One Wonders . . .

The following letter appeared in a Missouri newspaper recently.

It read:

What do you call a church that raids another church for converts? That’s what the Catholic Church is doing to the Anglican conservative branch that opposes women priests and gay marriage. They dangle the carrot that the Catholic Church shares their same views on these issues and the married priests are welcome to come join the Catholic faith..

It works out ideally for the Catholic Church, which is suffering a shortage of priests and money woes due to paying off pedophile victims. It is a win-win for the Catholic Church, and I’m hopeful that admitting married priests into the fold could eventually lead to allowing all Catholic priests to marry.

One wonders how misinformed a letter must be before a newspaper declines to publish it, for this letter has it wrong from beginning to end.

First, the Catholic Church is not raiding another church for converts. The pope announced this pastoral provision in response to so many requests by Anglicans (bishops, priests, and laypersons) to become Catholic that he thought it best to establish some standards for the process rather than handle each request on an ad hoc basis. Get that? The Catholic church did not "dangle" anything other than its unchanging deposit of faith. The whole issue came about because of Anglicans wanting to become Catholic.

As for the other issues of "priest shortage" and "money woes," let us consider the issues a little more clearly than the letter writer. Any Anglican priests that come to the church may only be enough to minister to the laity that come with them. There is no evidence that there will be a glut of former Anglican priests (married or not) in search of a parish with which they had no previous connection. As for "money woes," those priests and congregations that join Holy Mother Church will not likely be able to bring their real estate or other tangible assets with them. At least initially, these converts will be a financial liability to the church. In the longer term, married priests will be more expensive to the laity because they will have families that depend upon them for support.

Finally, the letter writer states that she wishes the pastoral provision will eventually lead to the ability of all Catholic priests to marry. Have you ever noticed that the Catholic church is the only faith that some persons feel free to deride as completely flawed or pointless in one breath while they offer it advice on its "proper" administration before another breath is drawn?

Poor dears, and they wonder why no one is listening.