Oh, please

Ann Fontaine shared this bit from The Telegraph at The Lead:

The Vatican said last night that the time has come for the Anglican Church to choose between Protestantism and the ancient sacramental Churches of Rome and Orthodoxy.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, told the Catholic Herald that the Anglican Communion must “clarify its identity” and stop hovering between the Catholic and Protestant traditions.

And why, pray tell, should the Vatican's agenda set ours? Or our actions be driven by their sense of timing or urgency?

As a friend says in Spanglish: ¡Por fa-f*cking-vor!

It seems to me we have made it clear for centuries now that we are both and neither and rather happily not fitting into either camp.

As my CPE supervisor taught us years ago, one sign of mental health is knowing that there are always more than two choices.

I realize that Rome and Constantinople (and the other patriarchates) have considerable difficulty with the concept of ancient orthodoxy that is democratic and not chained to thoroughgoing clericalism. I say we offer them a way forward. I know they don't see it this way but I refuse to accept that as my, or our, problem.

It is in our not fitting neatly into other people's niches that we have our own gifts to offer to the larger Church. By our traditional and sacramental nature we shall ever be a thorn in the side of the Prots. By our democratic approach and openness to new manifestations of God's presence and power we shall ever be a thorn in the side of the other sacramental communions. I believe this is a good thing.

In sum: Hey, Walt, stuff your "must."
--the BB