Sunday, November 8, 2009

Randall Balmer, Episcopalian, says Vatican "Opportunistic" (Poll)

| Randall Balmer, Episcopal priest, washingtonpost.com.

NO: The Vatican’s sudden overture to disaffected Anglicans strikes me as both cynical and opportunistic.

Cynical in that the concession to effectively allow congregations to continue using Anglican hymns and liturgies seems to undermine decades of ecumenical discussions. [Wow, sounds just like a Jesuit.]

The move is opportunistic in that Rome is making the overture at what might be viewed as a moment of crisis or weakness in the Anglican Communion. The Vatican apparently is seeking to harvest those disaffected by the ordination of women and gays and by support for same-sex unions. [No, they're doing their job.]

A cynical action calls for a cynical interpretation: [Sounds like projection to me. There's nothing about this that's cynical, unless you read into it things which aren't there and attribute wicked motives] Perhaps the Vatican is hoping to lure Anglican parishes — and their property — to compensate for its financial losses in the priestly pedophilia scandals. [Anglicans are actually worse on that score]

I have no doubt that some disaffected Anglicans will see this as an attractive offer. At the same time, I wasn’t aware that Christians opposed to homosexuality or to women’s ordination were underserved in the religious marketplace. [If it were a marketplace. I'm afraid you're the cynical one, sir.]

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