| ANGLICANS are divided over the announcement, last week, by the Vatican that they could form “Personal Ordinariates” under the authority of Pope Benedict XVI. Many Anglicans said that it was no substitute for restored communion between the two Churches. Others welcomed the move.
The “pastoral” move by the Pope was widely believed to be his response to approaches by, among others, the leader of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), Archbishop John Hepworth, who is based in Australia, in April 2007. The head of TAC in Canada, Bishop Carl Reid, said last week that although its members were “on the same page” as Roman Catholics on ethics and family life, there were “weighty” doctrinal issues that could cause problems. “I can’t really predict how everyone is going to respond.”
The former Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, a long-term member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and the International Anglican- Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), who was the subject of press speculation that he could accept the offer, said on Tuesday that he was not going to become a Roman Catholic.
“He intends to continue as a bishop in the Church of England and to encourage orthodox people, Evangelical and Catholic, in the worldwide Anglican Communion,” his spokesman said. He wanted “principled unity based on the Bible and theological agreement between the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches”.
Fr William Pearsall SJ, of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, in London, said on Wednesday: “The Constitution is still being translated into an official version. Once the text is in circulation, and we have a good idea of what the reactions are, we will be having Anglican–Catholic discussions in our neighbourhood.”
The Roman Catholic theologian, and president of the Global Ethic Foundation, Dr Hans Küng, writing in The Guardian on the same day, said that the papal move was “a tragedy”. It was a move away from “eye-level dialogue and honest understanding” between the Churches, exemplified by ARCIC, which would weaken the Anglican Church, disturb its faithful, and irritate celibate RC clergy.
“Can it be that those caught up in the Roman dragnet do not see that they will never be more than second-class priests in the Roman Church, and that other Catholics are not meant to take part in their liturgical celebrations?”
The Society of Catholic Priests, which has 500 members in England, said that the majority of Catholics within the C of E were in favour of women’s ministry and would remain loyal to the Anglican Communion.
The Bishop in Europe, Dr Geoffrey Rowell, and the Suffragan Bishop, the Rt Revd David Hamid, said in a statement that the Personal Ordinariates were “a pastoral response to some particular requests made to the Holy See; it is not the completion of the articulated goal of our international dialogue”.
The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Most Revd Fred Hiltz, said that he did not expect “a groundswell of response” to the papal decree. Even among those who have separated themselves from the Anglican Church of Canada, there is an abiding desire to remain in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
The Primates of the Global South welcomed the Pope’s stance on the Bible and ecumenical dialogue, but said that the Anglican Covenant now provided “the necessary parameters in safeguarding the catholic and apostolic faith of the Communion”. Their standing committee said that it should be adopted forthwith.
The leaders of the Anglican provinces of Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya said that the move would be welcomed by those disillusioned by liberal Churches in the West. “The African Church does not need this because it is strong on biblical theology,” said the Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Revd Henry Orombi.
FiF Assembly
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