The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-10-30
CONTINUED from page -
THE ANGLICAN BISHOP or {
FORD AND KlkUYU.


seem quite arbitrary and unreason-
able? In particular, the temper Of
mind generated in the African or
Chinese or Indian communities con-
eerned would be such as seems to me
to render it practically certain that,
If the European missionaries were
withdrawn, the restrictions on COM
plete spiritual fellowship would
speedily vanish This conclusion
seems to me to be inevitable
BY such methods as those adopted
at the Kikuyu Conference, according
to the reasoning of DR.. Gore, the
prospect of reunion amongst Angli-
cans and other nonconformists is
farther off than ever. Nor is it brought
any nearer by what DR.. Gore has to.
say concerning the basis of the min
istry; for he writes, there is no JUS
LITIGATION for refusing full recognition
of nonconformist ministers, in view OF
the spiritual fruits of their labors, ex-
cept the belief, Cd that the episco-
pate is of the essence of valid min
istry, and CD that an episcopally or
dained priest is necessary for valid
Eucharist" Here we are constrained
to point out that if the episcopate be
the visible source of valid ministry
there must be some visible central
authority from which the validity of
the ordination and conservation of the
priesthood and episcopate is derived,
and this visible central authority can
be the only source of jurisdiction in
the Church. Else what assurance has
the world that the episcopate is valid
episcopate? Is not the episcopate
without recognised visible head just
as liable to schism as the priesthood2
Are there not at the present time
validly ordained and consecrated
bishops in schism simply because they
decline to recognize and acknowledge
the visible head of the Church? We
cannot, however, include amongst
these the Anglican bishops, whose or
ders the Church through its Wis
| ible head has declared to be in
valid. And if it be urged that our
| Blessed Lord is the only source and
centre of the Episcopate, the same
may be urged concerning the priest
hood and the congregation. Hence,
we have Presbyterianism and Con-
gregationalism. When the centre of
all visible unity was denied there nat
urally followed the plague of division
| in increasing virulence, plague the
spread of which no amount of pleas
/ ing and so-called Charitable" plati.
tudes can ever stay. Aninlosity based
only on Episcopaey is a schism. The
| bubbles SO frequently introduced into
discussions of these things, bubbles
invariably based upon passages OF
Scripture, misinterpreted, serve no
other purpose than to confuse the is
sue, whatever may be the motives OF
those who introduce them. We are
frequently told that in the New Test.
ament no traces are to be found of the
Supremacy of st. Peter. Those who
so argue are as a rule so prejudiced
as to suffer from warped minds. The
Primary of st. Peter many of these
concede. 1t is his Supremacy they
deny. The Catholic Church claims
that his Supremacy is clearly taught
in the Scriptures of the New Tesla
ment. In his second epistle st. Peters
admonition to the readers of st. Paul's
Epistles surely is a striking instance
of the exercise by st. Peter of his au
thority as the first visible head of the
Church on earth, the position to
which, if language has any meaning at
all, he was appointed by our Blessed
Lord We are aware that many non
Catholic scholars allege the second
epistle of st. Peter to be spurious. The
/ Catholic Church is the judge of what
is Scripture and what is not, and the
Catholic Church included that epistle
in the Bible when she declared OF
what writings the Bible consists, the
Bible the nom Catholic world owes
to her. To deny, as some non-C atho
olics do, the authenticity of the sec
ond epistle of st. Peter is simply to
adopt the readiest means of getting
rid of what utterly demolishes their
case. The Historic Episcopate, as
Anglicans term it, is not satisfactory
foundation on which to rest the Chris
tan ministry because it is not the
foundation divinely selected, decreed
and ordained by our Lord. That foun
dation no one with a proper sense Of
the meaning of words can ever mis-
J take: Thou art Peter (rock), and
upon this rock will build my Church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it, And | viii give to thee
the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven
And whatsoever thou shalt bind uper
earth, it shall be bound also in heaven:
and whatsoever thou shalt loose or
: earth, it shall be loosed also in heav
en-" All the verbal bubbles to which
these words have given rise. and may
yet give rise, can never succeed il
altering their most obvious meaning
! DR.. Gore then goes ON to say thai
he loves noncomformists, and a1mires
them, and Acknowledges the abundant
fruits of their ministry Shar .ng, a:
i we do DR.. Cores feelings regarding
nome Catholics, we trust we shah no
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