Sermon Preached by Bishop David Chislett SSC

on the Occasion of his Farewell Mass at All Saints, Wickham Terrace, Brisbane, on Sunday 19th June, 2005.

Today is one of the saddest days of my life. My heart is broken.

For ten years I have served as your Rector, your parish priest, and, as I said to you at the Parish's Annual Meeting in February, I was looking forward to my next ten years with you.

I am sad beyond belief because being Rector of All Saints, Wickham Terrace has never been a "job" for me so much as being part of a FAMILY; and unlike other times when I've moved on, I have been forced to leave you against my will.

We have had ten good years together. They have been years of hard work. But they have also been years of blessing and growth. Together we have proclaimed and lived the Good News of Jesus right in the heart of this beautiful City of Brisbane, and we have seen many people indeed, some of YOU here present today discover Jesus for the first time.

In fact, as I look out over the congregation, my heart is touched by the presence of so many who have allowed me to share deeply in your life and death circumstances.

If there is something I want you to remember about my time with you, it is that together we became part of what Pope John Paul II called the New Evangelization. In other words, together we have brought men and women to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. We have become "Evangelical Catholics". Our hearts truly "burn within us" as we allow Jesus to speak to us through the Scriptures, and we continually recognise him in the "Breaking of the Bread" (Luke 24). I am reminded of some words of Pope Benedict when he was still just dear old "Cardinal Ratzinger" in May 2004:

Many people perceive Christianity as something institutional rather than as an encounter with Christ, which explains why they don't see it as a source of joy. If we stay with this impression, we do not live the essence of Christianity, which is an ever new encounter, an event thanks to which we can encounter the God who speaks to us, who approaches us, who befriends us. It is critical to come to this fundamental point of a personal encounter with God, who also today makes himself present, and who is contemporary. If one finds this essential centre, one also understands all the other things. But if this encounter is not realized, which touches the heart, all the rest remains like a weight, almost like something absurd. We need to understand Christianity in a personal way, from the point of view of an encounter with Christ.

It is in this same spirit that I wrote in my Easter Card this year, following the suspension of my licence to function as a priest:

Deep within our hearts, Bishop David Moyer and I both believe (as do those from among whom our names emerged for this new ministry) that submitting to consecration as "missionary bishops" is an aspect of our obedience to the call of God, a fresh taking up of the Cross for the sake of the Gospel and the Faith.
We knew in advance that we would face opposition and misunderstanding, and even lose a few friends, although, given the ready accommodation within Anglican structures of clergy - even bishops - who reject basic Christian teaching on a whole range of matters, we have been surprised at the venom in much that has been written.
. . . I believe more firmly than ever that the provision of a shared episcopal ministry to marginalised, persecuted and scattered Anglican Catholics in Forward in Faith and the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) is a good and godly goal. I still believe that such a ministry based at All Saints' would work well to inspire the halfhearted, the depressed, the downtrodden - those priests and people who have thrown in the towel - to reignite a passion for the Gospel, and to re-establish orthodoxy in places where it has all but vanished. Time will tell. Whatever the outcome of the process set in train by the Archbishop of Brisbane, that ministry will be exercised somehow.

Following my consecration, and then my suspension, I received so many personal letters of encouragement from Anglican, Continuing Anglican, Roman Catholic, Russian, Greek and Antiochan Orthodox leaders, indicating that they understand full well just how difficult it now is for those Anglicans who really believe the Catholic Faith. For example, a well-known Roman Catholic Monsignor (not from Brisbane Archdiocese), the author of a number of significant books, began his letter thus:/

Dear Bishop David,
Pardon my tardiness, but please accept my belated congratulations on the great step taken. It had to be done, otherwise the decay and deceit would just roll on and on, as the good people drift and wander.
. . . I have followed some of the responses, positive, vague, silly and downright nasty, and that confused range of reactions should assure you that taking a stand for Faith and Order is always costly. . .

For all of its history, All Saints' has stood firm for the undiluted Catholic Faith. Its people have always been taught that they are Catholics first and Anglicans second (the order we claim is required of us by our historic Anglican formularies). In fact, that is a summary! As I said in my Annual Meeting Address back in February, we are first of all CHRISTIANS; then we are CATHOLICS; then we are EVANGELICALS; and then, I guess, if after all that there's still some time left over, we are ANGLICANS! That's our priority order. In that respect we are different to those parishes that merely have a "high church" flavour and believe in a separate religion called "Anglicanism". In fact, Anglicans like us have been left between THE Rock and a Hard Place by the relentless departure of liberal Anglicanism from the Faith once delivered to the Saints in all sorts of different areas, but objectively and sacramentally in the ordination of women which, as so many women and men around here will tell you, destroys not just the iconic value of the nuptial imagery at the heart of the Scriptures, the Gospel and the Faith, but also our confidence in the sacramental life of dioceses like this one that have embraced the changes.

In England at least, Provincial Episcopal Visitors (or "flying bishops") have been provided for Forward-in-Faith Anglicans like us, as a kind of "holding operation" at this stage of the realignment of English speaking Christianity that is the natural consequence of the disintegration of the Anglican world. That remedy has so far been denied us in Australia.

Hence the Consecration, after a very long time of discussion, debate and discernment.

I have never used the pulpit to make "political" statements. But today is my first and last opportunity to say a few things relative to the revoking of my licence.

Do you remember when Archbishop Peter Carnley purportedly ordained the first women priests in Australia in 1992 even before there was a Canon of General Synod providing for the ordination of women? The log jam preventing women's ordination in the Australian Church as he saw it was removed. There was no Canon providing for what he did; but it was said that neither did he contravene any Canons.

Does that sound familiar?

My Consecration was a far lesser act (in terms of 4th century patristic precedents in equally difficult circumstances) that sought to break the much bigger log jam of the refusal of the liberal bishops to provide Alternative Episcopal Oversight to orthodox catholics still within official Anglican structures. I could have been dealt with in the thoroughly Anglican way that Carnley was, that is, with everyone wringing their hands and the consecration being "deeply regretted", but with Archbishop Aspinall shrugging his shoulders and saying, "O.K. Dave, we've been checkmated just as you guys were by Carnley . . . now, how do we make this work?"

Many of us actually thought there was a good chance of that happening. We really did. In other words, in spite of what he says, in light of the fact that there had been no contravening of the Constitution, Canons, Rules or Regulations of the Diocese it was ALWAYS possible for Archbishop Aspinall to meet with the leaders of Forward in Faith, All Saints' Wickham Terrace, and the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia in Brisbane, and work out a truly pastoral approach whereby this ministry might function in such a way as to avoid the situation of winners and losers, maintaining the "highest level of communion" and co-operation possible for all who own the Anglican tradition.

But it seems yet again that there is one rule for the liberals and another for the orthodox.

When the "Philadelphia Eleven" (the first American women priests) were "ordained" illegally in 1977, and then when Peter Carnley went ahead without being authorised to do so here in Australia, these actions were hailed by liberals across the Anglican world as "prophetic". And, as you know, that is a commonly accepted view around Brisbane Diocese.

On the other hand, when, after years of being refused even a hearing by the liberal bishops in this country, orthodox Anglican catholics provide a ministry to the marginalised, it turns out to be "grave cause" and reason enough to get rid of me from All Saints and from the Diocese of Brisbane even though the Brisbane Commissioners (1) affirmed my honesty, integrity and sincerity in genuinely seeking to provide a ministry to the hurting, and (2) found that the Consecration did not contravene the Constitution, Canons, Rules or regulations of the Anglican Church of Australia in the Diocese of Brisbane.

The "Benefices Avoidance Canon" that allowed Dr Aspinall to do what he did is manifestly unjust. It is at variance with the principles that undergird the laws of both the State of Queensland and the Commonwealth of Australia. Therefore legal advice is being being sought regarding my options in the near future.

On the day that I was squeezed out of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane and my Incumbency of this dear parish (24th May, the Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians), I received a licence from Archbishop John Hepworth as an Assistant Bishop of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia (the ACCA. I will continue to live in Brisbane. The "Apostolic District" under my care will be Queensland and much of New South Wales. However, in fulfilment of the intention of my consecrators, I remain licensed as a bishop in the Diocese of The Murray in the Anglican Church of Australia, and will, by the grace of God, exercise my ministry as a missionary bishop wherever I am invited to do so (on either side of the dotted line that supposedly separates the ACCA from Forward in Faith Anglicans), especially among members of the Anglican Church of Australia in liberal dioceses.

The Anglican Catholic Church in Australia, and its parent body, the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), though small, is an entirely satisfactory grouping of Anglican catholics, especially in the light of the ten year old dialogue of the TAC with the Vatican, and recent developments in those talks, in which I have already been privileged to have a small role twenty months ago in Rome.

Meanwhile, Dr Aspinall's recent acknowledgment that the needs of people like us have not been met within official Anglican structures in this country is a milestone for the Diocese of Brisbane in general and Dr Aspinall in particular. His has committed himself to rectifying this situation. Time will tell.

Many of you have asked me to begin a new parish of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia right here in the heart of Brisbane. Obviously I understand how you feel. But I have worked so hard over the last ten years to gather this community together, and, naturally the desire of my heart is to see you stay together as one family if that can possibly be achieved with integrity. So, I believe that you must support the Parish Nominators as they meet with the Diocesan Authorities in the weeks that lie ahead.

But I hereby put Dr Aspinall on notice, that if he fails to keep his word about respecting the distinctiveness of All Saints', if he does not allow the appointment soon of a new Rector who is an Evangelical Catholic and who supports the Forward in Faith Communion Statement, then I will be forced to begin a new ACCA parish right under his nose in the heart of this city, for as a priest and a bishop I am not prepared to stand by and see people I love die spiritually at the hands of determined liberals.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, pray for me as I will continue to pray for you, that each of us will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ in our daily lives, and bring others to know and love him.

I want to say a big thank you for your gift of the cope and mitre. In the past I have (lovingly!) slagged off at tall bishops who have worn very tall mitres, as if doing so somehow increased their authority. I must now apologise to each of them! I had supplied the modest mitre Archbishop Hepworth is wearing today as a template for mine, but to no avail. I was told that in order to accommodate the design the traditional large size was necessary.

For the benefit of those who can't see the mitre close up, I want to explain the medallions, which are, in fact, small round orthodox icons.

On the front in the centre is the Crucifixion of Jesus, and on the back is his Resurrection. I have often said to you from this pulpit how important it is to avoid the opposite errors of always staying on the "death side" of the Cross and never getting through to the resurrection, and on the other hand imagining that you can go straight to the resurrection and bypass the work of Calvary both in its historical sense, and also in embracing the cross in our daily lives.

Then there is the icon of Mary under her title "Our Lady of Walsingham", reminding us not just of her intercession, but also of the truth emphasised at Walsingham's shrine, of the presence of God in the ordinariness of our day to day lives.

The icon of Saint John the Divine takes us to Patmos where in exile he gazed through an open door into heaven and saw Jesus reigning in glory as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, at the centre of the worship of that great multitude which no man can number, the redeemed of every time and place. The icon reminds us that in our worship here below we do not imitate the worship of heaven, but are rather joined to it every time we come to Mass.

Saint Benedict is on the front of the mitre, too. I chose him for much the same reason that the new Pope chose the name Benedict. He it was who inspired that great theological and spiritual movement of western monasticism at a time when civilised culture was crumbling. The communities that drew their inspiration from him preserved not just the Gospel and the Faith, but also learning and culture which would eventually flourish again. Saint Benedict surely prays for us as we seek to live for Jesus as vibrant communities of Christians in a similar time of cultural decay.

Saint Thérèse is there, too; the French nun, who in 1897 died at the age of 24 following years of suffering and pain. She had found that her vocation was simply to be love in the heart of the Church. Bill Lawrence who wrote the magnificent icon of Saint Thérèse over there in the Lady Chapel, also designed and made the cope and mitre.

On the back of the mitre above the Resurrection is Saint Augustine of Hippo, the great fourth century Bishop and intellectual giant who before his conversion had lived a dissolute life, had shopped around the religious supermarket of his world and had even fathered a child out of wedlock. He was a passionate Christian after his conversion in Milan, and has much to teach those who take the trouble to read him. The ecumenical movement that interests me most of all- the one between catholics and evangelicals - can do no better than to focus on Augustine, as both kinds of Christians rightly claim him as a spiritual father.

Then we come to Saint Hilda of Whitby, that powerful and spiritual leader of the early English Church who governed a joint community of women and men and hosted the Synod of Whitby in 664 which brought harmony between the old Celtic churches and the Roman mission initiated by Pope Gregory the Great. She reminds us of our responsibility to pray and work for the unity of the Church on earth.

I guess you are not surprised that I chose Saint Cecilia, the patron of music and poetry. It is said that ;she sang always in her heart, and sometimes with her voice. She reminds us that we "enter His gates with thanksgiving in our hearts, and into His courts with praise" (Psalm 100:4). Although nothing much is remembered of her, Saint Cecilia was a third century martyr whose name is mentioned in the old Roman Canon of the Mass.

Finally, there is Saint Maximilian Kolbe, the well-known Franciscan priest and evangelist who was killed in Auschwitz in 1941 having been allowed to take the place of a man who was a husband and father. Over the back door of this church is a stained glass window in honour of him. Saint Maximilian prays for us as we, too, consider the high cost that is sometimes involved in saying "yes" to God.

Pray for me, dear brothers and sisters, that being surrounded by these and so many other Saints in that great cloud of witnesses, I may be faithful in laying aside the sin that clings so closely, and in running the race that is set before me, looking to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Now, before I descend from this pulpit for the last time, I want to read three wonderful passages from the Word of God. The first is from Psalm 42, and describes how I have felt over these last months:

Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks : so longeth my soul after thee, O God. My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God : when shall I come to appear before the presence of God? My tears have been my meat day and night : while they daily say unto me, Where is now thy God? Now when I think thereupon, I pour out my heart by myself : for I went with the multitude, and brought them forth into the house of God; In the voice of praise and thanksgiving : among such as keep holy-day. Why art thou so full of heaviness, O my soul : and why art thou so disquieted within me? O put thy trust in God : for I will yet thank him, which is the help of my countenance, and my God. (Psalm 42)

The second passage is the climax of the little book of Jude, which speaks of God's absolute faithfulness:

Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen. (Jude 1:24-25)

And finally, a few verses from the vision of Saint John the Divine to get us ready for the altar:

The twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints; and they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth".
Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!"
And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein, saying, "To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!"
And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped. (Revelation 5:8-14)

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Bishop David Chislett SSC

Former Rector, All Saints' Wickham Terrace, Brisbane