An Aid To Memory

The Church of England recently voted to remove barriers in place preventing women bishops from being appointed. Many Anglicans (especially Anglo-Catholic Anglicans) are rather upset about the prospect of women bishops. One Anglican leader has said that if women are ordained as bishops in the near future, up to 800 Anglican priests may leave for the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has responded to this possibility.

British Catholic bishop Declan Lang says Anglicans should not convert for negative reasons, but only because they accept the Teaching of the Church. The question of Anglicans converting to Catholicism in high numbers is not new in England. When women were accepted into the C of E priesthood in 1992 many Anglican priests defected to Rome under the Catholic Church’s Anglican Use provision. Under this provision, Anglican priests may be ordained as Catholic priests, even if they are married, and may serve in parishes that use a modified Anglican liturgy. I must note that over the years many individuals have converted from Anglicanism to the Catholic Church (and vice-versa), two famous ones being John Henry Newman and Gerald Manley Hopkins.

Bishop Lang brings up an interesting point. It is never good to convert to any faith solely for negative reasons. Whenever someone converts to the Catholic faith, he or she is expected to profess acceptance of all that the Church teaches. Thus the only real reason to convert is a love and acceptance of the entire Catholic faith. Being upset at the direction of your own church is not by itself a sufficient reason to join the Catholic Church.

That being said, problems in other denominations can certainly point one toward the Catholic Church and put one on the path so to speak. We must be there to encourage the disaffected individuals exploring our faith, and show them the reasons to love the Catholic faith.

I had been flirting with converting to the Catholic Church for years, but it was the Episcopal Church’s actions at General Convention 2003 that finally pushed me out their door and put me on the path to Rome. However, even after I decided to leave for the Catholic Church, I had to spend much time in prayer and study to make sure I could truly affirm that I held to all that the Church taught. Otherwise, I could not have professed just that.

I hope the Catholic Church is open to receiving the bishops, priests, and laity that feel like Anglicanism is no longer their home, and who are (for good, positive reasons) looking to the Catholic Church for a home. They need an Apostolic home, and we always need priests and laity who know good liturgy and good theology.

Left image (JH Newman): http://www3.villanova.edu/mission/newman/archive.htm
Right image (GM Hopkins): http://www.info.sophia.ac.jp/renaissa/HopkinsSocietyDefaultPage.htm

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 12th, 2005 at 6:42 pm and is filed under Anglicanism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.