Saturday 19/11/2011: Hilda of Whitby, Abbess, cAD680.

We had a Church Army Sister who became a Novice, who became a nun, who became a Deacon in The Church. She is still a nun of 'Hilda's Place' as we call the Order of the Holy Paraclete at Whitby. Hilda ran a disciplined, male and female monastery at Whitby and it was the venue for the famous Synod of Whitby when the RC sent an overload of delegates to outwit and out vote the more saintly Celtic bishops. So, the Synod adopted the Roman way of calculating Easter and recommended the RC dogma. Many of the Celtic bishops could not accept this and retired to Iona and later to Ireland. The legacy of that early Celtic Church in Scotland lives on, albeit with an emphasis on the inner, spiritual life rather than the politics of the day, in the Scottish Episcopal Church. At least the SEC claim this, but then they were also more influenced by the Orthodox tradition in the early days. The independent nature of the SEC is linked to the early Celtic tradition and is still so today, even though it adopted the Anglican tradition as well. Indeed, it developed the Anglican Communion as we know it today. It steers a middle way between that of the established, national Church of Scotland, and the RC Church. A Canon priest of the SEC chaired the latest Scots Declaration, in the form of the Scottish Constitutional Convention which led to the Scots voting for Devolution and the return of its parliament from London. The present debacle of the government at Holyrood pushing the Churches in Scotland over same-sex marriages has resulted in the SEC saying nothing. It would take a number of years for the General Synod to make any changes, if at all. In England it would be easier for the English Government at Westminster to simply pass a new law there and, as the C of E is the State Church, they would have to obey the law. At least that is the theory. It all hinges on semantics, or what you call a 'marriage'. A Civil Partnership is self explanatory. A Church Blessing is already in place and could be used. A differing use of the word 'marriage' as distinct from 'wedding' may be the answer. Either way, changes will come and the Church worldwide will reflect the change in some way. There will still be some who, like the spiritual Celtic bishops, will "retire to Iona or then to Ireland."