Dias ‘was not criticizing Anglicans’

http://www.religiousintelligence.com/news/?NewsID=2368

[Religious Intelligence] 25 Jul 2008--Cardinal Ivan Dias was not referring to any particular church when he criticized ecclesial communities “suffering from spiritual Alzheimer’s” the Anglican Communion’s top negotiator with the Vatican said yesterday, but was referring to the spiritual torpor prevalent across Western Christianity.

One of the Communion’s senior bishops, the Rt Rev David Beetge, Bishop of the Highveld, (South Africa) and co-chairman of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) told ReligiousIntelligence.com on July 23 that the Cardinal’s address to the bishops at Lambeth “wasn’t directed at any province” of the church.

Cardinal Dias’ point about spiritual feeblemindedness was a critique of those who “live for the present moment,” Bishop Beetge said. His message to the Anglican Communion was that Rome is “not going to leave you. We want you to find a way to hold together at this moment.”

The speech was an important contribution to Anglican Roman Catholic dialogue, Bishop Beetge explained, as it affirmed the Roman Catholic Church’s desire for the Anglican Communion to prosper and for the two to grow together in unity. Anglicans “are part of the Catholic Church,” Bishop Beetge said, and “we must take this into account” when ordering our ecclesial lives. “This is a voice we have to listen to,” he said. Tradition was a central element in the Anglican ethos, he said, for “we are not made apostles for this moment” but for a universal and undivided church of Christ.

Related article:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4385582.ece
Cardinal Ivan Dias: Anglican Church suffering spiritual Alzheimer's - Times Online