Anti-Papal Anglicans Attack Emerging Ordinariates

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: It's not everyday one finds conservative traditionalists fighting against the pope. Usually such strange manifestations are contained to groups such as the SSPX and various Sedevacatist orders. Of course, in the Protestant world we could point to Evangelical Fundamentalists, though not very traditionalist as far as Christian standards go, they are usually conservative. I suppose if we really look hard enough, we can find traces of such lunacy in the conservative relics of mainstream Protestantism. I'm thinking of the two Lutheran synods in the United States for example, which still technically claim the pope to be the Antichrist, at least on paper anyway. However, it has been my experience that in these cases it is simply a matter of doctrinal technically, referring to the office of the papacy (as they misunderstand it), and not necessarily the man himself. Most conservative Lutherans I know tend to find this doctrinal technicality a little embarrassing. So on the conservative side of the Protestant world that's pretty much it. If you want to find anymore Protestant opposition to the pope, you're going to have to look on the liberal side, of which there is plenty to go around.

Occasionally however, we run across something a little unusual. Such is the case with the bitter Anglo-Catholic opposition developing against the emerging Anglican ordinariates within the Catholic Church. The Anglo-Catholic opposition seems to exist mainly in North America for now, as the English Anglo-Catholics were considerably more friendly about it. In the UK, the Anglo-Catholics each went their own way after the decision to consecrate women bishops in the Church of England. Some chose to stay and fight it out in the Church of England. Some chose to go with a breakaway continuing Anglican group. While some chose to venture into the pope's ordinariate for Anglicans. For the most part the parting of ways was bittersweet. Each side was sorry to see the other depart, but understood the reasons why and were generally respectful of their respective decisions. For the most part, the situation remains that way in England, with only a few very minor exceptions. To find real opposition to the pope's ordinariate plan in the UK, one must look to the liberal side of the spectrum.

In North America it's a different story. A very small, but vocal group, of Anglo-Catholics in the United States and Canada are putting up quite a stink. The American branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion, (the “Anglican Church in America” or “ACA”) has broken into two bodies, those who are for the ordinariate and those who are against. Those who are for it have reorganized under an umbrella organization titled the “Patrimony of the Primate.” While those who are against it are now in firm control of of the ACA. The Patrimony of the Primate is a considerably large chunk of the former ACA, and when combined with other groups aspiring to enter the ordinariate, the list is rather large.

Sadly, the ACA, along with a few sympathizers in Canada, have done much to harass those entering the ordinariate, even to the point of claiming that embracing the pope's offer is nothing short of abandoning one's Anglican heritage and is altogether a “dishonest” way of becoming Catholic. Not less than a few articles have been written, on blogs that cater to such groups, which have consistently misled readers with fabricated information, or at the very least distorted data cited out of context. One such blog even had the audacity to publish a private email exchange between a Roman Catholic bishop and the Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion. (I wonder who leaked that email and if that person still has a job.) This is probably the worst example of anti-papal Protestantism I've ever seen in a group that claims to be “catholic.”

I only bring this up so my readers may be aware of what's happening. This is a very small, but very loud, group that is doing this. Unfortunately, many Catholic and Secular news sources are unaware of the politics behind the stories, and are publishing links to those news stories on their news aggregation websites. I think it's only fair to warn those news sources to beware and consider where the news is coming from. Even some of the news coming from the Apostolic Delegates, for the American and Canadian ordinariates, isn't entirely accurate. That's not to say there is any malicious intent there, as I don't believe there is, just that I think some of the information they're letting out is a bit obsolete and sometimes incomplete. We have to remember, the job of the pope's apostolic delegates is to gather information and report on the emerging ordinariates, not guide or direct them, so we shouldn't expect them to have all the answers.

I'm not going to point out the problematic blogs and news sources here. Rather I prefer to point my readers in the right direction. To the best of my knowledge, the most reliable source for information on the emerging Anglican ordinariates is The Anglo-Catholic Blog, and the Ordinariate Portal Blog. Anything written by Damian Thompson on the Telegraph Blog is usually pretty good stuff. Of course, yours truly (The Catholic Knight Blog) will endeavor to bring you the most accurate information as well. Beyond that, I wouldn't trust anything else unless it comes directly from Rome.