(Ed: Technically, it was the claim that the sacrifices of the Masses remitted pain or guilt "for the quick and the dead" that was dismissed by the Articles as "blasphemous fables", see the quote below.)
It is hard to criticise an Archbishop of Canterbury for writing prayers. Who better, after all, than the learned Primate of All England to compose a form of words to commemorate Diana, Princess of Wales?
That will not stop people from voicing any criticism that comes to mind, for they tend now to regard the Church of England like any other consumer service-provider. Rare churchgoers demand customised weddings and funerals, thinking they are original in choosing Bat Out of Hell, say, as a recessional hymn.
Not many, though, will mind one aspect of Dr Rowan Williams's composition that, a generation ago, would have caused hot controversy. That is the prayer for Diana's soul: "May she rest in peace where sorrow and pain are banished."
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It may sound harmless enough, but the teaching of the Church of England always prohibited prayers for the dead. They smacked of the doctrine of Purgatory, condemned by the Thirty-Nine Articles as an invention of Romish priests whose prayers for "the dead to have remission of pain or guilt, were blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits". Read more
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Wednesday, 22 August 2007
Archbishop of Canterbury pens "prayer for the dead" for Diana
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1 comment:
Personally, I think the writer makes a good point. If the Church of England is like a "consumer service-provider" (nice pun), how can the CEO of the organization miss-sell the product without ramifications for the future? And as a fellow member of the 'company staff', how can I insist we don't provide this 'product' when the 'boss' says we do? Once upon a time we took these things seriously in the Church of England, and the country took us seriously. Is it any wonder we are no longer taken seriously by the country when we no longer take theology seriously ourselves?
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