Christianity news

[kisekileia]

A very, very interesting decision by the Catholic Church.

I think this is a good thing. It'll allow conservative Anglicans to become part of a church that fits with their beliefs, and therefore free up the Anglican communion to be progressive.

Comments

[karalianne]

This is definitely a good thing.

Of course, people who have issues with the Catholic Church AS WELL AS with the Anglican Church will still have no home, but I think changing to the Catholic Church is a LOT better than "joining" a diocese that's located in a whole other country (which is actually illegal according to the Church's laws).

[kisekileia]

Yes, that is true. I agree with you that changing to the Catholic Church is better than joining foreign dioceses, especially since the Nigerian bishop whose diocese has been involved in this, Peter Akinola, seems to be a pretty unsavory character.

[kaph]

I have mixed feelings. Thanks for posting this!

[kisekileia]

You're welcome.

[dustyfro]

I don't know why I didn't get in on the Episcopal Church while I was looking for something different than First Baptist, because I think liturgy is cool and I appreciate that they ordain women, but let me tell you, if the Catholic Church started to ordain women, I'd be signing up for the first Adult Confirmation class. There's something ancient and legitimate about Catholic Mass that really appeals to me, but there are some things still standing in my way. I'd rather Catholics and Anglicans join together for serious than try to get people from the other side to make a bigger divide.

[kisekileia]

I'd be pretty cautious about joining the Catholic Church if I were you, because their doctrines about birth control, abortion, and divorce are pretty uncompromising. I have a friend whose mother divorced and remarried, and she can never again take communion within the Catholic Church, even though she has been married to her second husband for many years and he is the father of her children.

[dustthouart]

If you're thinking of the situation I'm thinking of, you're either being unfair or you don't know the whole situation. She could get her marriage regularized; it's just that the father refuses to cooperate with anything RCC. And this is only one symptom of this particular father's spite and desire to prove that he's boss of his family, even to the point of denying people things truly important to them. But she chooses to bow to it

[kisekileia]

Oh...I didn't realize it was possible for that marriage to be regularized if the father were to be cooperative. I apologize. And WOW--I'm disgusted that they would even consider not going to the wedding unless they absolutely could not afford it..

I think you're right that a lot of the Anglo-Baptist types wouldn't go over to the Catholic Church. However, I'm not sure those types are as big an influence outside the U.S.

And yeah, I think the coverage of this has been overly unfavourable towards the pope.

[bruorton]

Yeah, my first reaction is that this is a pretty short-sighted effort on the part of the Pope to grow the Catholic Church -- but maybe that's too cynical. (Still, I can't see this move bringing Catholics forward, and as kaph said on FB, I feel bad for all the progressive Catholics out there facing the prospect of an influx of social conservatives.)

But if it prevents a schism among Anglicans, that is certainly a good thing. I'm just feeling troubled in a way I can't express well with our society's tendency to group in cultural silos, so to speak, rather than to coexist with those who have different views. It makes me sad, and a little worried about the future.

[kisekileia]

Well...I'm not sure what I think about progressive Catholics, to be honest. I mean, I can sympathize with their having an emotional attachment to their church and wanting to reform it. But they're in a situation where the church leadership's beliefs, along with its seemingly unchangeable doctrine, and their convictions don't match up, so I think ultimately it might be better if most of them went over to the Anglicans. It's possible that there is a good theological rationale for being a progressive and staying within the Catholic church, but I'm not familiar with one; my understanding is that most progressive Catholics stay Catholic because of emotional attachment. Maybe what's needed is for the Anglican church to do the reverse of what the Catholic Church is doing--allow progressive Catholics to use Catholic liturgy within the Anglican church.

[dustthouart]

If you actually believe that Peter is the rock upon whom Jesus founded his Church, you can't just pack up and leave.

If you actually believe that the Eucharist is the literal Body and Blood of the Savior, you can't just head on down to the local UCC when the priest makes a political statement you don't like.

It's a fundamentally different way of looking at the world.

[bruorton]

Uh... I'll concede that point. Was this a response to anything I wrote in specific?

[skull_bearer]

Wow.
Disappointed that women are allowed to take the cloth?
Disturbed that those *spit* gays are being accepted?
Join the Church of the Bigots in Rome!