Ah ... perhaps I am groping my way to a solution ... in an Ordinariate one would also, of course, be in the same Church as Adolf Hitler, Myra Hindley, and Hannibal Bugnini.
Context always helps.
Phew ... I'm glad I've got that sorted out.
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I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. That means I'm already in the same Church as all who confess Jesus as Lord.
Adolf Hitler effectively excommunicated himself (though the RC authorities, allegedly remembering the terrible problems their followers experienced in the aftermath of Regnans in Excelsis, did not make this official); Myra Hindley may well have repented (and what is the Church but a company of repentant and redeemed sinners); and if Bugnini had become Pope we might have had Anglican-RC unity and women priests on both banks of the Tiber (still, historical if-onlys are a waste of time.....)
...but also the church of J.R.R Tolkien, an old Romish don at Merton College - and probably the only 20th century Catholic who keeps me in the Roman Church to this day.
Didn't Ronald Knox say that his first thought on being received was 'now I belong to the same Church as Judas Iscariot'?
Pastor in Valle's reference reminds me of the Sidney Smith remark to the effect that the Apostolical Succession must be true, as the Bishop of Exeter was plainly in a direct line of descent from Judas Iscariot.
Well Father, as the saying goes: “you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family” – and we’re one big family, ‘black’ sheep and all…
Don't forget that delightful couple our former Prime Minister Mr. Blair and his devout wife!
Bobby Sands, the Harrods' bombers, the murderers of Lord Mountbatten, the Omagh and Enniskillen bombers etc., numerous other terrorists etc...
Those who attempted to murder our Sovereign Lord King James and the Nobles and Commons "...then assembled in Parliament, by Popish treachery appointed as sheep to the slaughter, in a most barbarous and savage manner, beyond the examples of former ages."
The list is not very edifying. For every good and gracious person, like Her Majesty The Queen of Spain, there are no doubt magnitudes of unpleasant types.
Is SWISH really that bad?
Don't let us forget Oscar Wilde, that erudite and urbane man who lived the Christian life according to Greek principles...
Of course, in the Anglican Communion you have to share the table with the likes of Katharine Jefferts-Schori and Vickie Gene Robinson.
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