I had a terrific time at the annual convention of the Society of Catholic Priests last week. My time there was regrettably short; since M is the eponymous “catholic priest” in the family, I stayed here with the kids, just popping up from Thursday evening and Friday morning while the in-laws came down to watch the girls. In any case, I got to meet people, some old friends, some blog readers I’ve known of for a while but never met in the flesh, and some new friends.
I think the presentation went quite well. I was speaking on Communion Without Baptism and my intention was to lay out the situation as I see it in order to foster a conversation. It worked as we had a spirited yet collegial discussion. And, yes, while most of the people at the conference were representing the traditional position, there were some who questioned it. I don’t know if any minds were changed but I think we all left with a better sense of where we were and where the the other arguments are located.
I had several requests for the text itself and I will be making it available once I get it filled in and smoothed out. So—I’m in the midst of finishing that off and preparing another presentation on letters of ascetic instruction comparing Jerome’s Letter 53 and Aelfric’s Letter to Sigeweard. Welcome to busy season…
Dear D, It was lovely to meet you and M both, and to hear your presentation. Support for CWOB is almost taken for granted at my seminary, and I think I did a poor job of arguing against it. Or more accurately, I wasn’t arguing against it so much as trying to point out how a change in our practice implies all sorts of deeper changes in our theology. You said what I hoped I’d been able to say, for which I’m both grateful and envious at the same time. I’m also glad that some people in the discussion period spoke out with alternative viewpoints.