For all the saints

Thursday, 12th November 2009

Rowan Williams used All Saints Day to reassure his Rome-tempted Anglo-Catholic brethren with a couple of sermons about saints. In both he mentioned St Therese, in approving terms of course. In his sermon at All Saints Margaret Street he also mentioned a couple of other official Roman Catholic saints.

The concept of sainthood is an excellent illustration of the muddle at the heart of Anglicanism. It is clear proof that this church cannot move on from its Roman roots, it can never ‘get over’ this, as one talks of someone getting over an ex. What, to an Anglican, is a saint? Is it, or is it not, someone who has been canonized by the Roman church? Anglicans like Williams are carefully agnostic: they refer to Rome’s saints approvingly, but imply that there are lots of non-Roman ones too.

The only consistent approach for non-Roman Catholics and non-Orthodox is to drop the concept of sainthood completely. It’s a papal Trojan horse.

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Geoff Miller

November 14th, 2009 3:58pm Report this comment

The Anglican Communion has no peculiar thought, practice, creed or confession of its own. It has only the Catholic Faith of the ancient Catholic Church, as preserved in the Catholic Creeds and maintained in the Catholic and Apostolic constitution of Christ's Church from the beginning.

Dr Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1945-1961

Matt

November 17th, 2009 6:30am Report this comment

I wonder if SAINT Paul rode a horse though Troy on his way to Rome?

kate b

November 17th, 2009 4:03pm Report this comment

'Saint' Paul wrote to all the saints, it's just another word for those who believe Jesus is....according to Martha's understanding of who Messiah should be ie the Messiah, the Son of the living God, the one who would come into the world - good understanding considering she 'only' had the Torah to work from.

hadrian

November 20th, 2009 10:30pm Report this comment

It may have escaped the late, unlamented Archbishop Fisher's notice that his Church does indeed have a Creed- the 39 Articles that are robustly Protestant and anti Papist. Those who take vows to uphold this official Creed then do the work of undermining and denigrating it, either in a 'liberal/humanistic direction or in a Romanist one, are,quite simply, hypocrites.
The 'saints' of the Church of Rome are entirely misnamed; the true saint is any and every believer who has been set apart/devoted 'sanctified' by the Holy Ghost in his/her spiritual regeneration.
Rome's 'saints' purport to have reached a giddy height of holiness by superfluous works of righteousness- a claim that is flatly denied by Holy Scripture- 'NOT by works of righteousness are we saved', says the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to Titus.
Of course Rome's concept of righteousness is far, far short of Holy Scripture's so the standard is quite easy to reach- as she herself teaches in order to refute Biblical Protestant doctrine.

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