Not even trickle of Canadian Anglicans to Catholicism (over gay blessings)

Not even trickle of Canadian Anglicans to Catholicism (over gay blessings)

 

Yeah it is good news. Especially when a Catholic news paper admits it.

But the Pope obviously thinks there is enough American Episcopalians and British Anglicans that are angry with the Anglican Churches increasingly liberal stance on 'Gay issues' and female clergy that he has set up ordinates in those countries...

 

Fair enough, but keeping in mind that 'common sense' is subjective and there is a reason for these differences.

The Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church subscribe to the belief of 'prima scriptura' while Protestants believe in 'sola scriptura'.

In simple terms; Protestants believe that doctrine (correct belief) is solely revealed by 'scripture'. So, Protestant beliefs can change according to how the 'church' interprets the Bible.

However, Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox Church believe that while 'scripture' is the most important way that doctrine is revealed, doctrine can also be revealed by way of the Sacred/Holy Tradition. Essentially the idea that doctrine is a living thing and the Holy Spirit may reveal it to generations of people who live within Christ's Church.

So whereas, the Anglican/Episcopal Church might gather together its church leaders in 1930 and vote to change its stance on contraceptives based on their 'current' understanding of the Bible; the Roman Catholic Church would have to consider not just the Bible but also what generations of church doctors and scholars 'inspired by the Holy Spirit' have said on the topic.

 

Wow. I don't know. I think you'd need a PhD in the field to speculate with any sort of authority on this.

But I guess? If Protestants are limited to 'interpreting scripture' then they are always somehow holden to the actual words in the page. But the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches could perhaps argue that their 'experience' of living the faith adds to the worlds on the page thus 'adjusted' their meaning?

However, in practice so far, it seems the 'experience' of the faithful seems to lags significantly behind the more liberal ebb of interpreting scripture, but not on the hard right either. It seems the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches sit somewhere between Hard Right Christian Fundamentalists and Left-Leaning Traditional Protestants (Anglican/Episcopal, Methodist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Presbyterian etc.)

Good question.