Who cares?

Who cares? Who cares that Pope Benedict XVI has authorized some minor accommodations to ease the transition of Anglicans from Canterbury to Rome?

First, the Pope’s gesture is less than generous. The issue is not and has not been whether Anglicans are Christian. Baptism with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit combined with faith (the baptized’s or the parent’s) is what makes one Christian, not the identity of the one administering the baptism. The Pope’s pronouncement does not address any of the substantive differences between the Roman Catholic Church and Anglicanism. In other words, the Pope’s move in no way advances any ecumenical agenda or process. Some will even argue the opposite, that the Pope’s move actually undercuts ecumenism.

Second, the vast majority of people who will exit the Anglican tradition for the Roman Catholic Church in response to this announcement have already left Anglicanism in everything but name. For their sake, I’m pleased at the prospect of their finding a community that they believe will be more supportive of their faith journey. For my sake, I’m pleased at the prospect of unproductive controversy and dissent within Anglicanism diminishing. Gender and gender orientation no more determine a person’s vocation or calling to holy orders than do ethnicity or race. Jesus welcomed absolutely everybody and we rightly emulate him when we practice a radical hospitality and inclusivity.

The people who care little about the Pope’s pronouncement are the very people to whom Jesus ministered: the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned, and the marginalized. The religious establishments and their leaders of Jesus’ time largely rejected these people and cared little about their plight. Jesus was radical precisely because he loved the peasants, the unclean, and the aliens.

Unfortunately, the plight of the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned and the marginalized is unlikely to change. New controversy will arise in England about ownership of Church property; existing controversies in the U.S. are likely to continue if not perhaps worsen. Instead of being about the business of being the Church, the body of Christ – his hands, feet and voice – too many Anglicans and Roman Catholics will focus on issues of structure, property, etc.

In other words, the new policy of the Roman Catholic Church may ameliorate the status of dissenters and those perturbed by current conflicts, but in no way does the policy alter the basic religious landscape or improve life for the least among us. I very much doubt that God greatly cares about what the Pope has done.