Aground off Laodicaea
Francis Gardom on Lukewarm Clergy
A friend is a leading figure in one of the Continuing Anglican Churches, and over the years he has asked himself time and again why many fellow priests who are relentlessly critical of the theological and moral heterodoxies of the Episcopal Church are nevertheless unwilling to “take the plunge” and separate themselves from a body they believe to be beyond reform.
Sometimes the reason is obvious: Financial, career, or family considerations may conspire to keep them where they are—at least for the time being. But what of the others, those who would appear to have nothing to lose by taking such a step? My friend, writing of such a person, said in a recent letter:
I’m going to the 40th anniversary of another fellow seminarian who retires next month. He has been most helpful to us, but even with full pension and lots of money elsewhere, won’t come to us. He is determined to “stay in” and give them “ordure.” What a way to go! Can you suggest the psychology behind these men? I’m baffled.
I gave a lot of thought to his question. Because my friend and I believe that such a decision is a wrong one, I thought it important to begin by examining critically our instinctive disapproval of his attitude.
Some Initial Considerations
Questions of loyalty, especially when changing sides is involved, raise very strong emotions in all of us. So I began my reply to him with some general considerations before looking more closely at the specific question of these men and their psychology.
First, too often the attitude of those of us who have “borne the burden and heat of the day” towards these men has been dismissive: the equivalent of shouting raca! at them. Besides being unhelpful, this is contrary to our Lord’s teaching about how brothers who find themselves at variance with one another should behave.
Almost as unhelpful as the dismissive attitude is the simplistic one that attributes such defections to nothing more original than sloth, indolence, disappointment, or fear. All of these may certainly contribute towards the sort of disengagement we are considering, but they are far from being the whole story. There is, I will suggest, a crucial psychological dimension to such behavior.
Even if we could be sure that there was no chance of bringing them back to the Truth (and such returnings, though rare, still do happen from time to time), it is more important to discover why they went off the rails. And this we shall only succeed in doing if we approach them in a civilized manner. Understanding, not apportioning blame, will be a far more worthwhile attitude to adopt.
Second, we must remember that the appropriate way to behave under stress may differ from one place and even from one individual to another. As Algernon says in The Importance of Being Earnest, “Truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
Francis Gardom is a priest in the Church of England and Honorary Secretary of Cost of Conscience, an international association of Anglican priests committed to safeguarding the deposit of faith.
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