Saturday 31 October 2009

Bad Manors



When I read that the Bishop of St Asaph  ( a bishop elected to office here in Wales for a matter of months)  accuses the Bishop of Rome of ecumenical bad manners ( by offering a  refuge to catholic Anglicans who have petitioned him for help) I have to say I cringe. Not only a small cringe but a toe curling one and one that leaves a very, very bad taste in the mouth. This open criticism of Pope Benedict is so un-Anglican and impolite behaviour of itself;  irrespective of your views on the matter. Where is the sense of Christian charity that accepts that people with whom Cameron disagrees may need the real pastoral care that he will never be able to give them( except perhaps by agreeing a replacement for the Provincial Assistant Bishop which he and the the Welsh Bench of six bishops refuse)? When Cameron goes on to say "this is not the way WE do things" in the same breath, I despair . On what authority does he think he is able to pronounce against the Holy Father?  Who does he think "we" means? A loud liberal committee perhaps?  We always thought that the ecumenical overtures of post ARCIC General Synod to Rome through the liberal ascendancy was a sham . We hoped to be proved wrong. Now we can judge for ourselves. An apology  is the only honourable restitution for such offensive behaviour by  the diocesan of St. Asaph. After all Rome is not interested in his own un-catholic  Manor but only perhaps his ecumenical Manners ( "which maketh man" and could give salvation) and which appear so woefully lacking. Manners lacking not from Rome but from North Wales. You can hear the full BBC Wales broadcast on this which includes reference to my colleague Fr. Michael's blog Let Nothing you Dismay here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/sites/podcasts/ and click Roy Jenkins'...... All Things Considered.

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