Forum
The status of Holy orders
Several priests and a bishop in the Diocese of Brisbane have had their orders revoked – defrocked in the old parlance.With a court case pending in Newcastle, calling into question the legality of deposing from Holy Orders, the retired Bishop of Melanesia, Dr Terry M Brown has written to Anglican Primate and Archbishop of Brisbane Philip Aspinall expressing his disquiet.An open letter to the Primate from the Revd Malcolm Bell has also been circulating during Lent.
In March this year Bishop Brown wrote to the Primate: “Your action and that of the Professional Standards Committee (PSC) raises many questions, theological, legal and pastoral.The secrecy with which the whole process was followed is of great concern. “Star Chamber” and “kangaroo court” come to mind. I understand that similar concerns have been raised about the PSC process in the Diocese of Newcastle, which is now, quite correctly, being tested in a court of law. With time, I have no doubt that similar legal action will be taken against Brisbane diocese…
“Article XXVI of the Articles of Religion places deposition of a minister of religion in a context in which it was assumed that clergy (like all Christians) are not perfect and sometimes fail.That is the whole point (in the first part of the Article) of the strong defence of the sacraments (as sacraments of Christ) working ex opere operato apart from the sins of the priest. On the other hand, deposition from Holy Orders (discussed in the second part of the Article) is reserved for clergy who are “evil” in an ongoing and fundamental way…
“There is also the issue of the indelibility of sacramental character (St Thomas Aquinas) which for many Catholic Anglicans (myself included) cannot be erased by a certificate signed by an Archbishop, no more than Baptism can be erased by such a certificate. That is not to preclude permanent inhibition in the case of very serious offence. Deposition or degrading from holy orders is being used here to assert (as you seem to suggest in some of your public comments on this and similar cases) that all previous good work as a priest is now cast into doubt, that it were better the person had never been ordained and worked as a priest.This is deeply insulting those who have benefited from (a priest’s) ministry and comes close to a denial of the gift of the Holy Spirit given in ordination (including the power of the Holy Spirit to bring good out of evil)…
“In no way do I condone sexual exploitation of minors or the use of ecclesiastical (or other) power to sexually exploit those in vulnerable situations no matter what their age. Such actions need to be recognized and addressed and those responsible be disciplined. Both victim and perpetrator need counselling…
“Finally, I would only suggest that the excessively legal and juridical character that the Diocese now exhibits is not good for the life of the Church. It suggests a Church whose primary worry is the law and not being taken to court. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about so much more than this worry. Included in that Gospel are wisdom, kindness, patience, hospitality and forgiveness (even for priests who have skeletons in their closets).
“The Gospel cannot be made risk-free, as it is about risk. Jesus Christ’s unconditional love and restoration of human dignity to all, even to the worst sinner, remains at the heart of the Gospel.”
In February Fr Malcolm Bell, a retired priest in the diocese of Brisbane, had written much along these lines in an open letter to the Primate, adding:
“(I)t is not the institution of the church that bestows Holy Orders. Holy Orders are given by God’s grace, as the church properly recognizes in its Ordinal.The only way the church might be seen to remove Holy Orders is for a deliberate, authorized decision to be made that such God-given orders were not given, and therefore that the church made a mistake in believing that they had been.”
At the time of going to press Archbishop Aspinall had not replied to these letters.
