Ross Douthat on the Vatican's Invitation to Anglicans

Mr. Douthat hits it out of the park.  All the stuff about married priests, their own rite, etc. is secondary, and in any event redundant (there are already married priests in the Roman Catholic church, and there are already Anglican Use parishes.)  Mr. Douthat, however, correctly zeroes in on the very big picture: Benedict+ is the only leader in Europe, and globally, who has both the intransient authority and the will to defend the West.  Mr. Douthat refers to the Regensberg address, which not only challenges Islam, but also criticizes liberal "emergent" trends in Christian theology that seek to dehellenize Chrisitanity.  His point is that Christianity was born in a hellenized culture: the New Testament is written entirely and originally in Greek, and the Church fathers were all intellectually indebted to the Greeks- none more so than St. Augustine.  To Benedict, this is the fortress that defends our faith and the culture of freedom.  That Rowan+ has folded like a cheap lounge chair in the face of Islamic militancy makes Benedict's case more attractive, more compelling to Anglicans, especially in Global South, where the specter of churches being burned by Muslims is not a theoretical phigment but a reality.