A Funny Thing Happened . . .

 A funny thing happened on my way to “becoming a Benedictine Oblate on behalf of the ACNA.”  I experienced the most savage Anxiety / Panic attack / Nervous breakdown scenario while at work.

This followed an “uneventful” and joyous attendance of a local Suffragan Bishop ordination of an Anglican Priest I was once under at an AMIA parish in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

I was truly happy for him, but something about the service got to me a day later.

I thought about The Oath of Conformity and about Anglicanism generally, and about the form and style of the service.

I realized I was kind of an outsider, outlier still.  This shook me.

In 2025 and 2026 so far, Anglicanism has gone through a series of outright disasters.  

First, there was the new Schism between Bishop Derek Jones and the Anglican Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces vs. The ACNA, then a progressive female Archbishop of Canterbury was selected, then the ACNA’s Archbishop became embroiled in scandal, and was rightfully inhibited before an upcoming Church Trial.

Two conservative Global South Anglican Groups can’t come to agreement on a final break with Canterbury.  GAFCON plans to, the other group won’t.  That’s a problem.

And just now, an Anglican Bishop in the ACNA is suing Derek Jones for defamation in the secular courts, whether deserved or not in clear violation of Holy Scripture.

This, frankly is a mess.  And I think I’ve realized some of the reasons why these upheavals keep happening.

I felt compelled to return to Holy Orthodoxy Full Time due to all these matters.

The Episcopate in Anglicanism is damaged.  This damage began with King Henry the 8th sacking of the Monasteries, many of them Benedictine, in the Middle Ages.

In Holy Orthodoxy, the Bishops are drawn from the Monastic ranks.  Deep dedication, therefore is “baked in” with these holy men.

Anglicanism’s Bishops are married men without Monastic Formation.  This leads to constant problems, whether among conservatives or liberals.  Part two of this article will theorize a possible remedy.  I’ll lead it off with this phrase:  The Articles of Religion, like the U.S. Constitution, should not be a mutual Suicide Pact.  More soon.