Catholics, Anglicans reach accord on Mary

[icymist]

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Catholics, Anglicans reach accord on Mary
Statement closes big gap between churches

By JOHN IWASAKI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The historical separation between Roman Catholics and Anglicans has narrowed after both found common ground on the position of Mary, mother of Jesus, according to a document conceived at the highest church levels and released in Seattle yesterday.

Anglicans, already close to Catholics because of liturgy and traditions, have moved even closer through their understanding of Mary as outlined in the joint statement, which took five years and an international committee to complete.

The document seeks to transcend past controversies on Catholic dogma, including the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary. While not spelled out specifically in the Bible, such beliefs can be interpreted through Scripture, according to the 80-paragraph document.

The result might be an elevation, or at least a heightened acknowledgment, of the place of Mary -- particularly for Anglicans, the denomination born in England during the Reformation and called the Episcopal Church in the United States.

(more)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/224610_mary17.html

:popcorn:

[dkofos]

1. I'm so relieved

[Burma Jones]

2. There's Something About Mary

What's she do with her hair?????

[Sandpiper]

3. Thank goodness

Nothing is more upsetting than when different churches can't agree on their pious legends.

[mcscajun]

4. Boy! I sure am glad they got *that* resolved.

It's been keepin' me up nights. :sarcasm:

OTOH, it was a mini-revelation that something I was taught in Catholic grammar school in the 1950's was, at the time, very new doctrine. You coulda fooled me -- I thought it was carved in centuries-old stone.

Of course, none of this matters to a collapsed Catholic, one-time atheist, sometime agnostic, ask-me-next-week-what-I-believe-in type like me. :)

[eleny]

5. Why is this in Latest Breaking News?

Seems like this topic is better suited to the Catholic or religious Forums here at DU.

[icymist]

6. Why is this news in my morning newspaper?

Go ahead and ignore the religious news while this White House makes an office for them within it's walls.

on edit for spelling

[eleny]

8. How the varous religions view Mary is hardly breaking news

Besides, there are forums here where people would be very interested in discussing this topic. Mary's status hardly affects our political life in the U.S. Well - at least not yet. And I would hope - NEVER.

[icymist]

10. Yeah. I get your point here.

However, today this is breaking news. I really wish that religion not be breaking news, but because a neo-con was just voted into the Vatican and because religious news is important to the Right Wing of this country, get used to it. The whole thing, according to my friend, is like a 'house of cards' and will collapse upon itself. I sure hope she's right!

[eleny]

12. That's a stretch

Issues about gay folk and abortion are the connection to interest in the Vatican, not Mary. Btw, I was raised R.C. and went to Catholic school for 12 years.

This post is my last word on the topic - please be more careful next time. We don't need extraneous religious issues given status in our political life. Take the last word if you feel the need. I'm done.

[CBHagman]

14. Don't tell me you care about every story.

If they can put a front-page, above-the-fold story in The Washington Post about a radio station changing format or a team losing a particular game, there can be a headline somewhere in the paper on small changes in relations between major denominations. This stuff has been going on for centuries! :-)

[Chicago Democrat]

7. Oh good, they're both still wrong if you ask me and the Gnostic Gospels

but then, what actually happened doesn't really seem to matter.

[Politicub]

9. I'll drink some Jesus Juice to that!

Please -- could there be even more of a navel gazing discussion than this! LOL

:rofl:

[Bridget Burke]

11. It's an example of ecumenicism...

Which the new Pope seems to favor, despite what some have said.

The statement is "not just an in-house document of Anglicans and Roman Catholics" but should have broad interest among other Protestants, said Archbishop Peter Carnley, Anglican primate for Australia. He is co-chairman with Seattle Catholic Archbishop Alexander Brunett of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, which wrote the document....

Such journeys toward unity have had the backing of popes and Anglican archbishops of Canterbury for 40 years, he said, including the new pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI.

(From the article)

Note: The British exclamation "Bloody"--still not said in polite society when GBS wrote "Pygmalion"--is a contraction for "By Our Lady."

[Merlin]

13. It's a case of Anglican capitulation to an imaginary Papal juggernaut.

This is a foolish set of concessions on the part of the Anglican Church, and my guess is it will be rejected by the church at large.

Episcopalians and other Anglicans have always believed the Catholic position on Mary is imaginary and unjustified. It did not develop until invented in about the 11th century (an age of many Catholic absurdities like the implementation of celibacy and the initiation of the insane Crusades).

The real Mary was, no doubt, a fine woman. But to suggest she is a demigod, in some way different from all others in the human race, is as nonsensical as to insist upon the validity of the idea of "Original Sin" which necessitates both the Immaculate Conception nonsense and the Divine Virginal Insemination nonsense.

It all, by logic, requires the silliness of Adam and Eve in the Garden and the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good God Almighty being outwitted by a talking snake, outraged by the frailty of His Own creations and determined to place a curse called "Original Sin" upon A&E's progeny as punishment.

What a pile of nonsense!

The Anglos should be moving away from this rubbish, not toward it.

[KittyWampus]

15. The Esoteric Meaning Of Virginity In Matter Of Mary Refers To The Area

of the body ruled by Virgo- the small intestine wherein chyle is formed.

Also, Immaculate Conception refers to the fact that we originate from the One Thing and, even when we are inhabiting bodies that SEEM to be seperate, always remain in touch with that One Thing.

In other words, Cosnciousness descends into physical matter but always maintains a capacity to access the power of that Original Consciousness.

Physical matter is never really 'corrupted'.

[daleo]

16. I prefer George Harrison's interpretation of Mary

Let it be.

[onager]

17. Now if the Vatican would just...

...retroactively grant Henry VIII that divorce, maybe they could make some REAL progress...

:eyes: