Former Anglican Sees New Vatican Provision as "Slap-down" of Liberal Agenda

New York City, N.Y., Oct 20, 2009 (CNA).- Fr. George Rutler, an Anglican convert and pastor in New York City, has written a guest column for CNA following the announcement by the Vatican that the Pope has approved a new structure for Anglicans desiring to enter into communion with the Catholic Church. The priest argues that move is a rebuke to the liberal agenda of some in the Anglican Communion.

In his column, Fr. Rutler says that he sees the announcement as not only “a dramatic slap-down of liberal Anglicanism,” but also a “total repudiation of the ordination of women, homosexual marriage and the general neglect of doctrine in Anglicanism.” The new provision has the potential of bringing hundreds of thousands of Anglicans into the Catholic Church.

“It basically interprets Anglicanism as a spiritual patrimony based on ethnic tradition rather than substantial doctrine and makes clear that it is not a historic 'church' but rather an 'ecclesial community' that strayed and now is invited to return to communion with the Pope as Successor of Peter,” Rutler writes.

The pastor also touches on the press conference announcing the new structure, the phenomenon of married Anglican clergy becoming Catholic priests and the impact that the new provision will have on the rest of the world.

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