Allowing Anglican ministers to concelebrate a liturgical service at an altar of the pope’s cathedral was a cause of scandal for Catholics that should never have happened, according to a prominent canonist, even if it was a well-intentioned act of ecumenical generosity. …

Explaining to the Register April 21 why the episode was so problematic, canonist Father Gerald Murray, pastor of Holy Family Church in New York City, began by saying that the Anglican liturgy in the Lateran breached Article 137 of the Vatican’s Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism.

The rule allows a visiting group not in full communion with Rome to celebrate a liturgy in a Catholic church, but only “if they do not have a place or the liturgical objects necessary for celebrating worthily their religious ceremonies.” This was “clearly not the case,” Father Murray pointed out. Rome has at least two Anglican churches: that of All Saints and the Episcopal church of St. Paul’s Inside the Walls.