Catholic/Anglican Confirmation
Sometimes it seems there is hardly a bad idea that someone won't attempt.
THE Vatican has put a stop to a joint Pentecostal service planned by the Newcastle and Maitland Catholic and Anglican bishops.
The confirmation service was scheduled for May 31 at Christ Church Cathedral, and was promoted as a "very exciting and special" event.
Parishes encouraged church members to consider being confirmed on that day.
But Rome intervened, forcing its cancellation, citing the possibility of "confusing messages" being given to churchgoers.
It is unclear how the headquarters of the Catholic Church learned of the service, as no formal notification was given.
It is a blow for the two bishops, as well as Bishop David Walker of the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay, who together signed an agreement last year called the Tri-Diocesan Covenant to work towards common goals.
It committed the dioceses to improve relations between the Catholic and Anglican communities.
The "request" was made by the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which is the central governing body of the Catholic Church handling most affairs relating to official public worship.
I pray for unity, but this type of attempt at a false unity brings us no closer. When you don't have a valid priesthood you simply do not have the Sacrament of Confirmation. Pretending otherwise is not ecumenism.
Several years ago there use to be a joint Catholic/Anglican parish in the Diocese of Richmond under there previous bishop. In response I wrote a parody of what the bulletin would look like for the St. Thomas Moore & King Henry VIII Roman/Anglo-Catholic Church.
Known as 
This illustrates one of the (very few) shortcomings of the awesome, three-volume set Radio Replies by Frs. Leslie Rumble and Charles Carty, the radio apologists of the '30s: they considered Protestantism to be a spent force and even asserted that Protestantism was no longer much of a threat to the faith of Catholics. These two priests could never have foreseen the havoc that the "experts" would wreak in the wake of Vatican II, using that council as an excuse to persuade people in the Church to let their guard down. Indifference as between Catholicism and Anglicanism among Catholics is precisely a fruit of the Reformation.
Be interesting to see if there's any movement against Holy Apostles Church in Virginia. According to their web site they do the same thing every Sunday.
http://ha-arc.com/
"THE Vatican has put a stop to a joint Pentecostal service planned by the Newcastle and Maitland Catholic and Anglican bishops."
And what did the Pentecostals have to say about it?
"When you don't have a valid priesthood you simply do not have the Sacrament of Confirmation. Pretending otherwise is not ecumenism."
But you can not expect people who do note believe in opus operatum or a clerical magisterium to accept this just because you say so.