342. Choosing the Archbishop of Canterbury= Taking the Holy Ghost for a Ride

Stained glass window of Thomas Becket
in Canterbury Cathedral.

No, I’m not trying to catch people’s attention by spectacular headings which like soap bubbles have no substance.

Photo: Attribution: Wikipedia

Thomas Becket the Catholic Archbisop of Canterbury 1162-1170.  Murdered in the Cathedral by his king, Henry II 

Apparently the 16 members of the Crown Nomination Committee (CNC) choose two names which they give over to the Prime Minister, (obviously considered as a representative of the Holy Ghost) because he then hands over the first choice to the Queen. The Queen, and let us remember she is the Head of the Church of England, passes that name on to the Canterbury College of Canons who, and this is where the real work of the Holy Spirit comes into action, elect the one name given to them by the Queen, as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Actually I am not the only one who thinks this is just leg-pulling of the Holy Ghost, Ralph Waldo Emerson more or less put this idea in my mind when he wrote in “English Traits, no. 13, 1856”

 “They go into the Cathedral, chant and pray; and after these invocations invariably find that the dictates of the Holy Ghost agree with the recommendation of the King”

This is obviously the proceedings of a political, “nomination” and has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit, but even if the voting was different, it would change nothing since the Church of England cannot claim Apostolic Succession  and the ordination of their priests and bishops come from the hands of the monarch not from Jesus through Peter. So they can lock themselves up in their chambers as much as they like to conjure up the Holy Spirit as if they were the wizard of Oz, and in spite of all the screaming of those women “priests” who run around the place like chickens with their heads chopped off claiming there is no justice since they have been excluded from the proceedings, secular the matter is and secular it will remain.

P.S. The Holy Spirit then goes to Ladbrokes the bookmakers and inspires people to place their bets on the winner!