We're Finally Seen Tiptoeing Down the Aisle The Wrong Way For the Last Time

We have a soft spot for the Anglican Church in general, and the Church of England in particular. Our entry into the blogosphere, and toward the perimeters of the Eastern Orthodox Church, rode on the ripples of our shock at the Current ECUSA Unpleasantness, and its scuttling of our expectation it would always be there with the historic Deposit of Faith, in fine Florentine wrappings.

For another installment of the saga of You Can't Get Here/Anywhere from There,...

...see Rev'd Peter Mullen, lamenting the state of his own Church of England in The New Criterion. Here's a glimpse of his experience at an Oxford clergy conference:

Then the Bishop came on and told us that at the laughably misnamed riot called "The Peace" he didn't want us merely to shake hands but to "hug one another"-- and not just to hug one another, but to put our arms on our neighbor's shoulders and say three times, "You are everlastingly loved."

Editorial comment by Diogenes: Bob. Weave left. Short right uppercut. Return to personal prayer.

[All this is via Diogenes, where a comment offers the perfect deeply-layered classical tag, Noli Me Tangere.]  

When it comes to christenings, weddings, and funerals, the Church has given up talking to grown-ups and instead produces the sort of touchy-feely guff used in adverts directed at moony adolescents. At the wedding, for instance, the new official book for every parish, Common Worship, makes the priest pray, "Let them be tender with each other's dreams."

Adding,

I think there should be a rubric in the margin saying, "At this point the congregation shall throw up -- bride's family's side first."

OK, we're finally and completely repelled:

You have to wonder whether they really enjoy it or, instead, see its usefulness in repelling from the Church the kind of Christians they loathe and fear.

 Funny, and not. The legacy of the Anglican liturgy is a living treasure as sad to see dismantled as the defacement of the Afghan Buddhas. Except here, there's no Taliban required. DIY.