THE
P RTAL
January 2018
Page 24
Then there were
giants in the land
Thoughts on the modern CofE from Geoffrey Kirk
S o much
to write about! A book claiming that Pope Francis is a
foulmouthed bully; Cardinal Mueller’s account of his dismissal; Cardinal
Kasper’s claim that the crisis over the meaning of Amoris Laetitia is at an end.
But instead I want to turn my gaze on the Church of
In that sense she is a Justin Welby lookalike. She is –
England and the recent appointment of Sarah Mullally if one is allowed the expression any more – a company
as Bishop of London.
man. Her interview on Radio Four’s Today programme
was a textbook exercise in purposeful evasion; big
It came as no surprise, of course, that a woman was on ‘process’ and ‘open-ended reflection’ and almost
appointed. But the selection nevertheless tells one entirely devoid of actual opinions. Sarah Mullally is
a good deal about modern Anglicanism. Sarah was the future of the Established Church.
(as the official announcement coyly admitted) a late
ordinand. She had a previous career as a senior nursing
But how different from the Church of forty or fifty
officer in the NHS – moving as one wit unkindly put years ago! Then there were giants in the land. The
it ‘from one failing national institution to another’. In Church of England boasted theologians of international
consequence she takes over the third most important status and men of integrity and powerful conviction.
job in the Church of England with little experience Now it is dominated by those whose primary talent is
of bishopping and the slenderest of theological the ability to manage internal dissent and frictionless
qualifications.
decline.
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham
THE ORDER OF MASS
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in accordance with the R oman R ite
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D ivine W orship : T he M issal
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