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There is one hitch. You have to be a disgruntled Anglican who has left the Episcopal church because you object to either women and/or gay/lesbian people in the priesthood. Then, it is OK if you are already married. Let me explain.
For years, the Episcopal church in the US (part of the worldwide Anglican Communion) has been in a struggle over the issue of (consciously) ordaining gay and lesbian people. Before that, there was a struggle over ordaining women. Some clergy (and in some cases their congregations) decided to leave the Episcopal church in the US because of one or both of those "issues". This gets very complicated because not only is it soul-wrenching for a lot of people, but there is also a lot of money involved -- pensions, real estate, buildings. Who owns what and who owes what when a congregation leaves is a big argument.
The people leaving say that THEY are the "authentic" Anglicans, and that they have been abandoned by the other group. The people staying say that THEY are being left, as they represent the legally constituted denomination. There is a mixture of church law and civil law involved that will be an unholy tangle for a few years to come.
OK. Hold that thought. Now we will jump in the "Way-Back-Machine" and look at the beginnings of Anglicanism. Anglicanism is commonly understood as representing a middle ground between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. It is often referred to as being a via media (or middle way) between these traditions. Here is how it got there.
You remember the Henry the VIII story about the divorces, right? In 1534 there had already been rumblings about an English Reformation. But it got political support when Henry VIII wanted an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn. Pope Clement VII refused. Henry, although his beliefs were largely still Catholic, appointed himself Supreme Head of the Church. He was excommunicated.
Voila! Church of England.
This is, with some exceptions, the birth of Anglicanism.
It left bad blood. But it also left many of the Anglicans, even as they changed some of the traditions, longing for the connection to Rome. Even today, some Episcopal churches look/feel/act more Roman Catholic than the local Catholics. The separation has always felt a bit vague.
Yet Rome would have none of it -- no reunion there unless they accepted the Pope, had celibate clergy, tightened up their theology to levels of Catholic strictness -- essentially, unless the Anglicans fully converted back.
Zoom forward to 2009. We have a large group of disgruntled Anglicans with people, money and property. The Catholic church has a shortage of priests and funds.
The Catholic church has resisted internal movements to ordain women and/or non-practicing gay men. There is support for the Vatican's position among these disaffected Anglicans, here and abroad.
According to the New York Times "...the Vatican said it would help Anglicans uncomfortable with female priests and openly gay bishops join a new Anglican rite within the Catholic Church. The invitation also extends to married Anglican clergy. "
How is the Pope doing this? He is suggesting that a special area be set up within the Roman Catholic church in which the Anglican Book of Common Prayer will be used, the liturgy will be Anglican, and the priests who are still married can stay that way. It will be like a sect or an order within Catholicism.
The Times also observed: "Many liberal Catholics in the United States lamented that the decision over the Anglicans again demonstrated that Benedict reached out only to the most conservative elements on the Catholic spectrum, not the more progressive ones."
It was interestingly summed up by my friend, Sandra, who is a practicing Catholic. When I told her of the Pope's decision she said, "It just shows you how far he will go not to ordain a woman."
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And now let's hear from bloggers directly affected by this decision:
Mary Hunt a Catholic Ph.D. and theologian calls the move "a scandal" and says:
These Anglicans can even make the transition as congregations or whole dioceses if they choose. They will be Catholics, but like the Eastern Rite Catholics they will do it their way. They can bring their own smells and bells and their Book of Common Prayer; even their own priests and bishops who will head the “Personal Ordinariates”
