[Magdalen] Brother headed for ordination

[Roger Stokes]

On 22/11/2017 00:01, M J _Mike_ Logsdon wrote:
>>>> Absent that the seminary-trained person may set themselves up
> as pastor of an independent church which they lead without any wider
> oversight. That way can lie all sorts of problems with the pastor
> potentially having an over-inflated idea of his own ability to teach
> Christian truth.<<<
>
> So true, says the defunct indie Catholic priest.
>
> But I have a question.  Aside from the obvious concern of over-inflation, as long as an "Episcopally" / "Anglicanly" ordained-but-uncalled (to a specific ministry within the organisation that ordained him/her) cleric sets up in such a way as to be completely transparent about his/her indie status, would there necessarily be all that much to worry about?  (In my experience, for every nutjob there's at least one decent one -- though the two can often be blended within the same person.)

The short answer is "not necessarily". I am not aware of the Desert 
Fathers and Mothers having much direct oversight to keep them on the 
straight and narrow. The danger is for the (I suspect) minority who may 
combine their own (over-inflated) sense of vocation with a desire to 
control others. It is probably that desire to have dedicated followers 
which is the big danger sign.

Roger