Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Good News from Rome


...plus, I'm on Vatican TV. Cool.

As a friend of ours said, this is probably the largest and most significant act of Christian reunification since the Big Split. It also means that in four years, Benedict has accomplished more for Christian unity than his predecessor did in nearly 30. (To be fair, as Archbishop Di Noia said, this is really because of how profoundly things have been changing just recently.) My friend also commented that it is going to drive the ecumaniacs into apoplexy.

Well, yes. And it has to be admitted, that watching our enemies' heads spinning around and exploding is one of the consolations.

That faint popping sound you hear...

There's quite a bit more to be said about this.

Of course, probably the most predictable lines are already being drawn. The left wasted no time in getting the memes and themes rolling, calling it "divisive"

Cindy Wooden was hot off the mark, being the first called upon for a question at yesterday's press conference: "Are you worried at all that this is going to be the end of the ecumenical movement?" (Well, Cindy, since you have put it so interestingly, let's examine that question. What, precisely, is the "end" of the ecumenical movement? Is it to continue to produce endless unreadable reports on the warmth of our mutual handshakes?)

The Globe and Mail, taking up the accepted theme:An embrace that divides

But it's mostly just sour grapes. They're just miffed that their hippie-era crusade has failed so manifestly. Pay it no mind.

I'll be busy today. You may talk amongst yourselves.

8 comments:

Scott W. said...

Cindy Wooden was hot off the mark, being the first called upon for a question at yesterday's press conference: "Are you worried at all that this is going to be the end of the ecumenical movement?

That's a rich question. Over here in the rebel colonies an ELCA church (the largest Lutheran organization) sponsored a Catholic woman's "ordination" and to my knowledge, the ELCA leadership has been mum on it. In other words, how can there be an end to something that was never taken seriously to begin with?

Manny said...

"It also means that in four years, Benedict has accomplished more for Christian unity than his predecessor did in nearly 30."

I think that's a bit unfair. Pope John Paul II laid the groundwork for much of what Pope Benedict XVI has been able to accomplish. I like the way someone else put it, Pope Benedict is Joshua to Pope JPII's Moses.

Gregory DiPippo said...

"Are you worried at all that this is going to be the end of the ecumenical movement?"

Worried? No, not worried. Not at all. Very much HOPING that it will be the end of the ecumenical movement.

In the same way that the big wooden stake Buffy puts thru the chest of a bloodsucker is the END of a vampire.

Agellius said...

It's funny because most of the wishy-washy "official" comments I have heard -- from the Nichols/Williams press conference and the USCCB, for example -- have been lauding it as one of the *fruits* of the ecumenical movement.

How is having people move from a Protestant communion into the Catholic Church a fruit of the ecumenical movement, unless the ecumenical movement is understood as having the purpose of bringing separated Christians into the Catholic Church? That surely is not what Nichols/Williams meant, and surely the USCCB didn't mean that either.

It's not a fruit of the ecumenical movement. It's conservative Anglicans being finally fed up with the silly, wacky, wicked antics of the Church of England and bailing the hell out.

Anonymous said...

Ecumenism is not an end in itself - it's a practical thing that arises out of practical ends, such as people banding together to forward the pro-life cause. I can respect and love people who aren't Catholic, but I do want them to enter the Church.

Felix said...

in practice, the ecumenical movement has resulted from/contributed to the breakdown of Christian orthodoxy

and now some have had enough and are embracing full orthodoxy by joining the Church

so, yes, this development is in part a result of the ecumenical movement

Mrs McLean said...

Yeah, the battlelines are drawn between people who think Christian Unity means ex-Protestants join the Catholic Churc and the people who think it means the Catholic Church becomes more Protestant.

Tom Ryan said...

He's also excommunicated or suspended, in a shorter time, more bishops than his predecessor.

Benny is a pope of action:
http://www.insidethevatican.com/newsflash/2009/newsflash-oct-26-09.htm#G1257978829024

While some may think my feelings towards those who go bizerk at the notion of the pope being a leader of Christian unity is a case of delectatio morosa/Schadenfreude... I'm sometimes given to anglophobia.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/features/f0000489.shtml

Only under Benedict would I be confident that this won't be a Trojan Horse or worse...the next Mariel Boat Lift. To wit, Lot's of anglicans with good taste in liturgy and vestments and a worsening of our problems with heresy and homosexuality in our ranks.