Reformation Lemmings

This is getting ridiculous. It's clear to anyone who looks around that the real fruit of the Reformation is the seemingly endless schisms and novel theology that is rampant in modern Protestantism. Check your yellow pages for church listings if you dispute this, noting the large number of pages devoted to the various sects.

Well apparently, the Presbyterian Church of the USA, not to be outdone by the Anglicans recent plunge off the cliff into doctrinal chaos, have decided to eliminate their proscriptions against fornication and adultery, not to mention perhaps setting the stage for similar action regarding the prohibitions on homosexuality. From EWTN:

Reaction continues to the decisions of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), which took place between June 21 and June 28. The assembly nullified proscriptions against sexual behavior outside of marriage and called for a vote to delete the church’s constitutional standard requiring fidelity in marriage and chastity in singleness. It also initiated a process that could remove mention of the Bible’s prohibition against homosexuality form the Heidelberg Catechism.

Not sure how I missed this from last month, but oh well.

The moves are seen by some as an attempt to clear a path for the eventual ordination of practicing homosexuals to the church offices of deacon, elder, or minister.

Great freaking idea, guys. It's done wonders for the Anglican communion. And taking a course straight from the Anglican playbook, they've decided to try and hold any dissenting congregations hostage by threatening to strip them of their property.

Further, the assembly authorized the creation of a $2 million legal fund to litigate against churches which seek to transfer to other Reformed denominations while retaining their property.

Some aren't going gently into the good night, though.

“The PCUSA has jettisoned the solid rock of Biblical authority and morals and is now floundering in the sea of cultural relativity. In desperation, it lays claim to the property of congregations that love the Word of God more than denominational loyalty,” the Presbyterian Lay Committee said.

Or you could skip to the end and go with what the Anglicans are already figuring out, namely "what the martyr Cyprian, the witness of the ancient tradition of the Church, affirmed: 'there is one God and one Christ; There is one Church and one founded on Peter by the word of the Lord.' That is what the great Doctor of the Church Ambrose also preached: 'Where Peter is, there is the Church. Where the Church is, there is no death but life eternal.' Finally Jerome very wisely taught: 'The welfare of the Church depends on the dignity of the papacy. If we do not give the pope sovereign and independent power, there will be as many schisms in the Church as there are priests.'"

Pope Benedict XV, In Hac Tanta