The crusade you speak was not without the church attempting to reason with the Cathars so lets get our history straight.
Innocent III’s attepted with diplomatic efforts first to roll back Catharism[1] for the king of France was at odds with the area in southern France and was met with little success and it was not until after the papal legate Pierre de Castelnau was murdered(by an agent serving the Cathar count of Toulouse) that a crusade commenced.
I am a well read pupil of the Cathars, as I imagine you may be. Yes, the Pope did attempt peaceful resolutions for some time, even sending Berdard de Clairvaux into the “heretical” regions. Interestingly, while Bernard did condemn their doctrines, he recognized that the Cathar clergy (bon homme and bon femme) lived very apostolic, moral lives. He had limited success, but not the overwhelming victory Rome had prayed for.
Obviously that came to no avail. So, how did he respond? By authorizing a blood soaked crusade inundated with Northern nobles lusting after the rich lands of the Languedoc. At the town of Beziers, most of the Catholic inhabitants refused to depart the premises or give up their Cathar neighbors to the Crusading army. Instead, they were slaughtered alike by the thousands. This occured because the Pope’s legate Arnald-Amaury notoriously uttered, “Kill them all; God will know his own.”
And, Pierre de Castelnau was no innocent martyr; he was bullish in his approaches and managed to isolate and anger many inhabitants of the region. It wasn’t his goal, but his approach that got him murdered. I don’t condone the killing of otherwise innocent human beings, but he brought it upon himself for his arrogant disposition.
As far as the ordination of women your church does not stop there but ordains openly sexually active homosexual men and women; in others, same-sex unions are celebrated. However, on other issues such as abortion, the church has taken both sides of the debate.
Science reveals to us that there are homosexual trends and couples throughout the animal kingdom, and it is no different in humanity. I can’t explain humanity, because it is almost as mysterious as the Almighty at times.
I myself am a heterosexual engaged to be married, but I stand with those honest people who, despite their natural disposition, want to serve Christ. I am not the judge of men- God is.
The church you claim was built by King Henry the 8th on downright selfishness and evil. I and am sure Catharine of Aragon would agree.
I, in no uncertain terms, condemn the actions of Henry VIII and his sinister ways, just as I denounce Popes who surrendered to the lusts and lustrous enticements of the materialistic world. However, I am able to move beyond my criticism of the Anglican/Episcopal Communion to see that it is a Church worthy of the original mission of Jesus Christ. Faith, Tradition, and Reason.
Frankly, I feel that the Anglican Communion should officially denounce the hateful legacy of Henry VIII.
From what I have seen, our Communion has not rejected the ministry or history of Jesus Christ. We do not eschew the Beatitudes or the Great Commission. We too are a people of the Resurrection.
But eventually, all the sane Churches need to compromise for the sake of Jesus’ ministry and will. The Roman Catholics will have to sacrifice some of their more spurious doctrines as well to achieve this- but, I fear all will remain as they are, Catholic, Protestant, or nutter (meaning fundamentalist). The world is in dire straits, regardless.
