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Posted on Sun, Nov. 08, 2009 10:15 PM
Pro-Con: Was the Vatican’s invitation to Episcopalians the right move?
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Was the Vatican’s invitation to Episcopalians the right move?
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YES:Until now, many devout Anglicans have faced a painful choice. They felt strongly called to enter the Roman Catholic Church, but they loved the beautiful language and the rich liturgical traditions used at worship in their Anglican parishes.
Over the years, some of these Anglicans petitioned the Vatican for help. The Vatican finally responded, making it easier to set up parishes that would be fully a part of the Catholic Church, but would follow traditional Anglican liturgical practices.
Some Anglicans today have become deeply concerned by developments within Anglicanism. Anglican churches have ordained women as priests and bishops. Homosexual unions are widely treated as morally equivalent to the love of a man and a woman.
There are many Anglicans who adore Christ and love the Anglican Church and will remain in the Anglican Church. But others are increasingly drawn in conscience to the Catholic Church. And to them the Catholic Church has said, “Welcome home.”
| Thomas G. Bohlin, U.S. vicar of the Catholic organization Opus Dei, washingtonpost.com.
NO: The Vatican’s sudden overture to disaffected Anglicans strikes me as both cynical and opportunistic.
Cynical in that the concession to effectively allow congregations to continue using Anglican hymns and liturgies seems to undermine decades of ecumenical discussions.
The move is opportunistic in that Rome is making the overture at what might be viewed as a moment of crisis or weakness in the Anglican Communion. The Vatican apparently is seeking to harvest those disaffected by the ordination of women and gays and by support for same-sex unions.
A cynical action calls for a cynical interpretation: Perhaps the Vatican is hoping to lure Anglican parishes — and their property — to compensate for its financial losses in the priestly pedophilia scandals.
I have no doubt that some disaffected Anglicans will see this as an attractive offer. At the same time, I wasn’t aware that Christians opposed to homosexuality or to women’s ordination were underserved in the religious marketplace.
| Randall Balmer, Episcopal priest, washingtonpost.com
Posted on Sun, Nov. 08, 2009 10:15 PM
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