Word: churchful
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...found your profile of archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams both sympathetic and well balanced [June 18]. His position of leadership must be one of the least enviable within the church or even the world. The difficulties he faces between American liberals and African conservatives over the issue of homosexual clergy seem almost insoluble. It is assumed by both sides of the controversy over homosexual priests that an agreement can be reached under which all parties are forced to follow one dogmatic position. Each outpost of Anglicanism, however, has become too much the creature of its own society and culture...
...Catholic Church has never been a model of candor or transparency. Compare it to the Chinese government, however, and the Vatican can start to look downright forthcoming. In what may be Rome's strongest public push to normalize relations with China, Pope Benedict XVI has sent a 55-page open letter to Chinese Catholics that essentially lays all the Vatican's diplomatic cards on the table. The initial response from Beijing, meanwhile, has been terse and predictably cryptic...
Benedict writes frankly about his continuing concern that the government in China can sometimes "suffocate" religious freedom, and makes clear that the Church ultimately cannot cede its authority in the standoff over who appoints Catholic bishops. Benedict says that the Pope's prerogative to choose his deputies "touches the very heart of the life of the Church - the guarantee of the unity of the Church and of hierarchical communion." Still, the letter, which was released over the weekend, repeatedly extends olive branches to Beijing. Benedict acknowledges that progress has been made on religious freedom, and on the "delicate" issue...
...years, there have essentially been two Catholic churches in China, an official, state-sponsored "patriotic" church with Beijing-picked bishops, and an underground network of priests and parishioners loyal to the Pope. Increasingly, with local mediation and a softening from both Rome and Beijing, there is more cross-over among parishioners of the two churches. Indeed, says Father Bernardo Cervellera, editor of Asia News and a longtime China expert, the Pope's letter was aimed at "making clear in public that the Church is united, that the official and unofficial churches are related. This pushes all the communities in China...
Chinese officials, who were given the letter as a "courtesy" several days before its official release, quickly fired off a response, demanding that the Vatican immediately sever diplomatic relations with Taiwan and not "create new obstacles" in negotiations with Beijing. The Patriotic church has refused to distribute the letter to its priests and faithful, and there are reports that the Vatican website - where the text and an explanatory note are available in Chinese - has been blocked on mainland China in recent days...