Ecclesiastical bibs and bobs

• The latest RC-Orthodox talks.
• There will be a briefing later today in Rome about Anglicans; in London, Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster at joint press conference. More.
• Update: Fr Philip called this one. Just announced here in Rome: “In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.” More. Damian Thompson: This is clearly a historic gesture by Pope Benedict which will encourage thousands of disaffected Anglicans to become Roman Catholics. An extension of my idea of making English Anglo-Papalists RC national parishes. Not that dramatic a statement but good nonetheless. Gaudent angeli et Angli. Te Deum laudamus: te Dominum confitemur...
• Texts from Rome.
• Joint statement and FiF response.
• Brother Stephen’s wise observations.
• Dr Tighe and Fr Longenecker rightly predicted the joint statement. So... my guess is the C of E keeps the buildings (business as usual), reordination all round of the incoming clergy (same — of course) and, as envisaged by the Pope, the Anglo-Catholics wouldn’t be forced by the remaining local liberals (or similar resistance as described perfectly by Thomas Day... from Novus Ordo neocons) to give up being Catholic. (Fr Hunwicke: why don’t they and the local liberals just swap?)
• Fr H on declaring heresy.
• From the other end of the spectrum, Huw, one of the fairest-minded liberals. Of course I don’t agree with everything here but he understands that to embrace tradition is not oppression or self-deception (being closeted). Many also don’t get that libertarianism is not necessarily libertinism.
• Ex-Episcopalians who don’t want gay weddings in their churches ≠ Nigerian Pentecostals who torture children. To claim otherwise is like saying all mainliners (including credally orthodox moderates like the Revd Jane) are like John Spong and Ann Redding; they’re arguably on the same track but two or three stations behind all that from our Catholic POV but it’s not true and thus not fair.

Labels: Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Catholic faith