Posted on 11/23/2009 7:03:54 AM PST by NYer
The Roman Catholic bishops of England and Wales have set up a task force to help the possible exodus of tens of thousands of disaffected Anglicans into their church.
The move was announced as Anglican leader Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, protested to the Pope in the Vatican over its plans to receive Anglican converts en masse.
Pope Benedict XVI was last month accused of attempting to poach Anglicans unhappy about decisions taken in their church to ordain women and sexually-active homosexuals as priests and bishops.
In response to requests from about 30 Anglican bishops around the world for 'corporate reunion' with the Catholic Church, he has permitted vicars and their entire congregations to defect to Rome while keeping many of their Anglican traditions - including married priests.
In a 20-minute meeting on Saturday, Dr Williams complained to the Pope about the 'lack of consultation' over the move, saying it had left him in an 'awkward position'. But the pair failed to issue a joint statement.
In London, Catholic leaders announced the appointment of a commission to deal with the reception of up to 200 Anglican congregations - a figure proposed by Forward in Faith, an Anglo-Catholic group --which would amount to thousands of converts.
John Broadhurst, the Anglican Bishop of Fulham and chairman of Forward in Faith, said mass conversion was a real prospect.
'We have a thousand priest members in my organisation and there are many others who agree with us,' he said.
'The main issue for many Anglican priests is now the ownership of parish churches.'
The commission is expected to look at the possibility of church-sharing and also the chances of taking out 100-year leases of some Anglican parishes.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Catholic / Anglican ping!
The commission is expected to look at the possibility of church-sharing and also the chances of taking out 100-year leases of some Anglican parishes.
Well, I imagine an amicable solution could be worked out. Perhaps they could trade parishes. The CofE could return churches and lands confiscated from the Church in the days of Elizabeth I and Henry VIII in trade for churches and lands erected since that time, where the parishes have decided to return.
I don’t what’s bothering Dr. Williams. His church has clearly changed their teachings on homosexuality- how can he be upset if people leave to become Catholic or Evangelical or something else for that matter.
Too many are under the impression that there should be no consequences for their actions. Reality sucks.
The present offering from the Daily Mail is relatively tame in comparison to some of the absolute tripe which has been served up. The latent anti-Catholicism which still lurks below the surface of the British establishment has seen a renaissance. It's been portrayed as "our man" Rowan, bravely standing up to the German invader Pope Ratzinger; a real two-fer for the hacks who write this drivel (German and Catholic).
Sadly, the ire of the British papers is misdirected. The Church of England is now a piece of rotting deadwood and the Anglican ordinariate has brought that home to everyone. It's been an unpleasant awakening for the "Rule Britannia" crowd as they survey the ruins of their once proud flagship.
The Pope's visit next year should be quite interesting.
Wonder if he'll be made as welcome as he was by the government of Israel last spring?
I don’t know why the headline assumes the exodus will be huge. It may or may not be, so let’s not jump the gun.
Your solution is perfect. Another precedent they could look at is — what happened to the Muslim properties when they were finally kicked out of Spain.
That the article NYER I post the link too yeah Anglican exdous
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