Last Friday saw the debate in the House of Commons on the "Royal Marriages and Succession to the Crown (Prevention of Discrimination) Bill" which would modify the 1701 Act of Settlement by allowing royal claimants to marry a Catholic without forfeiting their claim to the throne.In fact, as Joseph has pointed out on Catholic Commentary, there are far more pressing cases of indirect discrimination against Catholics in Britain today (see: Real sources of anti-Catholic discrimination) but it is always amusing to read MPs attempting to pronounce on religious matters (- arguably at least as funny as reading priests or Bishops trying to pronounce on political or economic matters.)
Jack Straw, the Lord Chancellor, and Secretary of State for Justice seemed rather to be winging it as regards the contents of the Bill since Evan Harris had to point out to him that it concerned those who are allowed to marry into the line of succession, not those who might actually inherit the throne - who would still need to be members of the Church of England.
Nevertheless, the Chancellor was exercised over the matter of intercommunion, saying:
It is still the case, for instance, that those who are in the Catholic Church are told that they are not in communion with the Anglican Church—although I have seen that. The reverse is also the case: according to the Catholic Church, it is not possible for me as an Anglican to take holy communion in a Catholic church. That would also need to be sorted out.I am currently reading Fr Thurston's book "Surprising Mystics" in which he examines some extraordinary cases of clairvoyance, bilocation, levitation, and preternatural powers. I rather think that the learned Jesuit would classify a report of "seeing" someone to be simultaneously in communion with both the Catholic Church and the Church of England as one of those "hysterical" phenomena to be rejected by sober historians.
(Source: Hansard)
Be that as it may, the great problem of the English reformation must be close to a solution if the Lord Chancellor has decided that it needs to be "sorted out." Perhaps ARCIC could be given a new lease of life by being made a Royal Commission?
H/T My Heart was Restless
8 comments:
Hasn't it occurred to anyone but us that Dr. Harris is suddenly showing a very unusual amount of warm feeling for the poor poor oppressed Catholic Church?
Is no one going to call him on this (in Parliament, I mean) as just another bit of anti-Christian maneuvering?
Jack Straw, et al.
Oh dear, why does the proverbial brewery comes to mind?
"it is not possible for me as an Anglican to take holy communion in a Catholic church. That would also need to be sorted out".
What's to sort out???? The answer is easy - SWIM THE TIBER!
That's the real meaning of true ecumenism, there can be no other.
A Royal Commission to sort out the ecumenical problem? That would at least save me a lot of work.
If our current pope, went against JP II's Ecclesia de Eucharistia and administered Holy Communion to Brother Roger (who apparently died as a non-Catholic) what is to stop someone like the Straw-man from coming to Westminster Cathedral and receiving Holy Communion there?
You can say that Eucharistic hospitality is an abuse and then do it in front of the whole world can you?
The Lord Chancellor better watch what he say when airing opinions on religious matters. One of his predecessors in the job, Sir Thomas Moore, did not fare so well in that regard.
As soon as I read Straw's remarks, I felt in my bones, the next anti-Catholic media outrage coming on. Stand by for the headlines:
"POPE ABUSES HUMAN RIGHTS IN DENYING FREE COMMUNION FOR ALL"
Ministers of the Crown do not "wing it" with regard to the content of debates. They ... er ... carefully read the comprehensive briefs provided to them by their civil servants!
Actually, Sir Humprhey would be ideally placed to "sort out" the reformation. In the episode where he has to advise Hacker on the choice of a new bishop he tells Bernard that:
"Getting the PM to choose the right bishop is like a conjuror getting a member of the audience to choose a card. With the Church of England the choice is usually between a knave and a queen."
and that:
"An atheist clergyman could not continue to draw his stipend, so when they stop believing in God they call themselves 'modernists'."
I think Mgr Appleby would make a great Papal Nuncio.
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