Fish and Bread
10th July 2007, 09:10 PM
Some of these discussions we're having seem to come down to groups of folks with different overall visions of the forum expressing all their differences in the form of debates over details. And that's fine. But it also might be useful to discuss "the vision thing" a bit. :)
How do we see this forum ultimately? What I'd like to see is a place where anyone Anglicanesque and Old Catholicesque can feel at home, a place that brings together a wide variety of folks within a certain basic framework of an affinity for things Anglican, including things other traditions share.
So we could have a group that included Anglicans of all stripes, regardless of creedal affirmations and so forth, and Old Catholics and people like them. And Roman Catholics. And Eastern Orthodox. And so forth. I think we'd generate a lot of traffic and a not of interesting discussions and a lot of greater understanding and friendships and so forth.
The other vision some have might be described as more of a "closed group". Anglicans and Old Catholics who all affirm certain things. Conservative traditionalists. Or frequent posters only. Or whatever. I don't like that vision. It's not that it's a bad thing, it's just that it is short of what we *could* be. We'll wind up with fewer interesting topics and personalities, few insights, few new understandings, etc.. And exclude a lot of people, maybe just partially, but, even so, why can't we all be a family with equal status instead of having a caste system?
How do we see this forum ultimately? What I'd like to see is a place where anyone Anglicanesque and Old Catholicesque can feel at home, a place that brings together a wide variety of folks within a certain basic framework of an affinity for things Anglican, including things other traditions share.
So we could have a group that included Anglicans of all stripes, regardless of creedal affirmations and so forth, and Old Catholics and people like them. And Roman Catholics. And Eastern Orthodox. And so forth. I think we'd generate a lot of traffic and a not of interesting discussions and a lot of greater understanding and friendships and so forth.
The other vision some have might be described as more of a "closed group". Anglicans and Old Catholics who all affirm certain things. Conservative traditionalists. Or frequent posters only. Or whatever. I don't like that vision. It's not that it's a bad thing, it's just that it is short of what we *could* be. We'll wind up with fewer interesting topics and personalities, few insights, few new understandings, etc.. And exclude a lot of people, maybe just partially, but, even so, why can't we all be a family with equal status instead of having a caste system?