An Unusually Hostile Take-Over Bid

The Pope has issued an invitation to all members of the Church of England to join the Catholic Church under favourable conditions which include retaining their married priests and certain liturgical peculiarities. What sounds like an easy way out for ultra conservative Anglican Church members could prove to be a contract with the devil. The invitation has all the trappings of a hostile take-over.

The leaders of the Anglican Church, namely the Queenand the Archbishop of Canterbury, were neither informed nor consulted prior to the offer and were accordingly taken completely by surprise. The Pope issuing the invitation not only is behaving like any other CEO of a multibillion pound company. He shows excruciatingly bad taste with the timing, too, as it comes only weeks after being invited to visit the country by the Prime Minister.

Ultra conservative member of the Church of England might be ecstatic at the prospect of returning to the times of the Great Inquisition, but they should consider the small print in the offer before signing any contracts. One major drawback is hidden in the invitation itself, which guarantees certain rights only for ‘the time being’. This means, that in future there will be no new married priests ordained for one. And ‘for the time being’ means that the clamp down on all the rest will just be a matter of time.

Coming from a free church where the difference of opinion may be voiced without issue, the conservatives don’t appreciate that freedom. This freedom does not exist in that form in the Catholic Church, as there is no democracy there. The Pope reigns supreme and absolute over a structure that is slave to his every whim and will. This unnameable state of affairs was instituted with the Dogma of Infallibility in 1870 and is not open to discussion at the time, certainly not under a Nazi Pope.

Is it worthwhile to change religion for personal views? What the conservatives are letting themselves in for are a church which propagates mutual lifelong misery for married couples, overpopulation, and the indiscriminate spread of epidemic sicknesses. To me, this sounds like signing a pact with the devil. That recent converts include a famous war criminal by name of Tony Blair doesn’t detract from that view either.

Maybe it is time for the Anglican Church to issue a similar invitation to Catholics the world over. There are certainly enough disaffected members of that faith who would consider the move. Especially women might be tempted, as the Catholic Church grants them fewer rights than they would have under the Qur’an. It is not merely ignoring them; it is actively insulting them in its beliefs and writing.