The big news in the Church today -- perhaps the biggest news of the year -- is the decision by Pope Benedict XVI to set up a special structure for Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church while keeping some of their Anglican heritage. This is wonderful news, not just for the Anglicans, but for us, as the Church is bound to benefit from what the traditional Anglicans will bring to us.
I know a few traditional Anglicans, and they're amazing people...in some ways more Catholic than many Catholics. They long for unity with Rome, but they love the Anglican cultural and liturgical heritage that dates back hundreds of years.
Now they'll be able to enter into full communion with Rome, while being under the care of a personal ordinariate, the way members of Opus Dei and military families around the world fall under special dioceses.
Watch next week's B.C. Catholic for full coverage.
Wonderful news indeed. It's a bit sad that some are depicting this as "poaching," or "fishing in the Anglican pond." For Catholics, this is good news following good news. The preceding good news was that the group of Anglicans at whom this is primarily directed came to the Curia, knocked on the door (as it were), and said "We declare we believe what you believe. May we enter?"
ReplyDeleteThe current state of Anglicanism is reflected in the response of some of my Anglican friends. Some are very pleased. Some are utterly puzzled. And others - the evangelical Protestant Anglicans - want none of it. But no one has yet told me they take offense, some press spin not withstanding.
On another note, Anglican liturgical tradition is a beautiful thing, and some aspects of current Catholic liturgy could certainly benefit from beautifying influences.