Anglicans in the Ambulatory!!!

 This week, a number of Traditionalist Anglican clergy and their Bishop (of Fulham), are on retreat in Rome.  They were invited by the clergy in charge of St. John in Lateran to hold a mass in the "choir" of the cathedral, behind the main altar of the church.  What to many Christians might seem a point of fraternal generosity or a sign of mutual respect; has instead inflamed the passions of a number of Roman Catholic churchmen and laymen across the Christian world.   

How dare those silly protestants hold their service in our church??? 

The claim that is referenced in defending such position, is the old argument that because Pope Leo XIII issued the Papal Bull Apostolicae Curae which claimed Anglican Orders as "utterly null and void"; that this means definitively that Anglican Apostolic succession is indeed null and void.  Unfortunately for my more conservative minded Roman Catholic friends, a Papal Bull is not the law of the church.  There have been many Papal Bulls, and there are a number which have been later rescinded; and furthermore, there are a large number of Papal Bulls which, although not rescinded, are ignored and contradicted by the Roman Church itself and its clergy.  The point- a Papal Bull does not canon law make.

As for the lack of Christian Charity and respect for the dignity of fellow Christians shown, it is worthwhile to note that there seems to be more uproar and furor over non-Roman Christians worshiping in a Roman church; than many of the same complainants have expressed over the inclusion of non-Christian worship practices in their mass, or even when the Bishop of Rome gleefully welcomed an Amazonian IDOL into the Basilica of St. Peter, before he and assembled clergy made offerings and worship of it.  The same people who complain today about Anglicans having mass in St. John Lateran, say not a word when Roman clergy are permitted to hold their masses in Anglican churches; even such as Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral.    Though it is to be conjectured, a good number of Roman Catholics feel they are entitled to share the worship spaces of other denominations, but clutch their pearls and scream "abuse!" whenever a well-meaning prelate extends the same courtesy to fellow Christians.  

The long and the short of it folks- you can claim to be the "original church" if you want to, I know the Orthodox will love to take you to task on that claim; but the 'purity' of your orders does not excuse you from the obligation we share as followers of Christ to RESPECT other members of the faith of Christ.  

Here Endeth the Lesson.