An Anglican Allegory

Once long ago there was a Benedictine monastery with many brothers and very beautiful liturgy. As is true in many monasteries devoted to a more apostolic life the brothers gave of themselves and their time to a variety of causes, and (when they weren't busy in the monastery) worked among the rich and the poor for the glory of God, and it was very good.

As time passed some of the brothers became unhappy with where some of their brothers were giving their time. This is not an occurance which greatly troubles a wise Superior since in a monastery of any size there are always disagreements bubbling up among the brethren due to the fallenness of hunanity. As long as proper care is taken to help the wranglers grow in charity such situations strengthen the brethren which shows the Lord's power to bring good even from that which began as an evil. Unfortunately, on this occasion the Superior had great sympathy for one set of the wranglers and, acting more like just another brother than the Superior, worked among the brethren to help their view prevail. Because of this the Chapter of the monastery did go so far as to speak negatively about the work of those brothers against whom the grumbles had been directed, but it did not forbid the brothers from continuing in the work. This was greeted with great joy by those who had grumbled against their brothers, and was greeted with complaints by those whose work was discouraged. The worst of the results was that nothing was done to encourage the brethren to grow in charity and the whole of the brethren were disturbed by the haste and onesidedness of the treatment in such a way that obedience began to be undermined.

Shortly after this a new Superior was elected. The new Superior had spoken in defence of the work that had been grumbled about, and as a result of the decreasing habit of obedience his election was greeted with dismay by those who had grumbled and joy by those most committed to the work, and the factionalism in the monastery increased. This new Superior, however, was deeply steeped in prayer and the theology of the Church and knew very well the responsibility of a Superior. As a result both of the malformation that had been going on and the new Superior's care to point all the brethren back to their vocation and to God, confusion spread. This is because the quarrelling brothers had become so accustomed to the idea that the Superior would take sides and generally not behave well that they assumed the new Superior was like the previous Superior with a new set of priorities he wanted to impose on the community. This malformation resulted in many failing to recognize when the Superior called all the brethren to live in charity for all their brothers, causing decreases in charity and an ever increasing inclination to disobedience.

The story has several possible endings. In one the quarreling brothers finally listened to those of their brothers who had never entered into the fight, and embraced their prior obedience and grew in charity. In another the quarreling brothers never recognized how far they had gone from proper Christian charity and eventually some or all of them left the community to live as they thought best to the sorrow of those brothers who remained.

You tell me, which ending should the Communion prefer?