Bishop Edwin Barnes homily on St. James

Here's an excerpt from a courageous post at The Anglo-Catholic:

If we do not value our faith, then those who taught us the faith slip from our memory. Then we become vulnerable; open to every sort of superstition and false religion. As Chesterton said, ‘when people cease to believe in God, they don’t believe in nothing; they believe in anything’. So the Beatles toyed with Hinduism, some people turn an octopus into a prophet who can predict the outcome of football matches, and young women whose parents and grand-parents failed to hand on to them their Christian faith suddenly feel attracted, of all things, to Islam and wearing the Burkha.

In England, we simply don’t understand those cultures where Christianity is still valued. Take, for instance, Romania. For centuries that was at the very edge between the Christian West and the Islamic East. Their great national hero, who stood out against the invaders, was prince Vlad. In the West we have turned him into a comic book villain, Vlad the Impaler. For the Romanians he is one of the great figures of their history, who stood against the armies of the crescent and ensured the survival of the Orthodox Faith in their country.

So honour James your Patron, missionary to the far west of Europe, whose memory and prayers protected Spain when it was threatened by an alien culture and belief system. Ask though whether maybe we should be as bold as his followers were, in defending our own faith. Today we are confirming seven candidates; making them strong in their faith, which is what con-firming means, so that they can give an account to others of the faith which is in them, and stand upright against all those who would insult Jesus and the Church.

Two weeks ago I was in a parish in Birmingham. The priest there told me that down the road, as you enter that district, a black flag flies. It announces that this is Taliban territory. Next door to the Vicarage a new mosque is being built. Every pub for miles around has been turned into a mosque. You will find a similar story in Bradford and Leicester and many English Provincial Towns. If we do not value our faith, we shall lose it. Our church has been too accommodating to people of other faiths, implying that every religion is as good as every other. We have allowed Muslim cultural centres and mosques to be opened everywhere, yet we have not complained when Christians in Jordan and other Arab states are forbidden to practice the faith publicly.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why many catholic Anglicans are seriously contemplating the offer from the Holy Father. In the Church of Rome at least we shall not, for political correctness’ sake, be forbidden to wear the crucifix, or forbidden to pray with patients in hospital, or forbidden to tell others about Jesus. Maybe it was inspired of your forebears to have James as your patron; not just the first Apostle to be martyred, but also the protector of the faith against the Muslim invaders. Holy James, we need your prayers and protection now as never before. Pray for us and all who hold and teach the catholic faith.