Friday, March 13, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI reaches out inclusively to the Anglican Communion

At least that is the implication of this extraordinary paragraph as he writes about recent events concerning the formerly excommunicated SSPX:

"Can a community leave us totally indifferent in which there are 491 priests, 215 seminarians, 6 seminaries, 88 schools, 2 university institutes, 117 brothers, 164 sisters? Should we really calmly leave them to drift away from the Church? I am thinking, for example, of the 491 priests. The plaited fabric of their motivations we cannot know. But I think that they would not have made their decision for the priesthood, if next to some askew or sick elements there had not been there the love of Christ and the will to proclaim Him and with Him the living God. Should we simply exclude them, as representatives of a radical marginal group, from the search for reconciliation and unity? What will then be?"

After all, who are Anglicans if not those with the love of Christ and the will to proclaim Him?

Read the whole here. Be moved by the soaring ecumenical vision of the Pope. Laugh (or cry) at the admissions of living in the world unaware of the power of the internet. Weep at some of the convoluted logic necessarily involved trying to reconcile all doctrinal commitments. Pray that one day we funny bunch of people, "Christians", can indeed be one despite our amazing differences!

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