Do you think that the Catholic Church in the UK will begin to grow more now, since the Papal visit was a success. No flaming please!. Could we see two distinct but similar western Rites in the UK (The Anglican and Roman Catholic branches).
Firstly,
I have to say that I have read much of what the Pope said during the visit, and those words can but only encourage and strengthen the faithful present, and cause any thinking person to be more considerate towards the Catholic Faith. The latter note is certainly the benefit of a theologian-Pope, as he demonstrates the rigorous and vibrant intellectualism that Catholicism has always fostered and borne.
Secondly,
The mainstream press is highly unlikely to give the public open or easy access to what the Pope actually said. It’s simply not in their interest to. Here in Canada, the Globe and Mail - a major and nationally distributed paper - did a brazenly perverted and biased spin on the Pope’s few words with the Queen, and carried the lie that the Pope is somehow personally responsible for what the paper called “mass child-rape.” The tactic was most perverted, as it used a “What he said, but what it really meant” (as if the Holy Father was prone to using double-speak in order to deceive people) format. If the Globe and Mail in Canada is any indication to how the general press will present the Pope’s message, then unfortunately it is unlikely to have widespread benefit for the secular public’s image of the Catholic Church.
Last,
I too was excited about the idea of an Anglican Rite being formed in the wider Catholic Church Family. I have personally met many devout Catholics from the Anglican fold, and they too seem excited about this idea. The problem is, however, my hopes and enthusiasm was sadly tempered - even to the point of concerned alarm - when certain folks who are anything but friendly to the Papacy took a perverse interest in the idea of an Anglican Rite within the Catholic Church. After speaking with a certain
fellow, it seems some dangerous
fellows are highly interested in the possibility of present Anglican clergy becoming “Papable” someday ; i.e., there’s a desire by certain
fellows to exploit the hierarchy in hopes, or in order to, possibly sneak in, as it were, someone they “have pull with” (in a manner of speaking) into the Papacy. This, I assure you, would not be a good thing for the Church or even Christianity.
When all is said and done though, we are blessed indeed to have Pope Benedict at the helm, especially in light of the rise of militant atheism and secularism. If anyone can argue effectively the dangers these philosophies present to the world, then it is he ; if anyone can convert even the embittered and militantly hostile secularists, it is again he.
Pax,
Tim
