A senior Anglican Archbishop in England has said he is ready to convert to Catholicism, now that the Pope has opened the door for Anglicans to convert enmasse.
For more, with commentary in red, see Fr Z's blog at the link below.
Related Link: The Anglican Experiment is Over! ~ WDTPRS
Bishop Hind said he would be "happy" to be reordained as a Catholic priest and said that divisions in Anglicanism could make it impossible to stay in the church.
He is the most senior Anglican to admit that he is prepared to accept the offer from the Pope, who shocked the Church of England last week when he paved the way for clergy to convert to Catholicism in large numbers.
In a further blow to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s hopes of preventing the Anglican Communion from disintegrating, other bishops have cast doubt over its survival.
The Rt Rev John Broadhurst, the Bishop of Fulham, even claimed that "the Anglican experiment is over". He said it has been shown to be powerless to cope with the crises over gays and women bishops. [Because they caved in to the world.]
For more, with commentary in red, see Fr Z's blog at the link below.
Related Link: The Anglican Experiment is Over! ~ WDTPRS
Not being Catholic I would be interested to know what has the Pope actually allowed?? and what are the implications for the future?
ReplyDeleteIs this open to all anglicans?
Is the Pope moving through the alphabet and will Baptists be next? - that would be good for me :)
Ozy,
ReplyDeleteFrom a Vatican press release:
“In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.”
The details haven't yet been released, but they are coming.
I think the Pope has started with the Anglicans because the Traditional Anglican Communion (they have about 400,000 members worldwide) have petitioned for communion with Rome, ie to be under the Roman Catholic umbrella, so to speak.
In order for communion with Rome, you need to accept the Roman Catholic Faith in it's entirety. Which is what the TAC have done. Now they just need a formal structure, and a way forward, which they'll be getting.
The other way for full communion is of course each person going through the process themselves, which means learning about Catholicism via the RCIA process and then getting the entry Sacraments (Baptism if necessary, Confirmation and Communion, preceded if the person isn't Baptised by Confession).
A few Anglicans may crossover but neither the liberal nor the conservatives (read those represented at GAFCON) will have any interest
ReplyDeleteThanks Lucia
ReplyDeleteSo I therefore understand it is only for Traditional Anglican churches and not for any old Anglican to bowl on up to Mass next Sunday.
Do you think this will pave the way for other demoninations in the future??
Also I thought (heard) that Pope Benedict was going to be more traditional in his approach. This seems rather revolutionary.