PROSELYTIZE:

to induce someone to convert to one's faith. (Dictionary.com.)

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I have been watching closely the reports of the Vatican having offered "free entrance" to unhappy Anglicans/Episcopalians who want to become Roman Catholics. As I understand it, even Priests and unmarried Bishops of the Anglican/Episcopal Church can be received and function as Priests and Bishops in the Roman Catholic Church. The factor that seems prominent in this offer is that the Roman Catholic Church embraces and affirms the same two issues that have caused the Anglicans/Episcopalians to be unhappy in their own faith community: they are opposed to the ordination of openly homosexual men as Priests and Bishops, and they are opposed to the ordination of Women.

The question in my mind (and that of others who have written about it in the media) is whether this is a legitimate "pastoral" act on the part of the Vatican or whether it is an overt case of proselytizing. The inappropriate inducing (of) someone to convert to one's faith is condemned by all branches of the Christian Church, although it is clear that it takes place constantly. Usually it is more subtle that this media blast, however. When people knock on your door and ask to talk with you about their faith community, it is couched in "reaching out to the unchurched." But the fact is that it is, at the same time, a mission to bring others into the missionaries' own faith.

I am usually one who is ready to give a person or an organization "the benefit of the doubt." But in this case, I have to say that the offer from the Vatican lacks sincerity. The fact that The Archbishop of Canterbury (the titular head of the Anglican Communion) was not notified until the last minute about the approaching announcement, and not included in conversation about the plan, is revealing. He has been an active participant in Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue for years. The snubbing of him in this case seems like a way of avoiding anything that would have scuttled the plan.

With the numbers of ordained Priests diminishing rapidly in the Roman Catholic Church, and with membership in the Church diminishing just as rapidly in Europe, the "shout out" to Anglicans/Episcopalians seems transparent. There are reasons why this move is a good one for some Anglicans/Episcopalians. It will be a welcome transition for some. But if it is an act which is a response to blatant proselytizing, there is a reason to pause and consider the meaning of the act. It signals a diminishing of the respect which the Roman Catholic Church has voiced for Anglicans over the past several decades. That is to be lamented.

Is it proselytizing (known as "sheep stealing" in the Church?) Well, if it looks like a sheep, sounds like a sheep, and smells like a sheep....