The Tablet: Thinking the unthinkable

[UrbScotty]

Under its new Pope, the Catholic Church begins to feel like an animal that has emerged from winter hibernation, blinking in the sunlight and looking for pastures new. From around the world the signs of this reawakening are becoming visible.

For instance, some German bishops are interested in the possibility of women being admitted to a special diaconate, as a step towards diluting the heavily masculine profile of Catholic ministry. The idea needs pushing further, not even ruling out the prospect, floated not long ago by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, that women could be appointed as cardinals, given that red hats do not necessarily have to be proffered to clergy. As the Epistles of St Paul make clear, leadership positions in the Church can in principle be as open to women as to men.

It seemed far-fetched to say such a thing in the closing days of Pope Benedict’s papacy. But a pope who washes women’s feet on Maundy Thursday, and is in many ways so different from his two immediate predecessors, seems capable of doing what was once almost unthinkable. Nor is it just what he does himself that will change the Church, but how people respond to him and to the opportunities that define this new Franciscan era. In that respect, the German bishops’ fresh thinking on women’s ministry is a straw in the wind. Nor is it now unimaginable that Pope Francis’ strictures against clericalism when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires – against clergy who strut around declaring “I’m the boss,” as he puts it – might influence the way the Church functions elsewhere.

Anglican church leaders, who had come sadly to terms with the fact that no further progress towards visible unity with the Catholic Church was likely, have already noted that a change in style in Rome could put organic union back on the agenda. The international Anglican-Catholic theological dialogue is about to resume, and the question of how the two Churches reach decisions on disputed matters is a key one. In Anglicanism the lay voice has a real right to be heard; in the Catholic system this right is purely theoretical. For its own good as well as for the sake of the ecumenical process, the Catholic Church needs to grow structures of dialogue with its own laity – for genuine listening, with a genuine prospect of responding. The Catholic Church in England and Wales has been negligent in this respect, despite the positive encouragement given to participative structures in the Second Vatican Council.

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/article/164128

[rug]

1. A good summary.

[goldent]

2. I used to get excited at the idea of Anglican-Catholic union

Now I'm not sure I see the value. And these days I can't see it happening in any way, so it's really a moot point.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

3. I feel much the same

I remember attending a Mass concelebrated by a Catholic priest and an Episcopalian priest in the early 1970s.

[IrishAyes]

4. Don't think of it as necessarily an absolute union

But perhaps, rather a kissing cousins type of thing. Catholic priests have always been allowed to practice Buddhism as well since the latter IS a philosophy rather than a religion, and they can co-officiate with Buddhist monks at weddings. A lot of Americans don't seem to know this and if they do, they often disapprove. But it's common in Asian countries and a pretty fine idea in my view.

So if a Catholic priest can co-officiate with a Buddhist monk at a holy rite, then why can't the same be done with Anglicans? As I recall, at least at one time efforts were being made to reach the same agreement with Lutherans. Although I'm told that in Missouri the official Lutheran position remains that the Catholic Church is the whore of Babylon, not Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama! Unless they think it's a trinity of some kind. No wonder the flocks are so set against each other.