The Vatican’s Invitation to Anglicans

The above link is to the letters section of The NY Times regarding the new setup for Anglicans wishing to swim the Tiber. The letters start off with one from our own Msgr. Daniel S. Hamilton, and then proceed downhill fast. The only letters that are not garbage are the first and last, everything in between is the usual silliness. The reading is most entertaining, although there is a serious side: The complaints are from liberals who do not like the idea of people converting to Catholicism. Liberal Catholics, in particular, see this as a repudiation of the past 40 years of ecumenism. Of course, this is only partially true: ecumenism has done great things in improving relations between Catholics and other Christians, but Christians are actually further apart in many ways than they were in the past. Ecumenism must never preclude actual conversion and the Church must be very open to accepting brothers and sisters on their own terms, as long as it is within traditional Christian orthodoxy.

Related story which is a must read: For an Episcopal Parish, a Path to Catholicism

"ROSEMONT, Pa. — When the Vatican announced last week that it would welcome groups of traditionalist Anglicans into the Roman Catholic Church, leaders of one Episcopal parish celebrated as if a ship had arrived to rescue them from a drifting ice floe. "

"“We’d been praying for this daily for two years,” said Bishop David L. Moyer, who leads the Church of the Good Shepherd, a parish in the Main Line suburbs of Philadelphia that is battling to keep its historic property. “When I heard the news I was speechless, then the joy came and the tears.”

"This parish could be one of the first in the United States to convert en masse after the Vatican completes plans for a new structure to allow Anglicans to become Catholic while retaining many of their spiritual traditions, like the Book of Common Prayer and married priests."