Dwight Longenecker, excellent writer, Bob Jones grad, former Anglican priest, married father of four who will be ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood (Charleston diocese) in a few days under the Patoral Provision has really intriguing thoughts on what might be going on re/dissatisfied Anglicans and Rome. With cautions.

Most importantly, many Anglicans (despite their despair over women bishops, gay bishops and terminal theological decay) still have not faced the authority question in the Church. They hate what has happened to the Anglican Church. They can’t think of anywhere else to go in the Protestant World, so they struggle along trying to do the Protestant thing–breaking into another schism, telling themselves that they and they alone have ‘preserved the true faith’ while all the others have apostosized in some way. Many simply have not faced squarely the reasons for Anglicanism’s present meltdown. They haven’t asked themselves the big questions about ‘who says so’?

We all want more converts, but I know from working with converts for ten years in England, that becoming a Catholic because you don’t like women priests, or homosexuality or happy clappy worship isn’t good enough. Converting only out of disenchantment with your own church is not sufficient. Anglicans need to confront the claims of the Bishop of Rome and ask the serious authority questions that are demanded. The book of conversion stories I have edited called Path to Rome considers all these things. Its worth a read!

In addition to this, it is time some of us Catholics who have converted from Anglicanism get back in touch with our Anglican friends and engage them in these very discussions. Real conversion needs work in the trenches–not just in the war rooms of the generals.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised that last week’s meeting about ‘dispensations for married clergy’ was really about how to process more married Anglican clergy applications.