[Magdalen] Down-hearted

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

This is so sad.  Is there no one who will speak with your group about what
YOU want?

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 8:02 AM, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Our new priest, who was issued to us by the Diocese, is  a real problem.
> Early word that he would have no trouble with our Anglo-Catholic liturgy
> has proved true -- he simply ignores it.  All is chaos as he insists on
> imposing his will and ways on us, and has so from the very first Sunday.
> He spends the liturgy of the word down at the rector's desk not even
> reverencing the altar with us when we enter.  "We are people of the Word."
> He has moved the lectern into the middle of the crossing (such as it is in
> our small place) and has moved the candles that used to flank it up behind
> the altar.  It is now a hazard for the thurifer censing the congregation
> and a general clog in the flow of traffic.  Yesterday being the Festival of
> the Blessed Virgin Mary, he pointed out to me (yesterday's preacher) that
> the icon had been placed in its place on the side altar.  I then said , Yes
> and when censing the altar he would  stop at the halfway point and come
> down to cense the icon then go back up.  'I'm not comfortable censing an
> icon', he said. Nor did he.  He doesn't use the paten.  Furthermore, there
> is no warmth or intimacy when he  giving out the sacrament.  He could just
> be throwing a piece of orange peel over his shoulder, having already moved
> on to the next person with eyes fixed on some distant point.    Our poor
> altar party and servers are in total disarray  because he has changed
> everything and comes to the service with a new list of what he wants done,
> which is totally at odds with what they have learned over the last weeks,
> months or years.  Speed is all.  And he speaks too quickly, leading the
> Creed (from the chancel facing the altar) at breakneck speed.
>
> A total control freak, he wants us to become a totally BAS church.
> blecch.  He informed me some weeks ago he wanted my PoP to be based on one
> of the templates therein and sent me what he wanted.  I eventually complied
> -- but he STILL rewrote them totally.  So yesterday I did what I would
> always do for the Feast of the BVM, not necessarily longer , but with some
> soul and caring.  He has already insisted that the rota of readings I
> prepare be moved from the RCL (which he has dismissed as American) to a
> peculiarly Canadian one which follows the stories of the Old Testament,
> rather than themes. That's what he likes to preach on.  Dry as dust
> exegesis and, as someone said recently, nothing to take home with them.
>
> Personally, I think that the agenda is that he is to prepare us for
> absorption by one of the other more Protestant churches to the north,
> retaining only our excellent Food Bank which serves this depressed end of
> town.   He had his own Prayer Book church which closed and was merged with
> another church  in Toronto, so he has experience in this sort of exercise
> which is the flavour of the month in this diocese.  Rid us of our papish
> ways so that we will fit better.  So I delivered a rock 'em sock 'em
> Assumption homily that must have curdled his blood.
>
> Written in rebellious dejection.
>
> Marion, a pilgrim
>