastating issues in multiple diocese, San Joaquin, Forth Worth, Pittsburgh, etc. as well as worldwide issues and challenges from small-minded, narrow thinking, petty little men, we have seemed to flounder and stumble through at least the beginnings of these times allowing the "ship" to drift aimlessly -- at least for a while, and we have never recovered (yet) from that drift. As a result, the Roman Church has seen our folly and "come to our rescue".

Next, let's thank ARCIC (both Roman and Anglican) for leaving us hanging with but one more issue to resolve. It would have been so simple for the ARCIC to simply agree to bring the Anglican Communion on board as a "Rite" such as the Coptics. We could have been the "English Rite" and been reunited in a heart beat (and on an equal footing) but, we began to fight publicly. Oh and, no one has the guts to deal with the Pope. Talk about the elephant in the room. Read Garry Wills. There weren't just bad popes, there were evil popes, there were popes who bought the office, who were married into the office and who gained the office by birth(?). Now, the one stumbling block becomes the vehicle by which we are "saved"?

So, here is the next verse:

I'm not tryin' to be your hero
'Cause that zero is too cold for me, Brrr
I'm not tryin' to be your highness
'Cause that minus is too low to see, yeah

So the arm that is outstreatched has a poison apple in it -- All one needs to do is take a bite -- and sleep for the rest of your life!

Nothin' from nothin' leaves the Vatican
And I'm not stuffin'
Believe you me
Don't you remember I told ya
I'm a soldier in the war for oppression, yeah
Yes, I am

Well, here ya go:



So, here we sit. Shall we just take a bite and end it all or shall we get serious and begin to resolve what ails us, build on our strengths and step out in faith. We are certainly, as I believe the Episcopal Church is certainly, overdue!