30 April 2008

FIF & SSPX

How extraordinary (a fashionable word)! While the C of E debates what sort of structures it will give to those who cannot accept women bishops ... will the bishops of the traditionalist minority be Ordinaries with jurisdiction? ... a divertingly similar debate is enlivening the Traditionalist RC blogosphere (go to WDTPRS and find the Papa Stronsay article). Apparently a thriving Traditionalist Redemptorist community on an Orkney island are investigating what Rome might allow them. Fascinating. Will Roman Rigidity be more flexible and generous than Anglican Liberalism? Quite possibly. The Anglican establishment is amazingly broad, tolerant, inclusive .... except in one tiny area. That is: if anybody suggests that diocesan bishops might lose the merest smidgeon of their territorial jurisdiction. On that question, our bishops hold views that make the definitions of Vatican I on Papal Primacy and Infallibility look as flabby as a week-old meringue. Rumour has it that before Consecration those nominated for Anglican bishoprics are subjected to a medical examination the main part of which is a test of their anal retentiveness.

Seriously, what happens to those RC traditionalists tentatively knocking at Rome's door might ... I don't quite know how to finish this sentence.

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