VOCAL elements in the Church, both lay and religious, encourage us to look to other faiths, especially Anglicanism as models.
Sr Rita O’Malley’s letter (“Seeking equality”, CL 11/5/08) is an example.
I see the following as important and relevant.
- Catholics alone honour Mary as queen, ranking above both angels and saints in heaven, and supreme, model of feminine perfection.
- The Anglican Church cannot escape its antecedence, including the despotic Henry VIII, since whose time it has allowed divorce, which the Catholic Church does not.
- While some Anglicans may have “rejoiced” over the ordination of a female bishop, others were less happy. Some Anglicans may also have “rejoiced” recently over the ordination of “gay activist” bishop Gene Robinson in the US, a position many people of all persuasions find uncomfortable.
- In 1930 the Anglican Lambeth Conference first approved artificial birth control. Previously all Churches taught it was wrong.
- Anglican clergy publicly express contradictory views on human life issues, whereas even very liberal Catholic bishops have always publicly supported the pro-life position. Without central guidance on the life issues, how easy it is to become immersed in the subjective, the illogical, the immoral and the dangerous!
- Recently I read review of a book written by a religious sister who had finally, after a struggle, come to an understanding that the Catholic priesthood is really about difference and not, as we are so often told, about power.
We all need to pray intensely, study available literature and question open-mindedly.
But, let us not fall to perilous carping and undermining the precious gift of our true and often mysterious faith, which comes to us from Our Lord Himself and the apostles.
J. LORING
Taigum, Qld
