Britain's Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, left, from the Anglican church listens as Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols from the Roman Catholic Church speaks during a news conference in London, held after the announcement of a new church structure for Anglicans who wish to join the Catholic Church. (AP photo)
H/T to Rosemary, a frequent commenter on this page, for suggesting we link over to John Allen's piece in the National Catholic Reporter on the Vatican's announcement this week on welcoming Anglicans into the Roman Catholic communion.
In many ways the MSM's take on this story has contributed to confusion and misunderstanding. John Allen writes in accessible language about church matters and he responds to the frequently asked questions on this issue.
If you want to understand the Vatican's move on receiving Anglicans into the Church and if you're interested in questions now on the table but yet to be answered, then check out Allen's very helpful report in NCR.
-ConcordPastor
I find the whole thing very confusing and the many articles don't help to clarify! A retired priest friend said that this is not new thinking and the writing was already on the wall. How can one expect a pope who wants to go back to Latin Mass and turn altars around to face a wall, want a married priesthood for the RC Church? He feels the Pope has lowered the bar and inviting disgruntled and conservative Anglican priests in, men who were very disenchanted with womens ordination, the gay Bishop, and anything with a liberal lean on it, will only build up our clergy with conservative thinkers. What will happen to the liberal, thinking RC priests....will they once again be a voice in the wilderness? If you look at the hard cold facts, the financial side of what married priesthood for RC priests would entail, the Catholic Church would not be able to pay a living wage to them. As to the current Pope ever supporting women priests, never mind married priests, forget about it! One of my fears is that we will go back to pre-Vatican II times, when you were barely allowed to think!
ReplyDeleteAnother very helpful background piece was written by an American Roman Catholic priest who left the Anglican church in England and is now serving in the South. He is married, with children, and writes of the way his incorporation into the church was handled.
ReplyDeletehttp://gkupsidedown.blogspot.com/2009/10/personal-ordinariate-background.html
Irish Gal