Thursday, August 21, 2008

Keep us humble

Yesterday evening a met with a member of the Our Lady of Hope Society who agreed to help get our sacristy in order for the Anglican Use. When I shared how excited I am about this new work, she brought me back to earth right away. She said, "I am willing to work for this Anglican thing, but really all I want to do is be a member of this parish. I appreciate the history behind the Anglican Use and there is nothing better to help me prepare for Lent. But it is more important to me to be a Catholic." Whoa. Don't we all need to hear that. I especially need to hear it. It reminds me of an article by John Jay Hughes, the author of "Absolutely Null and Utterly Void," the great study of the controversy about Anglican orders and Apostolicae Curae. As an Anglican curate he was deflated by a woman who had stopped attending the elaborate Mass at his Anglo-Catholic parish for a humble Catholic parish closer to her home. She told him, "It amounts to the same thing." I'll post the link and look forward to your comments.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

That's the best attitude to have and when I talk to friends considering conversion from a variety of backgrounds, it's what I try and get them to shoot for. You have to want to be Catholic - not want Catholicism to be like you. Or something. :)