No Good Preach Goes Unpunished

His morning homily at Lourdes barely past his lips, the Anglican Communion's traditionalist crowd promptly unloaded on Rowan Williams:

The archbishop was criticized by the England-based Protestant Truth Society, a group of Anglicans and nonconformists committed to upholding the ideals of the Protestant Reformation.

The Rev. Jeremy Brooks, the group's director of ministry, 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 rejected, including apparitions, Mariolatry and the veneration of saints," he said in a Sept. 24 statement. "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."

Meanwhile, lest anyone thought that'd make the Tiber side happy, the seeming breach of Canon 767 has put some in a tizzy... and, well, so it goes.

PHOTO: AP/Gareth Fuller

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