From Uganda-
The Pope's call to Anglicans to join the Catholic faith has been met with mixed reactions and shaken the already questionable future of the Anglican Communion.
As far as religious earthquakes go, this one has had the Christian Richter scales reaching for the heavens. Pope Benedict last month, through a pontifical decree, allowed Anglicans worldwide - both clergy and worshippers, to convert en bloc to Catholicism while still maintaining part of their spiritual tradition.
This is quite unprecedented since the Reformation and amounts to rewriting the rulebook. The fact that the Vatican sought no input from Lambeth Palace, the spiritual home of the Anglicans, before the decree was announced, and that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, confessed to having known about the decree two weeks before the announcement was made, not only seemed to undermine the Archbishop's position but throws some disturbing light on the future of the Anglican Communion.
But what exactly is the Pope saying? It's simple. All those Anglicans fed up with the liberal theological reforms of their church should jump ship and move over to Catholicism. What liberal progression could that be? Two things; women and gay people. The ordination of women bishops and the bickering over same-sex unions serving in church has riled many Anglican traditionalists, with African Churches threatening to break away from the Church of England. So, could this be the perfect blessing in disguise for the disenchanted Anglicans or will this ultimatum by the Pope draw battle lines jeopardising decades of dialogue between Catholics and Anglicans?
More here-
http://allafrica.com/stories/200911301272.html
No comments:
Post a Comment