Thursday, August 21, 2008
THE WISDOM OF CHRIST AND ANGLICAN STRUGGLES
In watching the Anglican Church's attempt to hold itself together in the face of elected women bishops, gay bishops, and women priests, it becomes ever more clear the wisdom of Christ in establishing the role played by the pope in holding the Roman Catholic Church together. An article at the Catholic Leader website points this out:
the Catholic participants at Lambeth were encouraged by the "strong support" shown for the call for moratoriums on blessing same-sex unions, on ordaining openly gay bishops and on violating the structure of the Anglican Communion by naming bishops outside one's own jurisdiction.
The practice has occurred when conservative Anglican provinces have named bishops for traditionalist Anglicans in the United States, where the US Episcopal Church has shown greater openness to homosexuals and has ordained women priests and bishops.
Because the Anglican Communion has no strong central authority like the Pope, because the Lambeth Conference does not have legislative powers and because the jurisdictional authority of the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury is limited, "at best the conference indicates a direction," Msgr Bolen said.
