TODAY, Maundy Thursday, the majority of licensed clergy and a good number of the laity will make their way to their cathedrals for the chrism eucharist. There is a degree of local variation in the timing (even the day) of the service, but, however it falls, this is always going to be an occasion that comes along at one of the most pressurised times of the liturgical year. In many dioceses, particularly the rural ones, the journey to the cathedral and back is a long and not terribly convenient one. Attending takes a good half-day. Yet the vast majority of parish priests recognise this as a crucial punctuation mark in Holy Week. The diocesan bishop will bless the oils of chrism for use in the parish. The clergy will, as one body, reaffirm their ordination vows. And, importantly, they will gather as a family in the mother church for an hour or two before returning home to the pick up the threads of their ministry.

It is all the sadder, therefore, that a growing number of conservative clergy have decided to absent themselves this year. As reported last month (News, 21 March), the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) is supporting the provision of alternative services for opponents of the Prayers of Love and Faith, arguing that attending the service would express a degree of unity between the clergy and their bishops which is currently “problematic”. It is not the first time that a group has taken this step: alternative chrism masses have been organised regularly under the provision for Anglo-Catholic clergy who object to the ordination of women. Yet the CEEC move ups the ante. Last year, the CEEC dipped a toe in the water by offering a small online service, but this year’s provision included an in-person service at St James the Less, Pimlico. Those who attend will be invited to reaffirm their call to ordained ministry, their commitment to the people God has called them to serve, and their identity as Anglicans.

Many will be saddened, if not terribly surprised, by this move. However much the reasons are couched in terms of sorrow, this is arguably an aggressive act. Further, a group of Evangelical clergy recently wrote to the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, to inform him that, besides refusing to pray with their deanery colleagues, they now also declined to eat with them. The Bishop told his diocesan synod: “It is my firm resolve to uphold the spectrum of theological conviction in the diocese with grace and good will; but I do question those actions which impinge on our common life as fellow members of the Body of Christ.” He pointed out that Jesus was happy to share a table with all sorts of people.

The chrism eucharist is one of the very few occasions when a diocese gathers as one body. The sadness, this year, is that the body is bleeding from a wound that is looking increasingly difficult to staunch.