Posted on 10/23/2009 9:36:25 AM PDT by marshmallow
Was Pope Benedict XVI inspired by Cardinal John Henry Newman, whom it is hoped he will beatify in England next year, when he suddenly threw open the gates of Rome to disaffected Anglicans on Tuesday morning?
The official website for Newman’s Cause hinted as much when it greeted the announcement with a reminder of Newman’s support for a proposal to establish an Anglican Uniate Church for converts, similar to that provided for Byzantine-rite Catholics. The plan was conceived by Ambrose Phillips de Lisle and Newman rightly guessed that it would be unworkable. But if it could be made to work, he said, he was all in favour. As he wrote to de Lisle in 1876:
“Nothing will rejoice me more than to find that the Holy See considers it safe and promising to sanction some such plan as the Pamphlet suggests. I give my best prayers, such as they are, that some means of drawing to us so many good people, who are now shivering at our gates, may be discovered.”
And now it has been, thanks to Pope Benedict, who I hope will name his great scheme after Newman. I am sure the Pope is familiar with the reference to “shivering at the gates”, which William Oddie quotes in his book The Roman Option, an account of the English bishops’ failure to meet Anglican pastoral needs in the early 1990s. The then Cardinal Ratzinger is believed to have read the book, which reads as a dreadful reproach to a hierarchy which determinedly set up obstacles to Anglican corporate reunion.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
The only reason there’s an “Anglican” church in England is solely the result of the ego and sefish ambitions of one man who liked to put his wives to death!
I wonder what Biblical prophesy scholars make of this?
Let’s pray that with this move he can reassemble some sort of Christian bulwark against Muslim expansionism in Britain.
For the last several months I have been attending a weekly class (unrelated to politics or religion) at an Episcopalian church—All Saints Church in Pasadena, CA.
This “church” has the all the look and feel of Democrat Party HQ or even BHO’s campaign offices. First thing you notice are all of the BHO bumperstickers in the parking lot. Then when you walk into the building you see bulletin boards all over the place with fliers posted concerning upcoming left-wing activities, protests, workshops, and speakers. There is no sense of spirituality whatsoever in this “church”. Sadly, All Saints Church has become the central organizing place for much of left-wing activism in the general Pasadena area.
If this is typical of Episcoplian churches across the country, I can clearly see why the church is falling apart at the seams.
Perhaps one will check in and tell us!
FR has quite a few, you may have noticed...... :-)
'Least that's what they tell us!
This proposal may increase membership in the Catholic Church.
But the Roman Catholic Edifice is the locus of all evil in the universe.
Therefore, Benedict (formerly the Grand Inquisitor, and torturer of rabbits) has graduated to sacrificing goats to satan in his basement. MUWhahahahaha!
Hmmmm ... maybe the preceding would have looked better in multi-coloured fonts of randomly varying size ...
Good point, I have no doubt that this is clearly on his mind.
I think the BH0 worshiping Episcopalians are part of the reason these conservative Anglicans want to cross the river.
I like the idea of naming it after Newman.
That’s a strange thing to say. I would put it more like, the only reason there’s an Anglican church is because of one man, the Obama of his time, who thought he was bigger than the church, bigger than God.
You think none of that business goes on at Catholic parishes? I hope you know that this constitution is not about churches like All Saints, Pasadena.
Naming WHAT after Newman? The Personal Prelature? The Apostolic Constitution? I don’t think the Church is too big on naming these things after men, are they?
Nonsense. I have been to dozens of Catholic churches in the LA area and have never seen such blatant political advocacy. And most Catholic churches at least have a spiritual environment even if some have liberal priests and congregations.
Is not the Episcopal Church a part of the Anglican communion?
I grant you that the episcopal church you describe sounds extra outre, but you are in the land of Mahoney my FRiend, and the Catholic parishes are far too liberal, far too into emulating All Saints.
I just got a message from the rector of a church I attend calling the Apostolic Constitution “opportunistic unholy poaching” and “fishing for disgruntled Anglicans.”
p.s. THe Anglican Communion is not a church as such, but a loose confederation of different national churches. With The Episcopal Church, each bishop is supreme in his own diocese - he does not report to the presiding bishop. The national church would be more like the USCCB than like the Vatican.
You’ve been to DOZENS of churches in the archdiocese? Suddenly that hit me that’s a LOT of churches, and I’m a church hopper...
“fishing for disgruntled Anglicans.”
I wonder what kind of bait is best?
(I am a former Anglican by the way, no one fished for me).
Send him this article.
Ask him what the Church should do with people who are "shivering at the gates", to use Newman's phrase.
Look, FRiend, I have lived in the LA area for the last thirty years. Yes, I do belong to just one Church and I go there every week. But, also I have been to literally dozens of other Catholic churches in the region for various different reasons—sometimes for weddings, sometimes funerals, sometimes First Communions, sometimes, baptisms. Sometimes even meetings. I am a 4th degree member of the Knights of Columbus and we sometimes have our functions in churches. Also, sometimes I am away from my particular church on a given weekend, so I’ve been known to attend Mass at whatever Church is nearby.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.