http://www.sanctustheological.com/default.asp I'd like to get some opinions of this school. What do you make of their accreditation statement; what is the Oxford Educational Network?
It's a b.s. school run by an episcopus vagans. Look for a website titled "Independent Movement" for a rapsheet on a whole bunch of devotees of metropolitical millinery, etc., etc.
Uncle J., The "Independent Movement" has a lot of legitimate churches and ministers, as well as some flakes, nuts, and crooks--and so do the mainline denominations.
I agree, Michael--but the proportion of oddballs is vastly, uh, higher among e.v.'s. (Many years ago I knew an O.R.C. bishop in Detroit who was a person of great integrity--and certainly Karl Pruter and others come to mind as well.) Due to a combination of three rather disparate factors--gay and women's liberation, traditionalist Catholicism, and continuing Anglicanism--some of the so-called independent Catholic clergy actually have real parishes with parishioners. This is an improvement. The spectacle of isolated weirdos dressing up and swopping ostensible lines of apostolic succession has a lot more to do with folie de grandeur than with functioning religious communities, and the amazing titles are about as "real" as certain universities discussed in this forum. Another serious issue is the chronic deliberate misrepresentation by many e.v.'s of (nonexistent) ties to the Union of Utrecht and/or of (nonexistent) ties to canonical Orthodox jurisdictions, analogous to the use of bogus accreditors. There is in fact one and only one Old Catholic denomination in the US which is in communion with Utrecht: the Polish National Catholic Church. Having said that, are there legit churches with legit clergy (sociologically speaking; my Gnesio-Lutheran view of their theology is irrelevant here) in the "Independent Movement"? Sure. But as with unaccredited schools, the many bad apples have put an additional burden of proof upon the scattered few reputable organizations.
Unc, I agree with much of what you have said, but there are more than a few reputable organizations in the Independent Movement. And as for bad apples, I don't know how anyone could outdo the present situation in the Roman Catholic Church. Further, many of the mainline denominations have gotten so radically liberal as to make Marxists blush. Then, on the other extreme, the rabid fundamentalists and traditionalists are so rigid that any first century Pharisee would be proud of them. These are the main reasons for the proliferation of the Independent Movement and other new churches; perhaps many of the "bad apples" are just fallouts and transfers from the mainline/traditional heretics, Pharisees, and apostates.
Hi Michael: As to your points-- 1) I hope you are right, and that sincere and ethical persons are coming to outnumber the gaudy degenerates. 2) Me neither. 3a) Agree entirely. 3b) Often true; there are some wonderful counter-examples on this forum, however! 4) Here I think we must disagree. Many, many e.v.'s have been sexual degenerates, con-men, and a few have been outright psychos. May their tribe decrease. If such persons are "fallout" from more established denominations--I am not sure of that--maybe people within this movement need to ask why they wind up there. For the sake of institutional and personal integrity, any religious or academic organization (this was about a school,originally!) must have adequate ethical and professional oversight as a non-negotiable ingredient. How this can be done in as free-lance a collection as the IM, I haven't any idea at all. That's not to say it's impossible. If you want to continue this discussion, haul it over to off-topic! If not, that's OK. I'll stand by my original characterization of STI as less-than-wonderful: fake accreditation, etc., etc. Best wishes, Janko
