One of the ELDONA priests, Rev. Rutowicz, complained bitterly that I pegged him as crypto-Eastern Orthodox after looking over his website. He allowed that perhaps his page on "Confessional Lutheran Links" was mislabeled. I imagined that he changed it, so I went back. Here is the list of links, in order:
Confessional Lutheran Links
- Issues, Etc. ~ The Radio Voice of the Lutheran
Faith for the 21st Century
- Project Canterbury
The Survival of the Historic Vestments in the Lutheran Church after 1555
by Arthur Carl Piepkorn - Project Canterbury
The Proper Communion Vestments
by P. Severinsen - Vestments and Liturgies
A plea for a more general use of the historic Vestments
and Liturgies of our Church
By J. A. O. STUB, D. D.
- Salem Lutheran Church in Malone, Texas
- Saint Augustine's House
Lutheran Monastery & Retreat House,
Oxford, Michigan
Some history of St. Augustine's House, from their website:
On May 27, 1956, this former businessman in his fifties was ordained a priest in the cathedral of St. Lawrence in Lund, Sweden. The ordaining bishops were the famous theologian-bishops Anders Nygren and Gustaf Aulen. Rather than being assigned to a specific parish or other church post, he was commissioned "for ecumenical work in the United States among Lutherans."
A Quonset hut erected in 1958 has served as a chapel ever since. It is named for the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as part of a wish to restore Mary to the piety of reformation churches and appropriate to a place of worship with many visitors. It is a humble building with a small pipe organ and simple appointments. After all these years of service it is constantly in need of repair. The highest priority for the community and its friends right now is its replacement by a more adequate and dignified structure.
GJ - The Reformation changed Protestantism from being Mary-centered to Christ-centered. This was a remarkable development since all the Reformers were raised in a Marian piety with a thousand-year tradition. The Assumption and Immaculate Conception of Mary were accepted as truth before the Reformation.
One of the first signs of poping or semi-poping is a longing for Marian piety. I thought of using advertizing on this blog, but I found another one with "Lutheran Rosary" as an ad provided from Google.
Readers are invited to check the links and see for themselves.
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The Motley Magpie is being praised on LutherQuest (sic). MM criticized Church and Change, leading to a bitter editorial.
Someone on LQ thought the latest MM was cool, so I decided to read it: I Believe in the Communion of All the Saints, by Peter Berg, Chicago. The article was written in 2004, but finally revealed for free. Urbe et orbe.
The article uses a few dubious references to prove the Lutheran Reformation--and Luther--approved of infant communion.
If you Google the names from this Berg passage - "I must confess that I have not dealt with primary documents. I am relying on the translating work and research of others and to them I am indebted. To mention a few by name, I’m particularly indebted to Fr. Duane Osterloth, Fr. Gifford Grobien, and Fr. Gary Gehlbach." - you will find a curious group of Ft. Wayne graduates, characterized by a fascination with liturgy and Eastern Orthodoxy. There is also a connection with ELDONA through the so-called Augustana Ministerium.
I first heard a Lutheran, Eugene Brandt, one of the chief editors of the Lutheran Book of Worship (LCA/ALC/LCMS), embrace infant communion when he gave a Notre Dame lecture. His entire justification was, "We baptize babies. Why not commune them? Why deny them God's grace?" His lecture was a trial run for a position he did not get. One of America's most famous theologians asked a drunken question afterwards. Cold sober, I asked the lecturer how he justified infant communoin. He said, "Read my articles." I was tempted to say, "I will read yours if you read mine." That was about 30 years ago.
Notre Dame is the center for liturgical studies in America. Notre Dame is to liturgy what SIECUS is to sex education. All roads lead to Rome in this case.
Berg writes decisively about infant communion, a practice limited to Eastern Orthodoxy. His so-called research is based on the work of others, the Ft. Wayne gang, one with a PhD in liturgy from Notre Dame.
There are many Luther scholars out there who have made a name for themselves by inventing things about the Reformer. One problem is the vast amount of material available and the ability or willingness of the scholar to discern the valid from the bogus. Roland Bainton wrote an excellent critique of Young Man Luther where these points were made. I have found a number of Lutheran pastors who talk about Luther but clearly do not know their subject matter.
About infant communion - I went through Chemnitz' Examination yesterday to find a trace of commentary on the practice. None. I have never read about infant communion even being a topic of discussion during the Reformation. Perhaps I missed something, but I have read many books about the Reformation and more Luther than most Lutherans.
A Missouri pastor has written to me that there are many Missouri discussion groups centered on Eastern or Roman worship. They are the Oxford Movement of the Lutheran Church. Some will pope and join Rome. Some will semi-pope and join Eastern Orthodoxy (Fenton). Some will stay and agitate for the Eastern/Roman causes they hold dear.
Many of these stories and people overlap. His Grace, the Right Reverend James Heiser, ELDONA, was once part of the Lutheran Confessional Synod. The leader was Bishop DeJaynes, who organization fell apart when a new recruit apparently advocated infant communion. When Bishop DeJaynes was on vacation, his wife preached for him. The Little Sect on the Prairie was in fellowship with the LCS for a time.
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GJ - According to Briag Westgate, the quonset hut is gone. Did Marian piety flee with it? I doubt it. I have addressed Berg's infant communion gambit publicly because he made it public. The new motto is, "Go East, young man."
Arguments from silence are not very powerful, Brian. In fact, they are logical fallacies. I have a new post which illuminates the LCMS problem a little more. Perhaps it is more of a Ft. Wayne problem.
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Brian W. went on to say: Then there are those who are like Fenton. Fr. Berg is not going East, and I think you know that.
GJ - I do not know what anyone is going to do. Actuaries would say that if 1000 clergy are treating EO material like the Holy Grail, a certain percentage of them will join in time. A number have already and they are recruiting Lutherans. The Lutheran clergy are weak because they have been force-fed Reformed doctrine, do not know Luther's doctrine, and get all pumped up about how educated they are.
