Anglicans could receive Roman Catholic communion, Archbishop suggests

The Telegraph ^ | 10/11/13 | John Bingham

[ebb tide]

The Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Rev Bernard Longley, signalled that restrictions, which can be traced back to the Reformation, might be “reconsidered” as a result of “deeper sharing” between the two churches.

Although he insisted that he was expressing a “personal view”, the Archbishop’s comments will be closely watched as he is the senior Catholic cleric responsible for dialogue with the Anglican churches.

His remarks were warmly welcomed by leading figures in the Church of England who said it was time for closer ties.

[DManA]

Although he insisted that he was expressing a “personal view”,

As if that means anything to anybody.

[Cicero]

The Vatican had better clamp down on this guy fast. That is contrary to Catholic teaching. And an Archbishop who is responsible for dialog with the Church of England has no business expressing “private views” that contradict the official Catholic position.

[vladimir998]

Clearly it will mean something to some people.

[DManA]

What do you mean?

[ebb tide]

The Vatican had better clamp down on this guy fast.

Between this and the diocese of Freiburg, I fear Francis is deliberately setting trial ballons aloft. Not much unlike Paul VI and Communion in the Hand. I don't expect either of the above to be disciplined.

[MUDDOG]

Henry VIII taking the monasteries has still got to hurt.

[hinckley buzzard]

You have to wonder who this announcement of personal opinion was aimed at. Certainly there is no way the Roman Church will countenance sharing of the Eucharist with the apostates of the Anglican community.

[miele man]

Is this a “shot” at the Anglican Ordinariate that Pope Benedict XVI brought into being? Seems to me that it would undermine it.

[piusv]

Just some more heretical views in New Church.

[piusv]

Don’t be so sure. Nowadays, with Francis at the helm, nothing would surprise me.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Pope Francis in the Freiburg communion/divorce matter is "setting a trial balloon aloft"? He's pretty clearly shooting it down:

Vatican disapproves Freiburg's statement (Link)

It's hardly a wink at dissent, if the first thing the Pope does is tell them to retract it.

[Cicero]

No question, it’s heretical.

Communion in the hand was not a good idea, IMHO, but it isn’t heresy. This is.

The Catholic Church in England, from what I hear, has even worse problems than in America. Very sad, because at one point it looked like the people attending Catholic services in England were starting to outnumber those attending Anglican services. But the Catholic bishops blew that opportunity of offering a really attractive alternative.

[ebb tide]

Let me know when someone is disciplined and the practiced is stopped. The Pope is convening a Synod next year to explore just such a practice.

No different then Pope Paul VI’s and JP II’s “discomfort” with Communion in the hand. Or, in the case of JP II, “altar girls”.

[ebb tide]

"A change in a matter of such moment (receiving Holy Communion), based on a most ancient and venerable tradition, does not merely affect discipline. It carries certain dangers with it which may arise from the new manner of administering Holy Communion: the danger of a loss of reverence for the august sacrament of the altar, of profanation, of adulterating the true doctrine." Pope Paul VI; Memoriale Domini

Do you receive Holy Communion in the hand, Mrs. Don-O?

[ebb tide]

It is worthwhile recalling that as recently as 1980, when the Holy Father (Blessed JP II the Awesome) reaffirmed the Church's bimillennial prohibition of female altar servers in Inæstimabile donum, the Vatican's own official liturgical publication, Notitiæ, ran an article declaring that this prohibition was "set in stone" as early as the fifth century A.D. 2 That "stone", however, has now crumbled to dust before our eyes. Should we now simply accept this innovation with a passive, silent shrug of the shoulders? Some who before 1994 were adamantly opposed to female altar service have subsequently argued that, whether we like it or not, the question of altar girls is now a closed issue, and indeed, a minor issue, so that we should therefore stop crying over spilt milk, as it were, and just get used to the presence of "altar girls" during Mass.

http://www.rtforum.org/lt/lt88.html

[cothrige]

Well, I for one am not convinced of any trial-balloon theory, but, from what I read it actually sounded to me like the Vatican basically just said to slow down as there was a synod being called for reform of family issues. In other words, Pope Francis may do this himself, but they should wait for him to do so. Not quite shooting anything down I fear.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"...the Catholic bishops blew that opportunity of offering a really attractive alternative."

I'm sorry, I'm ignorant about this, and/or I'm not following you. What attractive alternative?

[Mrs. Don-o]

No; on the tongue.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I likewise oppose female altar servers. And female EM’s: I was asked to serve as such, and I declined.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

[ebb tide]

Good for you, on both counts! I think you’re a better Catholic than PVI and JPII were.

But to quote the Bishop of Rome, “Who am I to judge?”.

[Mrs. Don-o]

In now ay do I think I;m a better Catholic that these great popes. (Shaking head and rolling eyes.)

[ebb tide]

"Great" popes? Give me a break!

Who Was Paul VI?

I encourage you to set your spiritual goals a little higher.

[Cicero]

Almost everyone in England used to go to church on Sundays, mostly the local Anglican church. But after the War, and especially in the 60s, people pretty much stopped going to church. At one point, there were actually more people going to the Catholic churches on Sunday than the village churches of the C of E. There was talk that Catholicism might become England’s primary religion.

But the Catholic churches got caught up in some of the same post-Vatican II problems as the churches in the U.S., and they blew that opportunity to attract people who no longer found anything attractive in the Church of England.

[ebb tide]

Who Was Paul VI?

Please read at your leisure.

[piusv]

Exactly. It’s more like don’t you dare do this before we give the okay!

[ebb tide]

Here's a better link to make your reading easier (it even has pictures!):

Paul VI Beatified?

[Mrs. Don-o]

Paul VI gave us Humanae Vitae --- a miracle, especially if you consider the social/historical context, when every earthly power --- intellectual, "humanitarian," medical, legal, political, economic, academic, national and international --- was rolling contraception like a huge juggernaut across the globe. The majority of the so-called Papal Commission was pro-contraception: as were most of the Bishops of the world.

Humanae Vitae convinced me of the Holy Spirit's guidance of the papacy, which evokes from me nothing but gratitude and awe.

Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you, Pope Paul VI.

[Mrs. Don-o]

OK, now I get you. I had misread you somehow. (Crossed eyes icon here.)

[Mrs. Don-o]

Vatican Blows the Whistle on Rebel German Diocese (Link)

[ebb tide]

Yawn! Once again, let me know when heads roll.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Good bye.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Good bye. I’ll say a decade for you.

[ebb tide]

As long as it’s not a glow-in-the dark decade, I’ll appreciate it.

[ebb tide]

What “aniti-papal” website are you referring to? Catholic Family News?

[Mrs. Don-o]

For you, and for the Pope.

[tanknetter]

I remember the first time I watched “Heaven Help Us”, in early high school in the 80s with friends. Two of whom had been Altar Boys.

BOTH were instant converts against in-the-hand after seeing the Communion scene ...

[ebb tide]

Which Pope?

[Mrs. Don-o]

The is something so reverent and touching about Communion being put in your mouth, which is the way mama birds feed baby birds, and parents feed children, and lovers playfully feed each other. I just can't imagine why "Communion in the hand," which looks like somebody eating a cheez doodle, would be preferred by anybody.

[Mrs. Don-o]

For good measure, all of ‘em.