Blockbuster news: the Roman Catholic Church has announced that it will now accept conservative Anglicans as full members. Groups would be able to join “personal ordinariates”, which would have distinct Anglican traditions (possibly including the Book of Common Prayer) and, since Anglican priests would be allowed to join, that would allow for that rarest of all creatures: the married Roman Catholic priest.
This news comes as a mixed blessing to me. Certainly, it’s always nice to have options, and many Anglo-Catholics would prefer switching to Rome before losing their cherished traditions. On the other hand, for folks like me this is a nightmare. Any Anglo-Catholics who have not joined the Roman Church already will probably do so now instead of joining the ACNA, thus making ACNA just “The Episcopal Church minus the gays”. So ACNA loses an important wing of Anglicanism, and I’m stuck holding my nose about joining Rome. What a choice!
Sigh.