We, the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC), wish to extend a warm welcome to our brothers and sisters of the Anglican/Episcopal communion who are clergy and spouses, as well as laity, discerning the call to become members of the Roman Catholic Church under the recently announced Apostolic Constitution.

As committed and enthusiastic Catholics working for the renewal of the Church in the spirit of the Second Council of the Vatican (Vatican II), we recognize the primacy of an informed conscience in making your discernment and decision, To that end, we wish to offer the following observations, that you may be informed of the realities in the Roman Catholic Church of which you may choose to become a part.

You bring an experience of collegiality and subsidiarity at the parish and diocesan levels which, provided you are allowed to retain its practice, will bring a strong complement, even as it stands in polar opposition, to the top-down authority structure of the Roman Catholic Church, where collegiality and subsidiarity function only haphazardly, and almost exclusively at the international level.

You will find yourself members of a Church rich in the liturgy that flowed from the authentic conciliar tradition of Vatican II.

You will find yourself in a Church where at least 39% of marriages now take place across denominational lines,  and where truly interchurch couples (who continue to worship together as much as possible in both their Christian traditions ) offer an imperfect but real preview of the anticipated unity for which Christ prayed.

If you are a priest, you will find yourself a member of a Church where your Anglican/Episcopal priesthood, exercised with fidelity over the years, is considered “absolutely null and utterly void .” You will be required to question the validity of your earlier ordination and then seek re-ordination within the Roman Catholic Church.

If you are a priest, you will find yourself in a Church where, if your wife dies, you will be called to be celibate, and forgo for the rest of your life the joy and solace of a loving spousal relationship.

You will find yourself members of a Church where at least 60% of its members are in favor of married clergy and the ordination of women,  and 45% are welcoming of gay and lesbian unions.

You will find yourself likewise in a Church which defines homosexuality as an objective disorder,  yet where some 20-30% of the clergy (bishops, priests and deacons) have that orientation.

You will find yourself in a Church with a rich variety of theologies and practices, some of which you will be in agreement with, while others will be difficult for you to accept, yet all of which are held under the banner of the Roman Catholic Church.

Should you accept all these things, and in conscience believe that the offer of priestly ordination within the Roman Catholic Church is from God, then we will warmly welcome you, for you will have accepted the Church as it is, rather than the sentimental or imagined Church of integrity which some would have you believe.

Sincerely,
Leonard Swidler, Ph.D., S.T.L., LL.D., LL.D.
Professor of Catholic Thought and Interreligious Dialogue
Co-Founder and President, Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church

[1] For a greater understanding, see Interchurch Families and Christian Unity: Rome 2003 published as a fruit of the World Gathering of Interchurch Families in Rome, 2003, http://interchurchfamilies.org/confer/rome2003/documents/roma2003_en.pdf Accessed 10 Nov 2009
[1] Apostolicae Curae, His Holiness Pope Leo XIII On the Nullity of Anglican Orders, September 15, 1896, http://www.newadvent.org/library/docs_le13ac.htm. Accessed Nov 2009.
[1] Associated Press-Ipsos poll, reported in Americans Favor Church Update, Eugene Register Guard, 5 April 2005, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=20050405&id=PIAVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ePADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6347,1346313National Catholic Reporter of 30 Sep 2005 and cited by FutureChurchhttp://www.futurechurch.org/fpm/optcel/callsforoptionalcelibacy.htm
[1] The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.  Majority Continues to Support Civil Unions 9 October 2009, http://people-press.org/report/553/same-sex-marriage  Accessed 9 Nov 2009.
[1] Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, Article 3. 1 Oct 1986, http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19861001_homosexual-persons_en.html
[1] Richard Wagner, Gay Catholic Priests. Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, San Francisco, 1980, p.12, cited in Richard Sipes, Are American Bishops Gay? http://www.richardsipe.com/2009-09/US%20Catholic%20Bishops%20-%20Are%20They%20Gay.pdf. Also Richard Sipes, A Secret World: Sexuality and the Search for Celibacy, 1990. Accessed 7 Nov 2009. A Gallup poll published in the indicates even higher percentages, showing 75% in favor of ordaining married men, 61% in favor of ordaining celibate women, and 54% in favor of ordaining married women. See