For those who have not seen the coverage of the hoopla over Cardinal OMalley in Boston re-affirming his baptism with a United Methodist woman pastor, here is a good summary from the Patriot Ledger: You could call it the touch felt round the world. The moment was captured by George Martell, a photographer for the Roman Catholic newspaper The Boston Pilot: During a Jan. 12 ecumenical service at Sudbury United Methodist Church, the Rev. Anne Robertson of Plymouth used consecrated baptism water to make the sign of the cross on the forehead of Cardinal Sean OMalley. The cardinal asked the female United Methodist minister to administer the baptism reaffirmation ritual to him, just after he had done that for her and a Catholic priest. In the days that followed, the image of the Rev. Robertson in her white vestments with Cardinal OMalley in his brown Capuchin cassock sped around the world. The Rev. Robertson said the ritual was the validation of my ministry as a woman, especially when shared with the leader of a denomination that forbids womens ordination. Female Protestant clergy and liberal believers rejoiced. Conservative Catholics were outraged. Blasphemy! a Boston Catholic Insider online commenter wrote. One blogger suggested that the cardinal should wash the Rev. Robertsons feet on Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, when Jesuss washing the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper is commemorated. Those condemnations provoked support for Cardinal OMalley from the staunchly conservative National Review, among others. (The Review said it showed the cardinals self confidence.) Another blog commenter said his act was Christ-like. Cardinal OMalley joined the Sudbury service for the 50th anniversary of Cardinal Richard Cushings groundbreaking visit to the church in 1964. Hes kept his silence since then, and Boston College theology professor Thomas Groome said theres no need for the cardinal to say anything more, because the act said it all. It was a wonderful gesture, Groome said. It signified enormous good will. While the shared ritual was seen as bold by Catholics and Protestants alike, Groome said Cardinal OMalley would have been ungracious if he hadnt asked for the sign from the Rev. Robertson. It could have been interpreted as a slight, he said. Besides, Groome said, the blessing was sacramental, not a holy sacrament, so the cardinal wasnt forsaking any key Catholic doctrine, as some conservatives accused him of doing. Even so, Groome said that not so long ago, such an exchange would have been unthinkable between Catholic and Protestant, let alone between a cardinal and a woman. In the early 1960s, Catholics and Protestants still viewed each other warily. Then came Pope John XXIII, the Vatican II reforms, and Cardinal Cushings Sudbury visit, the first by a cardinal to a Protestant church. Ecumenical became an approved practice. The Rev. Robertson followed her call to ministry in that spirit, but she said she was stunned by Cardinal OMalleys invitation. After years of grudging acceptance from some of her Methodist church members, she wasnt even sure that lay Catholics at the Sudbury service would take the baptism blessing from her. - See more at: patriotledger/article/20140125/NEWS/140127544/1007/OPINION?refresh=true#sthash.5cmU8a7m.dpuf
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 01:31:37 +0000
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