OK, just what the hell is this shit:

[hedgehog]

http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/cardinal-us-church-ready-receive-anglicans

http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/24514.php?index=24514&lang=it

http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-reveals-plan-welcome-disaffected-anglicans

http://zenit.org/article-27281?l=english


Strip away all the pretty talk about unity, and it boils down to you can have married priests and say Mass however which way you want, as long as you keep women and gays out of the priest hood.*



(My father's comment: "If they don't like gay priests, why are they joining the Catholic Church!" Of course the answer is, it's OK to be a gay priest in the Catholic Church as long as you and everyone else pretends you are straight. )

[Matilda]

1. It's total hypocrisy.

If it goes against some divine law to allow married priests, then it's wrong, whether they started out as Anglicans
or Catholic. And if it's not wrong for Anglicans who convert, how can it possibly be wrong for Catholics who've
been in the church all along?

All this means is that the Catholic Church is going to import more homophobic and chauvinistic priests - just what
we need!

[hedgehog]

2. Matilda - can you tell us anything about this Archbishop John Hepworth?

He's from Australia.I've seen references suggesting he's been divorced and remarried, but I can't find the original information. He did start out as a Catholic priest. makes me wonder if Father Cutié will be welcomed back into the fold in a year or so!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/28/florida.priest/

[Matilda]

3. He appears to want to have his cake and eat it too.

I don't know how he reconciles his divorce with the teachings of the Anglican Church, which doesn't recognise the
remarriage of divorced people. Perhaps he's making it up as he goes along, to suit himself.

The Anglican communities in other states tend to be more relaxed, and they all allow the ordination of women, with
the notable exception of Sydney, where the Archbishop, Peter Jensen, is completely opposed. But the Sydney Anglicans
are a different breed; more like the Puritans than the modern Church of England. Hepworth, on the other hand, seems
to be more High Church, except for the divorce.

[hedgehog]

4. I haven't been able to track down any direct information on the divorce

and would appreciate any background. I wouldn't care two cents about this except for the fact that Catholics who divorce and remarry without going through an annulment are denied Communion.

[Matilda]

5. I haven't found anything very relevant to the issue either.

Articles about him, including interviews, seem to be pussyfooting
around the issue (don't mention the war!).

One blog addressed the issue and was of the opinion that Hepworth
couldn't possibly be received back into the church, after leaving to
get married, being divorced, and remarrying. The bloggers opinion was
that even if he had grounds for annulment of his first marriage, the
situation would be too tricky to contemplate. I agree with that view,
but I think this person is only a layman, and it would be interesting
to hear what a priest would have to say.

[hedgehog]

6. Not one word about this at Mass today.