"...A Tainted Olive Branch"

From James Carroll at the Boston Globe, titled "From Vatican, a tainted olive branch":

Last week’s anti-Anglican salvo from Rome shows how far the Catholic leadership has fallen from the heights of Vatican II. The invitation to “disgruntled’’ members of the Church of England’s extended family to abandon the Thames for the Tiber is a rejection of contemporary human experience, a resounding response of “No!’’ The church against the modern world, after all. Not only a cruel assault on a fellow Christian communion that is valiantly struggling to strike a balance between liberal and conservative impulses; not only an insult to loyal Catholic liberals who will be denied what converted Anglicans are offered (notably a married clergy); not only a slap at women and homosexuals whose progress toward equality is a global measure of justice; not only a stark contrast with the common Anglican practice of fully welcoming alienated Roman Catholics, while eschewing any pressure on them to convert - there is more.
....

From the misfit fringe of another denomination, Rome recruits the naysayers it needs to bolster what has become its own place on the margin of Catholic life. First there was Opus Dei, with its crypto-fascist origins, then there were the Holocaust-denying lovers of Latin - and now the Anglo-fundies. Come on over, guys!

Ouch! And the title of the column must prick a little, too. I've long admired Carroll's writing in his columns for The Globe, and I've read a couple of his books. American Requiem and Constantine's Sword. He's a former Roman Catholic priest and still a practicing RC. In fact, he's written a book titled Practicing Catholic, which I have not read.

By all means, read the entire piece. It's a cry from the heart for those of us in Anglicanland and against the policies of the present pope of his own church.

Thanks to John for the link.