The new English translation of the Roman Missal, Ordinariate liturgy

Will the new translation cause Mass confusion?

The Catholic Bishops of Conference of the Philippines will implement the new English translation of the Mass starting Advent 2012. This will give enough time for the bishops to familiarize their flocks on the new translation. A catechetical guide has been published authored by liturgist Fr Anscar Chupungco to help priests familiarize their congregations.

The new translation has been in the works since 2000 when Pope John Paul II ordered a new translation that corrects errors in the 1973 translation. The 1973 translation was a "sense" translation while the new one is a more literal translation from the Latin. The US Catholic Bishops conference has published sample texts here.

The new translation is more faithful to the original Latin. For example in the words of consecration it uses the word "Chalice" instead of "Cup" which the 1973 translation uses and which all editions and versions of the Book of Common Prayer use. The 1549 BCP translates "calix" as "cuppe".  This is more faithful since the meaning of "cup" has changed since 1549. While "calix" literally translates to "cup", the nuance has changed since when Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer translated the Latin of the Mass into English. "Cup" now is so banal and we can expect to get one at Starbucks or any coffee shop!

Nonetheless the new English translation is in contemporary English. The Roman Catholic Church never had a public English Mass liturgy in what Anglicans still call as "Traditional Language". The closest Anglophone Roman Catholics ever had were the English translations in their Latin Roman Missals. The left pane of each page (often beautifully illustrated) had the Latin said at Mass and the right pane had the English in traditional usage.  These pre Vatican II Missals often used a traditional language similar to what Anglicans used. The English used is quite close to equivalent BCP texts. But Vatican II reforms did away with all of these. Traditional English almost disappeared from the Anglophone Roman Catholic's mindset. This made Anglophone Roman Catholicism culturally poorer.

Anglicans on the other hand struggled with the issue of Traditional and Contemporary English that use of either is an option in the liturgy. The contemporary use as much as possible tries to be faithful to the traditional one.

Filipino bishops are worried that since for over 40 years, Filipino Catholics have been used to the 1973 translations, a quick shift to the new translation may confuse. But this can be overcome by effective catechism. I hope parish priests are up to the challenge. But some traditionalists are much concerned that Fr Chupungco is the author of the prescribed catechism. They note that Fr Chupungco is liturgically trendy!

The proof of the pudding is if people will respond to "The Lord be with you" with "And with your spirit" which is  faithful to the Latin and was first translated into this form by Cranmer in 1549.

The Ordinariate liturgy

Father Aidan Nichols' essay on the Ordinariate liturgy continues here. Fr Nichols gives a historical survey which is required reading for those into Liturgy. What is interesting is that he writes that the Ordinariate liturgy has taken much from really Anglican sources

"There were no comparable difficulties attached to the other texts in the proposed English book: the daily Offices of Mattins and Evensong (to which, following the example of the 1928 proposed Prayer Book, an Office of Compline and a Day Hour were added; the Litany; the Lectionary (for the Office as well as for the Mass), and rites for marriage and funerals – though the inclusion in the latter of explicit prayer for the departed (and not simply for the bereaved) was strengthened by the addition of the Sarum rites for the commendation of the dead person which followed on the Requiem Mass. The calendar proposed was the current seasonal calendar of the Church of England, itself of Sarum origin, together with the cycle of festivals as found in the 1970 General Calendar of the Roman rite, and a number of English or British commemorations, in excess of those in the National Calendar for England and Wales (though not necessarily exceeding the total number if saints in the local calendars of English and Welsh [and Scottish] dioceses were to be added together). There was one unusual feature of the Office of Mattins. Following contemporary Church of England precedent, the second reading at Mattins could be drawn from post-biblical sources. In the context of the Latin church, the Roman rite Office of Readings is an obvious source for these, but the book drafted for the English Ordinariate contains an alternative cycle for Sundays and feasts taken from insular sources. A number of these are taken from patristic writers (Bede, Aldhelm), mediaeval sources (John of Ford, Mother Julian, Nicholas Love), and English Catholic martyrs (Fisher, More, Campion), but the larger number derive from the Anglican patrimony (the Caroline divines and their Restoration successors, the Tractarians with particular reference to Newman, and a selection of later Anglo-Catholic writers). It is, as it were, a testimony to what might have been had the English Reformation proceeded on Catholic lines, as did the Catholic Reformation in much of Continental Europe. No Baptismal liturgy or liturgy for Confirmation has been provided, on the twofold ground that Anglicanism has not produced a version of such a liturgy which has endeared itself to its faithful, and also that there is something especially fitting about the use in an Ordinariate of the rites of the Roman liturgy for Christian initiation, as a sign of belonging to the wider Latin church (and thus to the Catholic Church as a whole). The same congruence might well be ascribed to the use of the Ordination rites of the mainstream Latin church."

The question is whether the Mass books of other Ordinariates will be similar to the English one. What happens to the American Anglican Use? We have to keep posted on these developments.

Talks on Anglicans and the Catholic Church at UP

Please keep posted on a series of talks on the ecumenical developments between Anglicans and Roman Catholics at the University of the Philippines. Coming soon!

And at the end of each talk will be a service of Evensong!

A Prayer for the Ordinariates from the Ordinariate Portal

Eternal Father, we place before you the project of forming the Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans seeking full communion with the Catholic Church.

We thank you for this initiative of Pope Benedict XVI, and we ask that, through the Holy Spirit,
the Ordinariates may become:
families of charity, peace and the service of the poor, centres for Christian unity and reconciliation, communities that welcome and evangelize, teaching the Faith in all its fullness, celebrating the liturgy and sacraments with prayerful reverence and maintaining a distinctive patrimony of Christian faith and culture.

Drawing on that heritage we pray:

Go before us, O Lord,
in all our doings
with thy most gracious favour,
and further us
with thy continual help;
that in all our works, begun,
continued and ended in thee,
we may glorify thy holy name,
and finally by thy mercy
obtain everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Our Lady of Walsingham:
Pray for us as we claim
your motherly care.

Saint Therese of the Infant Jesus:
Pray for us as we place this
work under your patronage.

Blessed John Henry Newman:
Pray that Christ’s Heart
may speak unto our hearts.

Saints & Martyrs of England,
Wales, Scotland & Ireland:
Pray for us and accompany
us on our pilgrim way.

_____________________________

And we in the Philippines seek the intercession of

Blessed Pope John XXIII, Blessed Pope John Paul II, Bishop Charles Henry Brent, Father John Staunton, 

Pray for us to God! 

Filipino Episcopalians debate about purgatory while Catholics no longer bother about it!

This is how the Medievals thought about Purgatory!

At the Pinoy Episcopalians Facebook group, someone posted if "Episcopalians are to believe in purgatory". This post sparked a lively discussion which has touched on the relationship of Scripture and Tradition and how classical Anglicanism has received these and if these are relevant to the 21st century. Of course the debate extended beyond Purgatory but to the importance of Authority in the Church. This is so related to the troubles plaguing Anglicans now and how the Anglican Communion may be able to preserve her unity.

Here is how one Filipino Episcopal priest has it

"Luther did not oppose the idea. he only opposed the wrong means on how to pass through it. Purgatory is not for the lost, only for believers already on the way to heaven yet have to take the long journey to life because of their attachment to the world that they live in and a world they are leaving. Purgatory is connected to fire purification, which is really meant the fiery trial a Christian has to experience due to sanctification."

Thanks to depictions by countless artists throughout the ages, many Catholics and Protestants think Purgatory is a place where there is fire to cleanse sinners. This has led to many misconceptions but the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1030-1032) states that Purgatory is a condition rather than a place and states Scriptural references that support this understanding. Blessed Pope John Paul II restated the teaching in a papal audience. The Church however teaches that there is a "cleansing fire" in Purgatory and tradition is that this is understood not in a metaphorical sense but in a real sense. Mystics have understood this as a purifying inner fire, an understanding that Pope Benedict XVI appears to endorse.

The Thirty Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England in Article XXII explicitly reject the doctrine of Purgatory as being without "warrant in Scripture" However, the Articles are not binding on Anglicans as the CCC is upon Catholics. For many Episcopalians, the Articles are of historical interest. Thus there is a wide spectrum of belief among Anglicans as as the debate on Pinoy Episcopalians would suggest, many still adhere to the idea that Purgatory is indeed a condition where  souls are purified. However many Episcopalians will still have difficulty in accepting the Roman Catholic belief on indulgences. This is at the root of medieval abuses that brought upon the Reformation. A famous Anglican, CS Lewis accepted belief in Purgatory in the way the Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman understood it.

But as I had posted I am amazed that Filipino Episcopalians debate about Purgatory when Filipino Roman Catholics hardly bother about it! In fact I have never heard the doctrine being the subject of a Sunday Mass homily in the last 20 years! It must be that the subject is too pre Vatican II and it deals with the afterlife rather than this life. And many priests don't want to scare the worshipers out of their wits with talk of eternal damnation and purification!

Some Roman Catholic priests tend to believe that we are experiencing Purgatory  right now, since we have a corrupt government and we ourselves are party to this and we have cut down all the trees and so we are in an environmental mess etc. Perhaps that is true but it misses out on what the Church teaches about it and the real costs of God's purifying love.

And so it takes our Anglican brethren to remind Roman Catholics of this teaching, at least to me. I have not bothered with that doctrine ever since I was received into the Church 25 years ago!

Know thy Mass!

This was from my Anglo-Catholic "lola" who bought it in 1952 when she was studying in Minnesota. If I am not mistaken, Anglo Catholics in the American Episcopalian biretta belt used the American Missal which is an almost exact translation of the Roman Missal. In fact I was able to follow the Tridentine Mass in a Cubao Catholic parish using her Missa Anglicana and this catechetical comic book!

Nonetheless, forty one years after Vatican II's reforms on the Mass, most people have no clue on what is happening in the Mass. No wonder they text during the service. The Mass itself has ceased to be an occasion for catechism, but rather as a ho hum service which is most likely even made worse by bad homilies. But pre Vatican II Mass books for the laity had always a bit of catechetical information on what the Mass rubrics really mean. The pre Vatican II Mass books are much much closer in ethos to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer than the Mass books and Missalettes Roman Catholic have today. Both the Roman Missal and the BCP had a didactic function and that is to hand in the Faith (in Latin "Traditio")

In the scanned image above, the comics explain the Creed. This is an act of  what is called in Latin as "renditio" which means to "hand over". We hand over our understanding of the Faith at this point of the Mass.

All these need to be recovered in both the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. It is not surprising that modern Anglican prayer books and liturgies have taken cue from what Reformation historian Diarmaid MacCulloch calls "What the post Vatican II Roman Catholic Church threw out"

The saving grace is that Anglicanism preserved much of what the Roman Church threw out. And all hopes are with Anglicans on both sides of the Tiber to reflect and restore all these things of beauty and Faith.

Newman's Collect

Blessed John Henry Newman as an Anglican priest

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's best known prayer is a hymn "Lead Kindly Light". During my college days at UP, we had a Catholic priest who was a fan of Newman and he always sang this hymn after the Mass had ended.

However there is a collect for Evening Prayer written by Newman years before he even contemplated becoming a Roman Catholic which has been largely forgotten in the Philippines and virtually unheard of in the Catholic Church in the Philippines

And here it is

Support us all day long

"O LORD, support us all the day long of this troublous life, until the shades lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, the fever of life is over, and our work done. Then, Lord, in thy mercy, grant us safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace at the last; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."


This prayer was once said during Evensong at Brent School, according to Dr Rafael B Rodriguez, former President of Trinity College (now Trinity University of Asia) in Quezon City. However over the years as Dr Rodriguez told me, the prayer has been relegated to the sidelines. 




This is unfortunate for it is one of the best, night time prayers I have ever said. My grandfather has  
it written down longhand probably from memory in his wartime (1942-1945) diary. It provided him with the comfort and peace of God during those troubled times.


John Henry Newman lived up to his calling as a cardo, Latin for hinge, that links the Anglican and Roman Catholic faith together.




Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman, pray for us to God!

What the Pope did to the BCP, TEC parish swims the Tiber and the Photoshop argument

What the Pope did to the BCP

Dr William Oddie has written something that makes for interesting reading at the Catholic Herald. Dr Oddie writes that the Pope has made the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) (well much of it) into a Catholic liturgy! This was something no one would have thought possible as late as 30 years ago.

Evensong is now sung at Roman Catholic places of worship in England, the United States, Canada and Australia, and soon, the Philippines. We prayed this office at the University of the Philippines.  What was considered quite Protestant is now wedded with a traditional Roman Catholic devotion, the Benediction. Evensong is now the Ordinariate's evening office .  Dr Oddie sums up what I have consistently reminded my Anglican/Episcopal friends. Anglicans will restore to the Roman Catholic Church what has been lost or forgotten.

Reformation historian Diarmid MacCulloch was more blunt. He was quoted saying that "The Anglican Communion preserved much of what the post Vatican II Catholic Church threw out"

And here writes Dr Oddie "these Anglican converts are bringing with them derives from Catholic sources that we have lost or at least temporarily mislaid"


Well that is what it really is. The BCP is as everyone knows was influenced by older Catholic liturgies such as the Sarum Use and the reforms of the Roman Breviary by Cardinal Quiñones of Spain.  While Archbishop Thomas Cranmer made sure that the denial of Catholic belief in the Mass was explicit, this was placed in a liturgical setting that resembled the Mass, but really wasn't. And only the theologically astute among the churchgoers could detect the difference. Thus the Anglican Eucharist could be celebrated with Tridentine panoply, or even in the most Protestant way of celebrating the valid Catholic mass called the Novus Ordo, which the present Pope calls the "Ordinary Form". While the former may impress 21st century Tridentine traddies, the latter does give them apoplexy!


Thus this are Anglican treasures being shared to the Catholics. I wonder if the Catholics will appreciate these?


This we will have to see. In the meantime I was shocked to hear from a Filipino cradle Catholic that he thought the Evening Prayer  we were saying was a Protestant invention!


Episcopal Parish swims the Tiber


St Luke's Episcopal Parish near Washington DC in Blandensburg, Maryland has decided to join the Catholic Church. The parish becomes the second Episcopal parish after Mt Calvary Parish in Baltimore to join the Catholic Church after Anglicanorum coetibus was published. St Luke's is now under the pastoral care of the Archbishop of Washington Cardinal Wuerl.  The parish was under the Episcopal Bishop of Washington John Chane who graciously supported (with the Catholic Archbishop of Washington), the parish discernment process. The parish will continue to worship in their church building, which will be leased to them by the Episcopal diocese with an option to purchase.


Both St Luke's and Mt Calvary will be Ordinariate bound and they will undergo a formation program before formally being received in the Church.


Why women cannot be priests: An image processing analogy!


Both the Catholic and Evangelical wings of the Anglican Communion are against the ordination of women as priests since it has no Scriptural basis and is not in accordance with the ancient tradition of the undivided Church.


Women's ordination is a very divisive issue in the Anglican Communion. However a majority of provinces allow it, with some provinces providing "alternative episcopal oversight" to parishes who don't agree with it.


The consecration of women bishops (which naturally follows if women become priests) has ignited more discord in the Church of England and threatens an irreparable Anglican split if no arrangements are made to protect the conscience of people who can't accept this.


Catholics and the Orthodox hold on to the "alter Christus" argument why women can't be priests. They believe that the Christ who sacrificed himself for us was a man, therefore the priest who offers the same sacrifice on the altar should be a man. The Evangelicals hold on to the "headship of the family" argument which says that the head of a natural order such as the family is a man and by extension, the church should be headed by a man.


Nonetheless I received an email from an Anglican who tends to accept the Catholic argument. He says that since the priest images Christ at the altar, a woman simply can't do. Then he gives the Photoshop argument. If we image process a man, and we expect him to look or do things like a man, then we don't do much to the image. But if we image process a woman and we expect him to look or do things like a man, then we have to tweak the image!


And no wonder why some people are never comfortable with the sight of a woman priest or bishop. She in those vestments made for men, will look male!

The Martyrs of Uganda

Blessed Martyrs of Uganda, Pray for us to God!

In  the late 1800s Christian missionaries (first Anglican in 1877 and then Roman Catholic in 1879) began to preach the Gospel in Buganda (now part of Uganda). The people received the Christian message very enthusiastically and many were baptized. The King of Buganda,m Mutesa at first received the missionaries warmly and even allowed the Christians to preach at court.  However to protect his throne and to balance the political and social influence of the missionaries, he also welcomed Arab traders who preached Islam.

The Roman Catholic White Father missionaries had to walk the diplomatic tight rope as they say, since the King's favour shifted from one religious group or the other. This was a time before Christians had an appreciation of ecumenical principles and the Anglicans were often in competition with the Catholics and both Christian groups were in competition with Muslim missionaries.

After the death of Mutesa his son Mwanga ascended the Bugandan throne. While at first he was warm to the Christians, he later became hostile to them. Mwanga became sold to the idea that it was treasonous to give allegiance to the Christian God. An Anglican bishop James Hannington was consecrated as a missionary bishop for Equatorial Eastern Africa. When he went to the mission areas in Buganda, the King had him killed. The bishop is the Protomartyr of the Christian missions. His last words to his executioners are "Tell Mwanga that I have purchased the road to Buganda with my blood!"

However the King's sexual tastes included homosexual sex with the young pages in his court. The boys refused to bend to his will.

The chief steward at court Joseph Mukasa , who was a Catholic rebuked the King for the murder and for that he was also stabbed and burned to death as an example to all. He became the first of the Catholic martyrs. Mukasa was able to teach the boys the Christian teaching on homosexual acts and for the boys to resist and keep away from Mwanga's whims. Charles Lwanga took over him in looking after these boys.

One of the boys resisted Mwanga's advances and he too was martyred. Enraged, he ordered the execution of all his pages in court, all of whom are Christian, Anglican and Roman Catholic as well as catechumens.

The King gave the boys a choice whether to renounce their faith or not. Mwanga commanded all who pray (the Lord's Prayer) to his left and those who don't to his right. All the boys went to the left and they were led to the place of execution. They were bound with reeds and faggots and these were lit. The boys included the eldest Charles Lwanga and the youngest Kzito was only 14. While on the way they prayed the Lord's Prayer and recited their catechism, Anglicans and Roman Catholics, cheerful on the road to Eternal Life. It was Ascension Day.

Pope Paul VI canonized the Roman Catholic martyrs on 18 October 1964. However the Pope also recognized the martyrdom of the Anglican boys in his homily during the canonization Mass by saying

"And the others are worthy of mention also, who, professing the Anglican religious customs, were afflicted with death for the name of Christ."


The martyrdom of the Ugandan boys became the seed for the rapid growth of Christianity in Uganda. But it was the will of God that many yet will shed their blood for the Gospel in this land. In the 20th Century, the most notable of them was the Anglican Archbishop of Uganda, Janani Luwum,a staunch defender of human rights,  who in 1977 was ordered killed by Idi Amin. It is said that as Abp Luwum was to say the Lord's Prayer, Amin enraged, shot him.


The Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion commemorates the Martyrs on their feast day of June 3. 


Oremus


O God, by whose providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: Grant that we who remember before thee the blessed martyrs of Uganda, may, like them, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ, to whom they gave obedience even unto death, and by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever, AMEN. 

Anglicans and Divorce

As the Philippine House of Representatives begins to tackle a divorce bill (which I think is a political ploy in indecent haste, definitely even more divisive than reproductive health) after the much of the debates on the RH bill, it is now time to look into what has been the historical position of Anglicanism on divorce. Dr William Tighe gives a splendid historical review in the Anglo Catholic blog. 


The Church of England is in the popular perception viewed as founded on divorce. However that is not entirely correct, for Henry VIII sought an annulment from his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. During those times, it was only the Pope who can grant that as a dispensation. However we are viewing the issue with 21st century eyes. In the Medieval period and through the Reformation, any formal break up of a marriage was considered divorce. The legal niceties were just debated by the Doctors of law and theology in the Universities! 


Henry got his annulment from a complacent Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer in 1533 and thus was able to marry Anne Boleyn. But he could only have this union legally recognized if he outlawed all appeals to Rome. Thus he made himself "Supreme Head of the Church in England" in 1536 and was excommunicated. The Church of England was separated from Rome.


The Continental Reformers agreed that divorce may be granted under certain circumstances and the parties may remarry (during this time it meant only remarry in church!) However Henry's Church of England remained resolute in disallowing divorce and remarriage (which included what we know as annulment). Thus the Church of England is the church which has the strictest discipline about divorce and remarriage. In contrast the Presbyterian Church of Scotland recognized divorce in the sense we know it now. The Anglican Church says "no, never" unless one of the spouses has passed away. The Anglican Church would not admit a divorced person to communion. In contrast a divorced Roman Catholic may be admitted to communion if he/she has not remarried.


This has been the stand of the Anglican Church and throughout the history of the British Monarchy, this has been THE BIG issue above anything else. in 1936 Edward VIII wanted to marry the woman he loved, Mrs Wallis Simpson, but Mrs Simpson is a divorced woman. The government advised the King that he cannot marry Mrs Simpson because the Church of England does not allow the remarriage of a divorced person and so he gave his famous abdication speech. And for that he and Wallis Simpson became history's most famous icon of romance.


Much later on 9 April 2009 Charles Prince of Wales (who was divorced from Princess Diana but with her death he could be remarried in church) married Camilla Parker-Bowles in a civil ceremony. He was barred from marrying in Church of England rites since Mrs Parker-Bowles was a divorced person. The Queen did not attend the ceremony due to her position as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. She however attended Charles and Camilla's  Anglican blessing service in Windsor Castle.


And this state of affairs is likely to mean that when Charles ascends the Throne, Camilla will be legally queen, but it is likely she will be known as the Princess Consort rather than queen consort. And this is because of the Church of England's discipline on marriage.


The wedding of Charles firstborn son, William and Kate Middleton last April 29 is a wedding where it was rude to talk about divorce. The young couple were much in love and were single when they tied the knot. But the sermon of the Bishop of London focused on the indissolubility of marriage.  And so did the wedding liturgy.


Even if the Church of England has largely kept its traditional discipline, England's civil law has allowed divorce and remarriage, the Church's recent practice has been found wanting. You can read Dr Tighe's review on what has happened in the Anglican Communion here. This leaves the Roman Catholic Church as the only major Christian body to disallow divorce and remarriage.


But as the Philippines considers civil divorce we are reminded about what the Gospel of St Matthew says


"It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:

But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery."

And in St Mark, we are reminded why the Jews allowed divorce because "of the hardness of our hearts"

Anglicans and Contraception

Filipino society is probably the last on earth to seriously debate on artificial contraception as part of the 2011 Reproductive Health bill (RH). However, debate on this is more than a hundred years old when as a result of worsening living conditions in England as a result of migration and the Industrial Revolution, in a classic Malthusian sense birth control was seen as a way to solve the problem.


The Anglican Communion at first opposed artificial contraception as stated in Resolution 68 of the 1920 Lambeth Conference


"We utter an emphatic warning against the use of unnatural means for the avoidance of conception, together with the grave dangers - physical, moral and religious - thereby incurred, and against the evils with which the extension of such use threatens the race. In opposition to the teaching which, under the name of science and religion, encourages married people in the deliberate cultivation of sexual union as an end in itself, we steadfastly uphold what must always be regarded as the governing considerations of Christian marriage. One is the primary purpose for which marriage exists, namely the continuation of the race through the gift and heritage of children; the other is the paramount importance in married life of deliberate and thoughtful self-control."


Then the Anglican bishops held on to the traditional belief on fertility regulation. However in the 1930  Lambeth Conference (Resolution 15), Anglicans approved contraception in particular cases.


"Where there is clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, the method must be decided on Christian principles. The primary and obvious method is complete abstinence from intercourse (as far as may be necessary) in a life of discipline and self-control lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless in those cases where there is such a clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, and where there is a morally sound reason for avoiding complete abstinence, the Conference agrees that other methods may be used, provided that this is done in the light of the same Christian principles. The Conference records its strong condemnation of the use of any methods of conception control from motives of selfishness, luxury, or mere convenience."


One hundred ninety three bishops voted "yes" and sixty seven voted "no".


The Anglican Communion was the first of the non-Catholic churches to allow contraception. Since then most non Catholic churches have allowed artificial contraception. A few small Protestant churches  more or less still hold the Roman Catholic position on the matter. The Orthodox churches hold varying views on the matter with some bishops lauding Humanae vitae and some allowing for a more liberal view. The Roman Catholic Church remains vehemently opposed to artificial contraception on moral grounds even if a sizeable number of Catholics do not agree with her.


However many Anglicans at the time opposed the resolution. You can find various positions opposing it here. Those opposed were mainly from the Anglo Catholic wing with some from the Evangelical wing of the Church of England. It is notable that in all these essays, the writers appealed to the unchanging practice of the Holy Catholic Church.


This opposition crosses into the history of Anglicanism in the Philippines. Father John Staunton of St Mary's Sagada was resolutely against the Lambeth decision and he became a Roman Catholic priest afterwards.


The Anglican Communion has based its stance on the practical difficulties of married couples and that by 1958, the bishops had accepted that many Anglicans use contraception and left the decision to use it on the couples themselves.


Today this is the general position of the Anglican Church. Many Orthodox churches hold a similar position to that of the 1930 Lambeth resolution. Many Roman Catholic laity, priests and even bishops and cardinals privately or publicly hold similar positions to that of the Anglican one.  The Episcopal Church in the Philippines has recently published its position on the RH bill. The ECP's support of the bill is consistent with the Anglican Communion's 1958 stance on the matter that the decision on what contraceptive to use lies with the married couple. This is also the general position of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) which the ECP is a founding member.


Nonetheless in the debates on the RH bill in the Philippines one of the Anglican divines in 1930 asks a question that is valid and relevant for us today.


"How far will the argument for contraceptives logically carry us?"

This same theologian also anticipates the Blessed Pope John Paul II's challenge on his election as pope. "Be not afraid"!

"The Church is right after all; we may not put asunder ends which God has joined together. And, if we think, with some timid persons of long ago, that "if the case of a man is so with his wife, it is not expedient to marry," we must leave the joy and the pain, the laughter and the tears, of home to those who are not afraid of them."

This is something Roman Catholics in the Philippines have lost in the debate on RH. We may be afraid to live and so we look for the easy way out!


The Anglo Catholic wing of the Church of England in 1930 even had a collect for pro life and against artificial contraception!


O Holy Father, enable us always to think and pursue such things as are pure, lovely and of good report; that by Thy grace we may become fit to glorify and enjoy Thee forever; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.