The apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus has now been published by the Holy See, and no one will read it more avidly than members of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England and Anglicans of similar mind abroad. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome has devised it, with Pope Benedict XVI’s blessing, to meet the needs of Anglicans who wish to preserve some of their traditions and heritage while moving into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Anglo-Catholics will have to ask themselves whether this is a good proposal or not.

They do have an alternative – indeed two alternatives, counting staying within the Church of England. Or they could, as countless converts to Roman Catholicism have done before them including many former Anglo-Catholics, apply to enter into full communion through the normal processes. Nowadays that usually means enrolling in the parish-based scheme called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, or RCIA, which includes a rite for baptised Christians who want to become Catholic.

After a journey of faith involving instruction from a parish catechist, candidates follow a series of public steps leading to a ceremony of admission, with others who have made the same journey. Individual ceremonies, after a period of private instruction from a priest, are also not ruled out. A simple formula of doctrinal assent is required in either case, far less elaborate than adherence to every one of the Catholic catechism’s 2,865 paragraphs which the apostolic constitution envisages.

The RCIA experience is transformative, in that the person coming out of it at the end does not feel the same as the person going in. They have changed one world view for another – the term “convert”, though deemed ecumenically insensitive, is not inappropriate. The CDF’s proposals seem designed to blunt that experience by reassuring those who choose that way that nothing much has changed. ...

What is a crucifix? It is not a symbol of the almighty power of the Catholic Church, but a representation of one innocent man’s agonising death at the hands of the state, after torture and a sham trial – in other words, a gross human-rights violation. Catholics believe that that innocent man is also the Son of God, but the depiction is realistic, not metaphysical. The decision of the European Court of Human ...

This edition’s Letters pages include an account by Fr Dermot Power of an event that took place in London as part of the Intelligence Squared series of debates. MP Ann Widdecombe and Nigerian Archbishop John Onaiyekan were thrown to the secular lions, Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry, as they tried to defend the Catholic Church to an unsympathetic audience. Fr Power, who teaches at the Allen Hall seminary, ...

Little more than a week ago the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, knelt together in prayer at the tomb of St Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey in a poignant demonstration of ecumenism and friendship between Catholics and Anglicans. The moment was perceived by many as a further sign of the growing reconciliation between the two Churches ...

Something of a consensus is emerging in the social ­sciences that the biggest handicap a child can face is the absence from the family of a father figure. Although it would be wrong to assume all children of lone ­mothers are damaged goods, it is clearly no help to integral personal development, as even those ideologically unsympathetic to traditional family patterns are coming reluctantly to recognise ...