Blog – “Parish the Thought”

 In an age of confusion many seek for they know not what. They cannot be blamed for their uncertainties because the surrounding culture has become toxic and misleads them. This is the first great truth, to understand that the age is evil, that it lacks balance and proportion, and that it has abandoned truth for a sterile relativism ; but there is a way which can lead to peace. A way that is narrow and challenging, but which frees from the darkness. It demands only a surrender, a willingness to step into the light. Evelyn Underhill (1875 – 1941) was a mystic in the spirit of the mediaeval authors who… Read More

CHAPTER 7 THE SOUL’S EYE The Book of Common Prayer   “Only when the human spirit does not cut itself off from the divine spirit, only then has man’s word enough power to keep hold of things.” —Max Picard, The Flight from God, p. 121.   Give me, O Lord, the assistance of Thy Spirit and comfort of Thy grace, truly to know Thee, entirely to love Thee, and assuredly to trust in Thee.  And that as I do acknowledge to have received the government of this Church and kingdom of Thy hand, and to hold the same of Thee, so grant me grace, O Lord, that in the end… Read More

A View from the Back Pew Margaret J. Howell A paper to be presented at the Gathering of Traditional Anglicans in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, June 1 – 4 2011.   The author was born in Exeter, Devonshire, and educated privately there.  Later she studied at Indiana University in the United States, from which she graduated with the B.A. and M.A. degrees in English.  She has taught English at the Universities of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia and was for twenty-two years a teacher of English and History at Crofton House School in Vancouver.   Her special interests are English literature and the study of texts, including the Bible, the history… Read More

Palestine in Prophecy.  A Short Review. M.J. Howell   Recently, a local parish publication ran a small item announcing that the Chairman of the “Temple Mount Faithful” had written to the Pope (22 January 2004), declaring that “today, Israel is the most exciting fulfilment of God’s end-time prophecies and promises.  The climax of this prophetic time will be the soon rebuilding of the Temple exactly as the prophets of Israel prophesied.” That the modern Israeli state fulfills Biblical promise, that this land was given in perpetuity to the Jews, and that their “return” there actually heralds the end of the world, has been reiterated very often to demand Christian sympathy… Read More

Which Way the Church?   The May-June issue of The Traditional Anglican carried an interesting article by Bert Dantu about Deacons, tracing their origins to Acts 6:2, where Stephen and Philip appear as among the first appointed.  However, although this account is usually cited as the source of this church office, the noun, diakonis, never appears; only the phrase diakonein trapezais (=serve at tables)[1].   After referring briefly to the Rubric from the ordination of Deacons in the Book of Common Prayer, the article says that such men are to be addressed as “Father Deacon”.  Actually, the BCP nowhere states that a Deacon should be so addressed; the Rubric says that… Read More