Posted on 06/24/2002 9:28:14 PM PDT by narses
The Roman Catholic Church may one day follow Anglicans and ordain women to the priesthood, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.
Dr George Carey said he did not believe that the fact that the Church of England had ordained women while Rome had not was "an eternally insurmountable" problem.
The Church of England first priested women in 1994, despite a warning two years earlier by the Pope that the move would represent a grave obstacle to unity. The Pontiff said Christ had chosen only men as his apostles.
Dr Carey, speaking in an interview during a two-day visit to Rome, and in terms guaranteed to jolt many Roman Catholics, said: "I know that there are lots of women in the Roman Catholic Church who would like ordination themselves.
"So let's see it as a problem, but not as a final break that is going to stop the unity that we want to see."
He said of the Church of England's break with more than four centuries of its exclusively male priesthood: "Sometimes churches have to change and to go with the leading of the Holy Spirit and sometimes this takes hundreds of years.
"It doesn't mean to say one church is right and another church is wrong. We move in different steps, different paces. We have lagged behind the Roman Catholic Church in many directions but maybe on this issue we are leading the way."
The archbishop, who retires in October after nearly 12 years at Canterbury, yesterday exchanged messages of greetings with the Pope. The men renewed their commitment to eventual Christian unity at what will be their final official meeting.
Although in their addresses to each other yesterday Dr Carey and the Pope did not specifically mention women priests, the Pontiff made reference to "acknowledging obstacles which keep us from full communion".
Carey would do well to take his own advice.
Believe what you want Georgie, no can do. This guy suffers from the "Costanza" syndrome.
Yeah, and I'd like to be 20 years old and 120 lbs.
What he DOESN'T say is that most of these women are far left feminists who support abortion, socialism, practice WICCA and other pc things. That's why Carey's church is dying, and why the African and Asian bishops are now sending missionaries to the US and the UK, to restore Christianity.
Because of course, he doesn't believe in the concept of RIGHT or WRONG, everything is just a shade of GRAY.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.