Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, will reveal on Friday the Vatican’s plans to welcome the departing priests – including five bishops – who are expected to be received into the Catholic Church early in the new year.
Hundreds of Anglican churchgoers will join them in the Ordinariate – a structure introduced by Pope Benedict XVI to provide refuge for those diaffected with the Church of England.
The number of worshippers who leave the Church is predicted to double as the new arrangement finally begins to take shape.
The title should read:Roman Catholic Church to Welcome 50 Former Anglican Clergy. They will all be received as laymen, not as clergy.
Hardly the 400 dispossed in 1662!
dispossesed sorry!
Yes, they will be received as laymen. That says a lot about their willingness to sacrifice and their un-willingness to compromise the faith.
May God bless them on their journey!
Um, it doesn’t say that; in fact the way it is written implies that it is expected that the clerics will retain/re-assume their ordained states, perhaps minus some few who are somehow found to be unsatisfactory and thus are effectively laicized.
It is quite revealing that these priests were content and willing to abide in a church that has openly practicing homosexual priests, canons and lay leaders and has granted spousal benefits for their same-sex partners. For years, they also tolerated women priests, but now run for the hills of Rome when women are to be ordained bishops.
They and the CoE are operating with an unbiblical double-standard. However, it is the standard of the 2004 Windsor agreement (Res. 1.10) which forbids ‘gay’ bishops, but not ‘gay’ priests, lay leaders and communicants. Windsor 2004 is a subtle compromise, giving ground to the pansexual agenda from the previous Scriptural standard of Lambeth 98.
Thus, according to Scripture, the Church of England is as guilty as TEC and Canada. Moreover, they are not being held accountable by ACNA, CAPA, GAFCON/FCA or the ACI, who communed with ABC Williams in Singapore. None of these ‘orthodox’ Anglican groups have confronted +Williams or the CoE accountable. They have not broken Communion with the CoE or with ABC Williams who has been complicit in the manipulations and maneuverings of TEC and Canada.
Now, these 50 priests and 5 bishops are running to the Roman Church, a church that is also rife with homosexual, pedophile and physical/sexual abuse scandals and intrigues at the highest levels (Sodano, Maciel, Lahey) and the same fatal lack of transparency and accountability among the leadership, the bishops, cardinals, priests, etc. But they are accustomed to such an atmosphere so they should be at home in Rome.
How could anyone trust or applaud these Anglican Priests and Bishops, or trust their destination with its unbiblical dogmas and doctrines, pretenses of primacy and authority over all of Christendom, and its affirmation of Mohammedism (CCC#841) that violent, virulent, anti-Christian, exploitative, misogynistic system?
#5 I don’t know how these priests would retain their ‘ordained status’ seeing how Rome does not recognize Anglican orders as valid.
You’re right, priestwalter, they can’t “retain” their ordained status. They may be able to join the RC priesthood with additional study and a special authorization from the Vatican (if they are married) which will be decided on a case by case basis, but it is not a given at all.
priestwalker & Branford,
That was precisely my point. They will cease to be clerics and will all be received as laymen. It continues to bother me that otherwise fairly credible so-called Anglican blogs continue to post articles which feed into the misconception that some harbor that they will be received as clergymen by Rome. I’m a former RC and know thath this is not the case. Rome will generally recognize credible Eastern Orthodox orders, but never Anglicon orders. The Roman converts, that is what they are, continue to receive verbal support from some Anglicans who wish them well and commend God’s blessings on their “journey”. But, I tell you, most of these folks shall continue to proselytize their former co-religionists until the cows come home. The well-wishers are dilluded and are, themselves, part of the problem acting as voluntary fifth-columnists.
#9. I’m also a former RC. The fact that the Vatican doesn’t recognize the validity of Anglican Orders is old news… at least 125 years old news. However, to assume that most of these clergymen won’t be ordained as priests in the RC after examination (and I think we ALL see the necessity for the RC to do a better job to examine potential priest candidates) ignores the past 20+ years where Episcopal priests that are married have been allowed to become priests in the Roman Catholic Church.
Stop criticizing the people offering the lifeboats and do more to try to plug the leak that’s causing the Anglican ship to sink. Some of us are called to stay, some of us are called to leave and my paygrade isn’t high enough to determine which ones should do which, so I trust God’s dealings in the hearts of all… leavers and stayers.
Larry
I find it surprising (in the extreme) that you believe sans concrete proof in supernatural good in the form of God and yet dismiss the existence of supernatural evil in the form of Satan and demons. This despite the fact that Scripture explicitly affirms the existence of both and such has been the consistent teaching of the church and her saints. Witchcraft and sorcery do in fact exist. Most of what passes for it today is just silly nonsense cooked up by people trying to make a buck. But it should not be dismissed as harmless. The theology behind demonic obsession and possession (and in the case of places, infestation) is a touchy subject.
In general I adhere to the advice I got from a priest whom I held in high regard many years ago. He told me that studying the dark arts and demonology should be undertaken only by spiritually mature persons with a compelling reason, under careful guidance and with the blessing of their spiritual father. Beyond which I would encourage anyone with doubts on this subject to read the book “Hostage to the Devil” by the late Malachi Martin.
Under the mercy
John
ugggg wrong thread
Elves please delete my last comment.
billqs,
I’m not criticizing the Romans, what I am criticizing is the perpetuation, by some, of the mistaken belief that any former Anglican clergymen will be received as clerics. The ones who are misleading others in this are a major part of the problem. Rome’s position, as we both know, is crystal clear. Were I an Anglo-Catholic who wished to remain an Anglican, I would not be at all comfortable with those who are so openly endorsing my co-religionists to depart. The other factor is that converts will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, their won’t be mass conversions. This is all going to take quite some time.
RMB, what we see is that their current/former/never status as Anglican clerics does not count for nothing, but that considering the history of these conversions we see that there is a general expectation that they will be (re-)ordained, and indeed that some of them would never be ordained in the Roman church unless they had already been Anglican clerics. Rome’s supposedly crystal-clear position is belied by her actions;the pretense that their Anglican ordinations count for nothing is not sustained in practice.
RE: “But, I tell you, most of these folks shall continue to proselytize their former co-religionists until the cows come home.”
Sure — but well-informed people will just smile and move on. I don’t see that more former-Anglicans attempting to proselytize will make much difference from the way it is now — in fact, given the Anglican difficulties with evangelization, it will probably be even worse when the former-Anglicans try. They don’t have the skills. ; > )
RE: “The well-wishers are dilluded and are, themselves, part of the problem acting as voluntary fifth-columnists.”
Nonsense. It does not take “delusion” about the nature of the Roman Catholic church and its issues, or “delusion” about the fact that at least some of the converts are going into it with some degree of naivete to wish those who are leaving the COE well.
I wish those who leave TEC or the COE well, whether they go to the Baptists, or the Methodists, or the RCs or wherever. I do so, and I also feel a great degree of empathy for them.
At a certain point, for them, enough was enough. The fact that they’ve chosen to go RC is neither here nor there. They desire to leave because they do not [obviously] share the same worldview or values as the current leaders of the COE.
Does anyone know who gave the journalist the figure of “50 Anglican clergy”? As best I can tell, no-one willing to be quoted will give any figure at all.
There is a later article on T19 referring to two parish priests in Kent who are going to call meetings of their vestry to discuss the issue. But I can’t find much else concrete online.
Is this just another case of a journalist creating whatever “facts” will flesh out his/her article, or is there some basis to it?
Well, the journalist in question is most likely Damian Thompson, who has been cheerleading at length in the Telegraph blogs. So I expect that this is an optimistic count, at least if you think that conversions are a good outcome.