Friday, September 01, 2006

The Anglican Mission in America and the Female Diaconate

From my good friend Father Peter Geromel:

I wanted to pass along the location of a paper that I think you might find interesting. It is written to the AMiA bishops in response to the report on the Ordination of Women to the priesthood about the fact that while the priesthood has been denied to women in AMiA, the Diaconate has not. It is written by Fr. Jason Patterson, Assistant Rector at St. John the Evangelist AMiA in Churchville, PA. Fr. Patterson has studied at Westminster Theological Seminary and has a M.A.R. from Trinity School for Ministry. Although a young clergyman, he has already accepted a position on the Board of the Prayer Book Society. His paper uses Scripture, the traditional formularies, and evidence from the first five centuries of the Church to explain why AMiA cannot continue to ordain women to the diaconate. This is good to see coming out of the ranks of AMiA, because Holy Orders is a communion breaking issue and many Anglican theologians consider that the Sacrament of Ordination is one and therefore the integrity of the Sacrament must be inviolate throughout.

http://www.stjeac.org/ (the paper is in the righthand margin of the website).

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