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Church of England Vicar Resigns Following Appointment of Bishop Cottrell to be next Archbishop of York
Church of England's Teaching on Sexuality Undermined by Practice, says Rev. Steven Hanna
Steady drip of evangelical vicars begin to leave CofE
By David W. Virtue, DD
www.virtueonline.org
December 19, 2019
The vicar of St. Elisabeth, Wood Lane in Dagenham, Essex has resigned his orders in the Church of England, telling his bishop, the Rt. Rev. Stephen Cottrell, that the liberal trajectory of the Church of England is unacceptable. He further stated that he was "horrified" at the proposal to ordain Jide Macaulay, an openly homosexual vicar living with his partner.
"I believe it is unfaithful to support plural truth on primary issues of salvation. I believe it is unfaithful not to reject publicly the same-sex agenda. I also have concerns about Safeguarding in the context of the transgender agenda and specifically what happened earlier in the year with (a transgender lobby group) Mermaids, which I fear will be replicated in Church of England schools up and down the country. I also feel it is unfaithful to mis-use baptismal liturgy in the context of gender transition," said the Rev. Steven Hanna.
"Attempts at saying the Church of England's official teaching is not changing are, nonetheless, already undermined by practice and it seems only a matter of time before the charade ceases and official teaching changes too."
Hanna said that those who might accuse him of abandoning the flock, "I would reply that I have no desire to do that at all. The Good Shepherd laid down His life for His sheep and leads them in paths of righteousness and to safe pastures. I seek to do the same. 'Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed but if it dies, it produces many seeds.'"
"It comes then, at great cost to us to leave St. Elisabeth's -- both relationally and financially but we must go where the Lord leads. This is my 13th year as minister here and my 50th year in Dagenham. I have served in this diocese since 2002. I do not wish to leave badly nor force others to stay or go against their consciences."
Hanna is one of a growing number of orthodox priests to recently leave the Church of England over its growing liberalism on matters of faith and morals.
Earlier in the year the Rev. John Parker resigned as governor of a Church of England (CofE) primary school over concerns about a young child being allowed to transition gender in the school, and the school inviting transgender lobby group Mermaids to provide training to staff and governors.
The Rev. Dr. Peter Sanlon said he had watched the CofE institutionally push through an agenda of false teaching, from the undermining of marriage to the Koran being read in cathedrals and transgender liturgy. In April, he was ordained into the Free Church of England and is now planting a new church rooted in the Gospel.
More recently, the Rev. Julian Mann left the CofE and was licensed as minister of Emmanuel, Morecambe in the Free Church of England, a smaller Anglican denomination which formed in the mid-19th century.
"The basic reason for deciding to leave now is the fact that the CofE's governing body, the General Synod, has become much more politically correct since the last elections in 2015. This became clear in July 2017 when the Synod passed a motion calling on the government to ban same-sex-attracted people from choosing therapy to help them form heterosexual relationships. No Christian should defend or condone the coercion or abuse of same-sex-attracted people but for the Synod to call on the government to ban an adult's own choice of therapy seemed to be an act of neo-Stalinism," he told VOL.
"It seems likely that that the Synod will, after the next elections in 2020, authorize services of same-sex blessing in the CofE. It also looks likely thereafter that the Synod will change the CofE's Marriage Canon to allow homosexual weddings in local churches. If this profound doctrinal change comes about, then the Church of England will have ceased to be a recognizably Christian denomination but rather a religious subsidiary of the socially Marxist establishment of post-Christian Britain."
But the nail in the coffin for these and future evangelical Church of England priests was the recent announcement that the Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt. Rev. Stephen Cottrell will push the homosexual agenda of the Church of England, further alienating evangelicals and possibly Anglo-Catholics.
Cottrell is set to replace Archbishop John Sentamu as the next Archbishop of York when he retires next year.
Cottrell is an Affirming Catholic and leader in the pro homosexual wing of the Church of England. He has called for thanksgiving services and eucharists for homosexual couples amid controversy on how the Church should move forward.
The newly appointed archbishop will hold the second most powerful position in the Church of England. He has said the CofE was seen as "immoral" for its refusal to welcome homosexual marriage, stressing it would be "particularly foolish" to ignore the damage done to the Church's mission.
He believes biblical teaching on sexuality should come second to 21st century Western cultural beliefs.
If true, it will be the kiss of death for the Church of England and confirm that the fleers were right in leaving the CofE, just as the birth and formation of the ACNA was necessary as a corrective to the Episcopal Church's slide towards sexual apostasy.
It will be up to GAFCON primates and provinces to maintain the 'faith once for all delivered to the saints'. Don't bank on the Church of England and most of western Anglicanism being able to do that for much longer.
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