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.
Tens of thousands?
Well, maybe if +Rowan and the Synod continue to display their cavalier attitude toward the Anglo-Catholics.
Note the difference between the well-planned and structured approach of the Vatican and its hierarchy in England and Wales and the fecklessly interminable drift of Canterbury. When determined action is compared with mere complaint, action wins.
I don’t see anywhere near that many transfers. Maybe with TAC and those who feel dispossessed over WO. As for most breakaways in North America, they are half theology and half personality, so those personalities not being accepted as bishops because they are married would be a deal breaker.
Since it was TAC and other disaffected groups that approached the Pope, BfT19, I doubt the wholesale gallop to Rome was anticipated prior to CoE’s last Synod and the subsequent inclusivity to Traditionalists who oppose WO and cannot in conscience accept the same. The progressivists are hoping they’ll leave so CoE can look so much more like a(n) TEC and ACCanada Province.
The Romans are prepared, have an action plan, and are not dithering. Most un-Anglican of them, of course. But one can hardly fault them for what could be larger-than-anticipated numbers.