Admittedly, it was a bit of a surprise.
“It’s a bit of a bruise on us, no question,” Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, told the Anglican Journal. “It came out of nowhere.”
Still, Archbishop Hiltz doesn’t expect the Oct. 20 Vatican announcement opening the door for disaffected Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church””and still retain some of their Anglican traditions””will appeal to many Anglicans in Canada. Nor will it put a damper on ecumenical relations and the 40-year formal dialogue between the two churches, he said.
In fact, Archbishop Hiltz expects the fallout from this announcement to be minimal. “I personally don’t think there are going to be any huge implications from this. We are talking about a very small number of [Anglican] people who will respond to this provision that the Pope is putting in place.”
“It came out of nowhere.”
Heh.
Yes — it was like a comet from the skies. We could never have guessed, not in a million years, that Anglicans would want to join Rome. We had no clue whatsoever. [roll eyes]
RE: “We are talking about a very small number of [Anglican] people who will respond to this provision that the Pope is putting in place.â€
Because we have so many Anglicans littering our beloved and vast Canadian church that a few here or there departing won’t trouble us at all.
We have plenty of people to spare!
There is no cause for surprise. The TAC and catholic-minded Anglicans, ignored within Anglicanism (TEC, CofE, ACoC), requested consideration and Rome responded. By pushing aside catholic-minded Anglicans, the primates and various constituent bodies within western Anglicanism bear more than a passing resemblance to a fickle girlfriend who, having rejected the interest of a worthy suitor (traditional Anglican fellow that he is), is whining to win back her suitor but has no intention of treating him with any more respect than the first (second, third, etc.) time they courted. He’s moved on to a woman worthy of his affections. Meanwhile, the fickle girlfriend’s childish behaviour is compounded by her gossiping among her peers. Her acting out and blame game is just another attempt to garner attention. Her antics are not winning her any sympathy. She is definitely not the kind of girl one takes home to mother (Church).
Yes, Sarah, ++Hiltz fully deserves the ridicule. What comes through his remarks is a smugness and complacency that’s sad and most unbecoming. As if no Anglican in their right mind would ever entertain the thought to swimming the Tiber in a million years. That may be partly due to his Protestantism, but I suspect it’s even more likely to be due to his extreme liberalism.
It’s notable that ++Bob Duncan was informed by the Vatican about a year ago that this proposal was in the works. He certainly wasn’t caught by surprise. That speaks volumes about what Rome thinks of Anglican false shepherds like ++Fred Hiltz, or inept ones like ++Rowan Williams, in comparison with authentic apostolic leaders like ++Duncan.
David Handy+