Rowan Williams Voices Belief in Our Lady of Lourdes

Good for him.

‘When Mary came to Bernadette, she came at first as an anonymous figure, a beautiful lady, a mysterious “thing”, not yet identified as the Lord’s spotless mother,” Dr Williams said.

‘And Bernadette – uneducated, uninstructed in doctrine – leapt with joy, recognising that here was life, here was healing,’ he said.

‘Only bit by bit does Bernadette find the words to let the world know; only bit by bit, we might say, does she discover how to listen to the Lady and echo what she has to tell us.’

Of course, since it's Rowan, he's going to get blasted for something.

The Rev Jeremy Brooks, director of ministry for the group, said: 'All true Protestants will be appalled that the Archbishop of Canterbury has visited Lourdes, and preached there.

‘Lourdes represents everything about Roman Catholicism that the Protestant Reformation ejected, including apparitions, mariolatry and the veneration of saints. The archbishop's simple presence there is a wholesale compromise, and his sermon which included a reference to Mary as “the Mother of God” is a complete denial of Protestant orthodoxy.’

He added: ‘At a time when our country is crying out for clear Biblical leadership, it is nothing short of tragic that our supposedly Protestant archbishop is behaving as little more than a papal puppet.’

Whatever, dude. The Anglican Communion was running aground way before Rowan took the wheel. It's not like this is going to make things worse. This is a drop in the bucket compared to what went down in Lambeth earlier this year.

I'll admit that this is pretty surprising for me. Not just that Rowan would come out with these remarks, but that Mr. Brooks has decided to focus in on the "Mother of God" reference as particularly bad. Even the DailyMail pins down that the really wacky thing here is that Rowan's endorsement of Lourdes really appears to sanction the Immaculate Conception, which has always (from my experience, at least) been a much bigger bone of contention for most Protestants.

His words shocked millions of Protestants worldwide because they not only signified a break with Protestant teaching on the Virgin Mary but also Dr Williams’s personal acceptance of the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which is explicitly linked to the apparitions.

Since we're already looking to bring in all these Anglicans displaced by their hierarchy's ridiculousness recently, maybe Rowan will grow some orthodoxy and swim the Tiber as well. Grace can be pretty amazing. It could happen.

Note: I realize the guy would have to do a lot of theological growing. We should pray for just that.