{"id":3543,"date":"2009-10-22T22:29:14","date_gmt":"2009-10-22T22:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/10\/could-some-core-beliefs-be-deal-breakers-for-the-anglicans.html"},"modified":"2009-10-22T22:29:14","modified_gmt":"2009-10-22T22:29:14","slug":"could-some-core-beliefs-be-deal-breakers-for-the-anglicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/10\/could-some-core-beliefs-be-deal-breakers-for-the-anglicans.html","title":{"rendered":"Could some core beliefs be &#8220;deal-breakers&#8221; for the Anglicans?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Liz_Lemon\">Liz Lemon<\/a> would be impressed. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The New York Times is helping to put the Anglican conversion story in context, by warning our Separated Brothers and Sisters that t<a href=\"http:\/\/thelede.blogs.nytimes.com\/2009\/10\/22\/catholic-beliefs-might-give-anglicans-pause\/\">hey might want to thInk twice<\/a> before jumping the Tiber &#8212; and suggesting that, when it comes to some issues, well, &#8220;that&#8217;s a deal-breaker&#8221;:&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\">When the Catholic Church&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/10\/21\/world\/europe\/21pope.html\">announced this week<\/a>&nbsp;that the Vatican would make it easier for Anglicans to convert to Catholicism, much was made of the many similarities between the two faiths. And there are a few Catholic beliefs that might strike Anglicans as foreign, and one or two that could be deal-breakers for potential defectors.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><font face=\"georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\">The Times of London published&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk\/tol\/comment\/faith\/article6883148.ece\">a handy list<\/a>&nbsp;of some Catholic beliefs Anglican converts would have to embrace. Social conservatives who are upset by the Anglican Church&#8217;s acceptance of female priests and&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/archive\/2006\/04\/17\/060417fa_fact5?currentPage=all\">openly gay bishops<\/a>&nbsp;are unlikely to have trouble adopting the Catholic beliefs that only men can become priests and that, as&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0015\/__P85.HTM\">the Catechism of the Catholic Church<\/a>&nbsp;puts it, &#8220;homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered&#8221; and &#8220;under no circumstances can they be approved.&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><font face=\"georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\">Ideas that might be harder for Anglicans to accept include the concept that the Pope is infallible, at least at certain moments, that Mary was the product of an &#8220;immaculate conception,&#8221; and so born without sin, and the belief known as&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Transubstantiation\">transubstantiation<\/a>, which means, essentially, that the communion bread and wine are not just symbols but actually become the body and blood of Christ.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><font face=\"georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\">This last point was the subject of much debate in the sixteenth century and particularly exercised Martin Luther, who called transubstantiation &#8220;a monstrous word for a monstrous idea.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><font face=\"georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\">In&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/anglicansonline.org\/basics\/thirty-nine_articles.html\">the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion<\/a>, adopted&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB125615995448599769.html?mod=article-outset-box\">under the leadership of Queen Elizabeth<\/a>&nbsp;in 1563 to spell out the fundamental principles of Anglican doctrine, the belief was ridiculed in the strongest terms:<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><font face=\"georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\">\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\">Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><font face=\"georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\">In an opinion column for The Times of London on Thursday,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk\/tol\/comment\/columnists\/libby_purves\/article6884592.ece\">Libby Purves pointed out<\/a>&nbsp;that Anglicans will also have to accept &#8220;tough teachings on divorce and the contraceptive ban.&#8221;<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><font face=\"georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\">Then again, Anglican converts could also just follow the lead of many Catholics and simply decide to not accept the Church&#8217;s guidance on a host of social issues. According to&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/pewforum.org\/docs\/?DocID=295\">a survey<\/a>&nbsp;by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life on the eve of Pope Benedict XVI&#8217;s visit to the United States in 2008, American Catholics, at least, seem to feel perfectly entitled to not embrace some of the Church&#8217;s core beliefs.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"webkit-indent-blockquote\"><p><font face=\"georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\">You can find more at <a href=\"http:\/\/thelede.blogs.nytimes.com\/2009\/10\/22\/catholic-beliefs-might-give-anglicans-pause\/\">the Times link<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<div><font face=\"georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\">Personally, I tend to think that tradition-minded Anglicans &nbsp;would be more inclined to accept some of the doctrines that infuriate or just annoy some cradle Catholics. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div><font face=\"georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif\" size=\"4\"><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\"><br \/><\/span><\/font><\/div>\n<div><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 14px;line-height: 21px\">But I could be wrong. &nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 10px;line-height: 15px\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0px;margin-right: 0px;margin-bottom: 1em;margin-left: 0px;font-size: 1.4em;line-height: 1.5em\"><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Liz Lemon would be impressed. &nbsp; The New York Times is helping to put the Anglican conversion story in context, by warning our Separated Brothers and Sisters that they might want to thInk twice before jumping the Tiber &#8212; and suggesting that, when it comes to some issues, well, &#8220;that&#8217;s a deal-breaker&#8221;:&nbsp; When the Catholic&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-converts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Could some core beliefs be &quot;deal-breakers&quot; for the Anglicans? 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