The ECUSA of our brethren

So the US Episcopalians - the ECUSA of our brethren as we used to refer to them in my Anglican days - have been suspended from the Anglican Communion for three years over their attitude to same-sex marriage. There are the predictable howls of protest from the predictable people and interest groups.

Despite their small numbers, but great number of bishops, the US Episcopalians have wielded a disproportionate influence in the affairs of the Anglican Communion in the post-Second World War era.

It is a pity that similar sanctions were not taken agains those Anglican provinces which first ordained women in order to discipline them.

Homosexual acts are condemned as sinful in the Bible and by the tradition of the Church - but personal sins may be forgiven. That's why there is the Sacrament of Confession.

Altering the sacramental structure of the clerical orders is destructive of the future authenticity of the ecclesial body concerned. It is not a sin that a visit to the confessional can wipe away, it is structural and enduring.

By changing the received tradition about Orders the Anglican Communion made infinitely more difficult the possibilities - such as they were - of reconciliation with the Catholic and Orthodox communions.

That is something to think about as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity approaches.

Bad Vestments

Now those of you who know me, or even those of you who pass a cursory look down the sites listed on the side bar, will have little doubt as to my views on the all-important ecclesiastical question of tat. Let's face it so often that is what we afficionados sit around discussing in the Bird and Baby or wherever. In these discussions - profound and serious as they are (and I'm not joking) one rarely comments on bad-tat, being beneath our notice, but this afternoon whilst working on this blog I found a link to Bad Vestments.

Now being the man I am (yes, sadistic) I thought I would share these images with you, as a sort of Easter offering, to bring a little additional mirth into this already joyous season - and for future reference have added it as a link on the sidebar. There are some specimens therein that are not merely bad, but super-bad, or even meta-bad.

As far as I can see most, but not all, of these vestments are being worn by prelates and clergy of ECUSA - yes, the dear old ECUSA of our brethren on the other side of the Atlantic. However some are being worn here in England. Let us not also forget the dreadful things inflicted on His Holiness in Austria at Mariazell - but then I think those were the final liturgical nail in the career coffin of the previous Papal Master of Ceremonies.

As they would doubtless say in ECUSA "Enjoy!"