“This is a response to overtures that had already been made – it’s not as if the Catholic Church had gone ‘poaching’ or ‘fishing’ as some media may have claimed,” said Father Robert Imbelli, associate professor of theology at Boston College. “The Apostolic Constitution has not yet been issued and that will be the key document. It will set the parameters for the reception. It sounds as if it represents an accommodation to the Anglican tradition, which reflects the appreciation of the richness of that tradition. It has been the ecumenical discussions that have led to this new appreciation.”

The Anglican Church, by comparison, has gone the way of the world. In many ways, they’ve ceased to be counter-cultural or a “sign of contradiction.” In that sense, they have a good friend in the media. They’ve jumped into the same water and are floating downstream together.

One of the few things standing against that cultural current is the Catholic Church.

“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it,” the great British journalist and convert G.K. Chesterton used to say.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * Culture-Watch • Media • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI

1. Intercessor wrote: It is open slur season for the Liberal bent. When one rescues a soul being ground into the dirt by the boot heel of the liberals I guess it is politically correct to label that action as “poaching”. Intercessor October 26, 2:42 pm | [comment link]

2. New Reformation Advocate wrote: I LOVE that line by G. K. Chesteron, himself a convert from Anglican roots to Roman Catholicism: “A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.” So true.  And so apt. David Handy+ Passionate advocate of “go-against-the-cultural-stream,” Post-Christendom style Anglicanism October 26, 3:33 pm | [comment link]

3. Adam 12 wrote: I sometimes feel that the only way to go against the stream is to stand on the Rock of Ages. October 26, 6:26 pm | [comment link]

4. Sick & Tired of Nuance wrote: This seems like a case of the Media saying, “Hey, let’s you and him have a fight!” October 26, 9:24 pm | [comment link]

5. C. Wingate wrote: Well, calling it “evangelization” (as the NCR article does) lead me at least to the question I keep asking: does it really count if you are only trying to reach people who are already Christians? October 26, 10:48 pm | [comment link]

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