In light of the announcement by Pope Benedict XVI of a function for Anglicans to be incorporated into the Catholic Church and the possibility of thousands of traditional Anglican's converting en masse to be incorporated into Holy Mother Church, a new board game is being released called, 'Let's Go Church Shopping with Pope Benedict XVI!' A board game for all the family!
'Loughborough Parish Church is one of the major churches in Leicestershire. Its handsome 14th century proportions are crowned by its elaborate and pinnacled tower and clerestory which date from the 15th century. All this reflects the wealth and patronage of the local manor lords and more especially the merchants and wool traders of those times. Many of their heraldic symbols still embellish the external insets of the great west window and of the tower door. But the history goes back further than this, and the church almost certainly sits on both Norman and Saxon predecessors.'
That's cute! We'll take it! Oh! Hey! What d'ya know!? Built in the 14th century, you say? It was ours anyway!
These clergy, of whom I know many well, are not bringing anyone with them: their parishes are largely in areas with long, or even not so long, folk memories of the tensions caused by Irish immigration.
ReplyDeleteI have known people become Methodists because the local Anglo-Catholic church closed and they didn't want to go to the next pit village, where the Anglican church was no Lower.
Their buildings are often no older than ours, being in places that only sprang up in the nineteenth century.
The provision for the Personal Ordinary to be an ex-Anglican makes this a one-generation arrangement by definition.
And what, exactly, are the distinguishing marks that they will be permitted to retain? What? And why?