C of E bishop will defect to Rome

C of E bishop will defect to Rome

At least one Church of England bishop will defect to Rome soon after the Lambeth Conference, I gather from Anglo-Catholic sources. And there could be more to follow.

I can’t tell you much more than that at the moment, because the negotiations with Rome are so sensitive - and the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, who distrust Anglican traditionalists, are quite capable of throwing a spanner in the works.

It’s shaming to have to admit that the bishops of my own Church are the chief obstacle to a significant move of Anglo-Catholic clergy and lay people into full communion with the Holy See - but that’s the way it was last time, in the early 1990s, and it’s still the case today.

Fortunately, Pope Benedict XVI is more open to experiment than Pope John Paul II. He is taking a close interest in the progress of the rebel Traditional Anglican Communion towards reunion - a process which is under the control of the Congregration for the Doctrine of the Faith, [NB!!!! The CDF!] not the Vatican’s woolly-minded ecumenists.

I can’t betray confidences, but my advice is: look at the new church structures, such as Old Rite parishes, that the Pope is already encouraging, and ask yourself how those models might be adapted for the use of former Anglicans.

But I’ve already said too much…

Could all …

… weird Australian activists please shut up and sit down! You’re making the rest of us good bad (or normal!).

Activists call for citizen’s arrest of Pope

BTW: you’ll have to arrest me as well! And, I suspect, a majority of Australians (both Catholic and Muslim).

I guess you have to be into it

Comic Book Characters Grouped by Religious Affiliation

I espeically like that the Little Mermaid is Lutheran and The Hulk is Catholic!

For lovers of The West Wing

Open-source Christianity

This is too funny to pass up:

Pope Announces Catholicism 2.0: Open-Source Christianity

Vatican City, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI has accounced a startling new initiative he calls ‘Catholicism 2.0′. In a statement released today, the Pope will “apply the guiding principles of Silicon Valley’s ‘open source’ movement to reinvigorate the holy body of Christ, the Catholic Church. The goal is an open, welcoming and above all ‘user-friendly’ Christianity.”

The document described several features of the new initiative, including:

1. Open participation in Church rituals
2. The Creative Commons Mass (TM)
3. User-defined Church dogma

The Pope is seen as reacting to recent criticim that concepts like dogma are viewed as too inflexible and the Church is intransigent in the face of a changing society. It is hoped that opening up religious and lay orders to people of all lifestyles will encourage greater participation in Mass, while user-defined Church dogma (or UDCD in religious parlance) will bring back lapsed faithful.

American Catholics have responded enthusiastically to the change. According to Gloria Bogan, an Ann Arbor, MI resident, “I can’t wait to get home to download the new Mass protocols and get cranking on an all-guitar Liturgy of the Word! This really brings the Church in line with the new millenium.” Other plans include the Esperanto Mass, the 5-Minute Mass and TeleCommunion.

Australia and polygamy

AUSTRALIA prides itself on its tolerance and its wide acceptance of different mores, but polygamy appears to be a bridge too far for even the most ardent multiculturalists, Islamic and otherwise.

Debate raged across the nation yesterday about whether a pluralistic and free society could happily accommodate the practice of polygamous marriage.

Keysar Trad, president of the Islamic Friendship Association, spoke out this week, admitting he had once considered marrying another woman.

He also backed calls by another senior member of the Islamic community, Sheik Khalil Chami of the Islamic Welfare Centre, for polygamous relationships to be recognised.

Sheik Chami said polygamous marriages, although illegal, existed in Australia and he had been asked almost weekly to conduct polygamous religious ceremonies. Although he refused, other imams did not.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland was quick yesterday to rule polygamous relationships “entirely inconsistent with the culture and indeed with the law” of Australia. “Polygamous relationships are and will remain unlawful,” he said.

Read the whole article, Polygamy fights for an Aussie home.

What is different between polygamy and the culture of divorce we live in??

For my part, I have but one comment: I have enough trouble with one.

Analogy: Obedience

Obedience (to the Church) is like medicine.

One does not take medicine for the pleasure but for the effect. The medicine is not an end in itself but a means to an end. The act of taking is an expression of the believe that the medicine can have the desired effect.

Obedience is not an end in itself but the expression of a deeper reality. Obedience is the outward expression of the believe that the Holy Spirit works through the Church.

Not perfect, I know, but what analogy is. So the post is more personal but I thought I would throw it out there.

And the race is on …

For the first time in the recorded history (ie stats) of this blog, the Catholic Traditionalism page has over-taken Photos of the Holy Father page. Should we read something into that??

One year ago today …

… we were received into the Church at St Thomas More, Waikerie.

So, today is the first birthday of Bob Catholic!

Important information for WYD visitors

Herr Schutz has some important information for visitors to Australian for the World Youth Day. Yet, he has forgotten one very important one:

And it’s not the danger of the Redback spider! Nor is it the roaming kangaroos in the streets! Not even the fact that it is winter here while the Northern Hemisphere is in the middle of summer.

BUT:

If you drive in Australia, remember: Left-hand traffic!!!