The sudden flexibility in Catholic dogma
Religion is often perceived as predicated upon dogma. However, when it comes to a church agenda as opposed to the faith, there is frequently room for accommodation for secular advantage. Sometimes rules can be “re-interpreted’, dogma softened and allowances made for the advancement of a church’s interest.
If one was of a cynical bent, then the recent ‘streamlining’ (read fast-tracking) of Anglican converts into the Catholic Church could certainly be viewed that way. Conservative Anglicans are fast becoming frustrated at the liberalism of some in their own church. They resent the appointment of female bishops and tolerance of gays on the church. This leads some towards converting to Catholicism as if it is no smaller matter.
Such a conversion ignores the centuries old divide from reformation on, which is mighty flexible by the Anglicans who would then dial back the clock to accept the authority of the Pope. The Catholic Church though is also flexing, allowing married Anglican priests to become married priests in their adopted faith. This is going to cause some confusion and quite likely some dissatisfaction to traditional Catholic priests who remain barred from marrying. This all goes to show that when the Church wants its laws are subject to human manipulation. A contextual dogma is suspicious at best, and despicable at worse.
In an extraordinary bid to lure traditionalist Anglicans en masse, the Vatican said Tuesday that it would make it easier for Anglicans uncomfortable with their church’s acceptance of female priests and openly gay bishops to join the Roman Catholic Church while retaining many of their traditions.
The Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the Catholic archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, discussed the Vatican’s plan on Tuesday.
Anglicans would be able “to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony,” Cardinal William J. Levada, the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said at a news conference here.
It was unclear why the Vatican made the announcement now. But it seemed a rare opportunity, audaciously executed, to capitalize on deep divisions within the Anglican Church to attract new members at a time when the Catholic Church has been trying to reinvigorate itself in Europe.
The issue has long been close to the heart of Pope Benedict XVI, who for years has worked to build ties to those Anglicans who, like conservative Catholics, spurn the idea of female and gay priests.
Catholic and Anglican leaders sought on Tuesday to present the move as a joint effort to aid those seeking conversion. But it appeared that the Vatican had engineered it on its own, presenting it as a fait accompli to the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury and the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, only in recent weeks. Some Anglican and Catholic leaders expressed surprise, even shock, at the news.
