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Could the ordinariates draw Evangelicals toward Catholicism?

CWN - June 03, 2011

Commenting on the Angican ordinariates, Father Dwight Longenecker remarks that many conservative Anglicans are not ready to enter the Catholic Church, because their outlook is distinctly Protestant. Nevertheless, he says, the ordinariates could be the first giant step in a Catholic effort to reach out to Evangelical Protestants: “The way to understand this more dynamic possibility is to see the ordinariate as a new bridge across the Tiber for a whole range of Protestant Christians.”

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  • Posted by: TheJournalist64 - Jun. 04, 2011 1:56 PM ET USA

    Maybe, but the Anglican twist to the traditional liturgy is still the Roman canon all Angled up. Evangelicals have gotten used to a very stripped-down liturgy, if theirs can be called liturgy at all. No Pope could buy into that being a Catholic Mass.

  • Posted by: Steve214 - Jun. 04, 2011 9:41 AM ET USA

    Let's pray that he is right. And he missed another possible angle: ordinary Roman Catholics attending ordinariate masses. To be sure, the Novus Ordo is a valid mass, and most Catholics feel attachment to it. However, one only has to travel and attend parishes at random to see how watered down Catholicism has too often become. To have another option for those who choose it could be a blessing for some.

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