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Bishop ready to defect and join Pope Benedict
Invitation to convert to Rome looks to have hooked its first big Anglican fish
The Bishop of Chichester, one of the leading traditionalists in the Church of England, says he is seriously contemplating taking up Pope Benedict's invitation to Anglicans to convert to Roman Catholicism - an offer the historian David Starkey says was a calculated move by the Vatican to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession.
"The Catholic Church has a profound historic awareness," Starkey wrote in the Sunday Times. "What better moment to indicate that it believes the English Reformation, which was irrevocably set in motion during Henry's reign, can - and should - be reversed?"
Whatever the nuances behind the Pope's timing, it has certainly put the C of E into a spin. If the Bishop of Chichester, the Rt Rev John Hind, goes ahead, some believe it could trigger an exodus of Anglican clergy who have had enough of the division in the Church of England, especially over the heated issues of gay clergy and women bishops.
What makes the Pope's offer attractive to Hind and others is that he has promised a structure that would allow disaffected Anglicans to enter full communion with Rome, while holding on to parts of their Protestant heritage.
"This is a remarkable new step from the Vatican," Hind told the Sunday Telegraph. "At long last there are some choices for Catholics in the Church of England. I'd be happy to be re-ordained into the Catholic Church."
While Hind said he would only convert if his previous ministry was recognised by the Vatican, he claimed he was willing to sacrifice his stipend and his palace residence in order to defect to Rome.
One Anglican priest contacted by the Sunday Telegraph who said he would follow in Hind's footsteps was Father Ed Tomlinson, vicar of St Barnabus, Tunbridge Wells. "The ship of Anglicanism seems to be going down," he said, "We should be grateful that a lifeboat has been sent."
Hind's boss, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was apparently only informed of the Pope's invitation shortly before it was made last week and is said to have been "implacably opposed" to Benedict's decree.
As Starkey says, there's nothing new about the Vatican trying to "hook" the Anglican flock. But by changing the rules so that entire Anglican communities, instead of mere individuals, can now convert to Catholicism, and take their liturgy with them, Pope Benedict appears to have made Anglicans an offer many will find hard to refuse. ·
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Yes, but the big question looming over this whole controversy is:
Since it's all about the myths and idolatry of religion, WHO CARES? It's all about feeble old men quarreling over stature and power.
On the keyboard the O is just below and to the left of the hyphen
I am so pleased that the Pope has offered me a way out of the sick, demented Church of England, whose values are based on the political agenda of the so-called "New World Order", their religion is a sham and has nothing to do with Christ's preachings.
This is taking Union with Europe to ridiculous lengths.
This idea of non-equality of the sexes, and the fact that the C of E, has and does in many countries ordain active homosexuals, is anathema to those of the hard-line Roman Catholic faith.
Yet even as we speak, the RC Church, is having crises of its own, they cannot get enough English speaking men, to become priests.
Why is this? Because these men, once so dedicated to the Church, now have to run a gantlet of women, who run the universities and then in some cases the seminaries that teach these men to become priests. Also these men have to run the gantlet of women psychiatrists weeding out the homosexuals and deviants spoken of quite frequently in the American press.
This has lead to a feminization of the priesthood here in America and Canada. Most of the new priests, although they are few in number, have become feminized and much less masculine then the priests of yesteryear. Men are not willing to become priests without marriage and without the support of a wfe, mainly because this is an extremely lonely job, not a calling. For the parish priest, must have his own retirement fund, must make provisions for the eventual sicknesses that occur in a human's lifetime and all this without the support of a loving and caring woman.
It is ironic for the RC Church, to say that only men can be priests, for in the early church many women are mentioned as having authority over men, priests as well as bishops. Also reading, that there were women prophets and apostles.
For the RC Church, to close out half of the world's population from service to their fellow man, without the benefit of authority, is unconscionable and an irreversible slap in the face to G-d.
For G-d sees neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, bond nor free when looking at humanity. If G-d can do this, why does man, put restrictions on who can serve their fellow believers?
Because of GREED and the need for power and prestige.
I thought that Tony Blair was the first big Anglican fish to be caught in the Papist net.
However, offering opposition to , "Women ordination," and "Gays in the church," will not attract any men of real substance. They could offer all sorts of incitements, and I'm thinking here of one that I would not put into print, but Christians are free to follow their beliefs and conscience.
Did Tony Blair appoint the Bishop of Chichester ?? That would make for an interesting conspiracy theory.