22 October 2009

Cathlican or Anglolic?

'Pope Benedict XVI has approved, within the Apostolic Constitution, a canonical structure that provides for Personal Ordinariates, which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of distinctive Anglican spiritual patrimony.'

This means that the Pope is opening the door to Anglicans to join the Catholic church, acknowledge the authority of the Pope, but retain classical Anglican elements and traditions. It also allows married Anglican clergy who convert to Catholicism to be re-ordained as Catholic priests and also remain married, which does open up the back door for the ordination of married Catholics in the future, possibly.
 
However, I have a problem with this. One of my favourite blog sites stated that, 'as many of our Anglican brothers and sisters make many difficult decisions and sacrifices to avail themselves of our Holy Father's loving gesture welcoming them to their True Ecclesial Home, we support them, our Holy Father and all involved by our prayer.' I would be the first to say that I would love for Anglicans and Catholics to gather around the Table together and share communion, one with another - to the point that I am leaving a canonical Anglican religious order for a non-canonical ecumenical one. But to have to acknowedge the authority of the Pope in order to share the sacramental life of the church? No.

I also do not believe that the Catholic church is "our true ecclesial home". There is no one church that has a cornerstone on truth, and God invites many people in many different ways. When the Pope is a woman, I will think that they might have figured out that they have historically disenfranchised half of their population (well over half, actually!) and fixed the problem.

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