I feel deeply sad for so many members of the Church of England, it is easy for Catholics to have an "I told you so" attitude. I send them my commiseration.
This side of the Tiber it is easy to see the ordination of women priests or even deacons should have made it obvious what the next step would be but many Anglicans in true English style thought they would grow the privet hedge higher, keep the gate closed and ignore the unpleasant nighbours next door.
Now the gate has been torn off its hinges, the hedge hacked to the ground and despite the Archbishop of Canterbury's pleas for everyone to behave nicely there is no avoiding the neighbours, they are now partying on the lawn, dismantling the pergola and discussing whether they should burn down or make improvements to the garden shed, whilst the gardeners are locked in it discussing what they can do. The house has already been overrun.
Say a prayer for the members of the Church of England who are feeling the pain of this new development today.
Pray especially for the two ladies who came to see me on Sunday to talk about their future. Pray for the Anglican clergy of Brighton and their congregations.
Pray that they will recieve a warm and generous welcome if they are led by Divine Providence into the Catholic Church.
5 comments:
As an ex-Anglican, I feel very sad today. May God make something good out of this. Forget the false ecumenism of ARCIC. As Catholics, we now have the chance to offer our brothers and sisters true ecumenism by helping them find their way home to the Catholic Church. Let's not miss the opportunity!
Father Blake;
What I don't understand is, why, after all these years of endless, Ad nauseam ecumenical talks, has the Anglican Communion made such a momentous decision without a single consideration for the ecumenical repercussions? How can we now continue to waste our time 'dialoguing' with an institution that has now put itself so completely outside the scope of corporate communion with the Holy See by intruding such a novel idea which the Catholic Church can never countenance?
All of those failed (not to mention suspect) ARCIC ‘documents’… what an absolute waste of time (although, that's no revelation! :c)
How fortunate, Fr. That they would have you to receive them into the church should they go that route. A cradle Catholic would not be able to appreciate the [sometimes] painful social pressures placed upon a protestant to catholic convert as regards ones family and friends. From reading Scott Hahn's books (and other conversion stories] I understand some forms of ostracism are not unheard of in some cases.
gemoftheocean - yes until I made my decision over 40 years ago, I had not realised that so much prejudice still existed.
Among the pain though I do remember one amusing and illogical comment made. I was told that if I 'did the deed' I would never get a job in an English public school. Now I had not even considered working in a public school (these are private here!) and I certainly was not going to let this fact stop me from doing what I believed was right.
I eventually worked in a Jewish school where I was welcomed with friendship and kindness. I was the one who had to go round putting all the lights on after dusk on Fridays - the start of the Sabbath! So a future Catholic had her uses there!
Michael
Because the new human doctrine of "Equality" is more important than any divine doctrine.
Within a few years we can expect to see a synod [attempt to*] abrograte St Pauls canonisation on the grounds of "sexism"
[* because said synod has no authority to do so]
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