Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says the American Church "stands ready to collaborate" with the Vatican in implementing a historic new provision to receive Anglicans into the Catholic Church.
In theory there could be a lot to do.
There are over two million Episcopalians in the U.S.
But even among the most conservative, as we noted earlier, reactions to this British-led initiative have thus far been, well, cool.
Meanwhile, some of the Catholic bishops, like their sex-scandal distracted Irish peers, have sexual predation bankruptcies and like legal and other clerical predation entanglements to attend to, as U.S. Episcopalians look on, from a distance. As they have been for the quarter of a century since the scandal erupted into public view [H/T Get Religion].
Ordination as an Episcopal bishop of openly gay, non-celibate Gene Robinson, acceptance of women as priests, acceptance of same-sex unions and other issues seem unlikely to be enough to push a great many into the Roman Catholic fold.
No reunification rush in prospect.
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