Father Dwight Longenecker er katolsk prest i USA, gift med flere barn, og tidligere var han ti år anglikanske prest i England, og også lekmann i ti år, da han i stor grad arbeidet med å hjelpe anglikanske prester som ønsket å konvertere. Han vet altså hva han snakker om når ser på hvordan slike konvertitter i parksis har blitt mottatt, og hva som nå kan skje med pave Benedikts nye initiativ. Først skriver han:
For ten years I was an Anglican priest, and for ten years I was a Catholic layman in England. I worked for the St Barnabas Society–a charity that quietly assists convert clergy as they convert to the Catholic Church. At the same time I was on a long road to ordination myself. I therefore got to meet and discuss issues with the major players, and I can confirm virtually everything Damien asserts about the background politics in the case.
Although the Archbishop of Canterbury is dismayed that the Personal Ordinariate project was popped on him as a surprise move at a ‘very late stage’ it can’t have come as much of a surprise. This thing has been cooking for years. We can trace the development of it back to the early 90’s when the Church of England was debating the ordination of women. When the Church of England’s General Synod voted to ordain women in 1992 high level Anglicans were already in discussions with Rome. The retired Bishop of London–Graham Leonard was not only in talks with Cardinal Basil Hume, but also with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the CDF. I believe Ratzinger was sympathetic to the Anglo Catholics even then, and I know that a personal friendship developed between Cardinal Ratzinger and (now) Mgr. Leonard.
At the same time the Catholic convert journalist William Oddie wrote a book called The Roman Option in which he argued for an Anglo Catholic ‘church’ in communion with Rome which looks very like what we now have as the Personal Ordinariate. Oddie also criticized the Catholic bishops in England for inhibiting such an option because it was ‘unworkable’ and ‘damaging to ecumenical relations with the Anglicans’. Oddie was subsequently marginalized and treated as a pariah by the English Catholic establishment. …
Han skriver et annet sted også hva pavens dokument vil kunne innebære:
1. The Personal Ordinariate cuts across the powers of liberal, ignorant and unimaginative bishops. Those of us who work with convert clergy can tell horror story after horror story of how they are ignored, sidelined and dismissed by Catholic bishops who either do not understand, do not want ‘dangerous conservatives’ or simply cannot figure out what to do with convert clergy.
2. The PO establishes a new precedent in Church governance. This could mean that the church is freeing herself from strictly geographical boundaries of governance. With the Eastern Rite Churches and military and religious orders this has already been the case, … …
3. If the PO establishes this precedent for Anglicans why could it not also work for high church Lutherans? Could it work for High Church Methodists? …
For det tredje skriver han om de mulighetene denne åpningen for anglikanere har for å lykkes, eller ikke lykkes – først og fremst ser det ut til å avhenge av de katolske biskopenes respons:
Option No. 1 The Catholic bishops are enthusiastic about this creative new possibility for their dioceses. Experiencing a shortage of good priests they see that the Anglicans are well educated, mature men with long pastoral experience and solid liturgical sense. They immediately appoint a personal ordinary for them and encourage as many as possible to enter into full communion. They don’t have a problem with married men being ordained, and realize it could bring variety, strength and new blood into the presbyterate. …
Option No. 2 The liberal Catholic bishops are horrified at the idea of an influx of conservative ‘misogynistic homophobic’ former Anglicans. They quietly put the project of a ‘personal ordinariate’ on the back burner. Another category, and probably the largest, are the Catholic bishops who simply do not have the competence, imagination or courage to do anything at all with such a radical idea. They don’t understand Protestants. …
Trykk gjerne på de tre lenkene over, og lese hele dokumentene.
Mon tro om anglikanerne kan konvertere til den katolske Kirke uten å avsverge djevelen, slik det er vanlig for personlige konvertitter ?
Her forstår jeg ikke hva du mener, Hallvard. Hvorfor skal kristne som ønsker å bli katolikker avsverge Djevelen, hva har de hatt med han å gjøre? I tidligere tider måtte man avsverge den vranglæren man hadde vært en del av, men det leddet er borte nå. Man sier fram den nikenske trosbekjennelsen og svarer bekreftende på et tilleggsspørsmål; at man tror alt det Den katolske Kirke tror, lærer og bekjenner. Så vidt jeg vet opptas alle katolikker slik. (Om man ikke allerede er en kristen, dvs. ikke døpt, opptas man selvsagt i Kirken gjennom voksendåp. Og ved dåpen – av barn og voksne – er forsakelsen av Djevelen og alt hans vesen alltid med.)
Tilbakeping: Anglikanske katolikkar — og norske katolikkar? « Katolikken
Jeg vet at passusen med djevelen er bort fra de nye opptagelsesritualene, men jeg tenker på Sigrud Undsets glimrende beskrivelser, og utlegninger i fra hennes konversjon. Sigrud Undset kunne ihverfall ikke beskyldes for å være politisk korrekt