Blog by-the-Sea

The Apostolic Constituion Anglicanorum Coetibus Exceeded Anglican Expectations

Anglican Bishop John Broadhurst, the Bishop of Fulham, has posted a first reaction to today's publication of Anglicanorum Coetibus on the Forward in Faith website.  He is a married Anglo-Catholic bishop who some have speculated would be a likely selection as Ordinary for an Anglican Ordinariate, permissible under the new Apostolic Constitution although he would be a Catholic priest, and not a Catholic bishop.  He called the Apostolic Constitution and accompanying papers "extremely impressive", and added: "Indeed it has offered the requests of Consecrated Women? with the completion of its ecumenical hopes."   Consecrated Women? was a book co-authored by members of Forward in Faith, with Catholic Fr. Aidan Nichols, O.P. as Catholic observer, and Orthodox Bp. Kallistos Ware as Orthodox Observer, discussing the theological basis for the opposition to the ordination of women and asking for a new province of the Church of England as a solution to accommodate Anglicans who oppose the ordination of women.  The Church of England denied the request for a separate province.

The Vatican today posted the text of the Apostolic Constitution for Anglicans becoming Catholic, Anglicorum Coetibus, in English, together with Complementary Norms.  The Daily Bulletin's posting included the Apostolic Constitution, Norms, a press release, and also a commentary titled "The Significance of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus" by Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda, S.J., Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University. 

Fr. Ghiranda's analysis explains, among other things, why the Apostolic Constitution provides for Personal Ordinariates, similar in structure to those provided for the military, rather than a Particular Ritual Church or a Personal Prelature:

"These Personal Ordinariates cannot be considered as Particular Ritual Churches since the Anglican liturgical, spiritual and pastoral tradition is a particular reality within the Latin Church. The creation of a Ritual Church might have created ecumenical difficulties. Nor can these Personal Ordinariates been considered as Personal Prelatures since, according to can. 294, Personal Prelatures are composed of secular priests and deacons and, according to can. 296, lay people may simply dedicate themselves to the apostolic works of Personal Prelatures by way of agreements. Members of Institutes of Consecrated Life or of Societies of Apostolic Life are not even mentioned in the canons concerning Personal Prelatures."

Two Comments I Liked on the Personal Ordinariate for Anglo-Catholics

At the Forward in Faith National Assembly held yesterday and today in the U.K., Bishop Andrew Burnham, the Anglican Bishop of Ebbsfleet (one of the Church of England's traditional Anglo-Catholic "Flying Bishops"), attributed Pope Benedict's new offer of a personal ordinariate for Anglicans becoming Catholics in part to the prayers of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, saying that it is her "shower of roses".  Also crediting the prayers of Our Lady of Walsingham and soon-to-be-blessed John Henry Newman, he called it "the miracle that seems to be springing up in our midst":

Listen here.

Anglican Bishop Andrew Burnham (who, I suppose, is soon to become Catholic Father Burnham) is not alone in crediting St. Thérèse.  Jack Smith at the Catholic Key Blog quotes from two other Anglican clergy who also credit St. Thérèse for this development, occurring so soon after her relics visited England (September 16 to October 16, 2009).  Hat tip American Papist. 

Also, Jeffrey Steenson, formerly an Episcopal Church bishop, and now a Catholic priest, wrote about the announcement on MercatorNet (hat tip Canterbury Tales).  He said this about his hope for the Episcopalians he necessarily left behind when he became Catholic:

"One thing has continued to trouble me in this journey, and that is the remembrance of the people left behind. . . . who hunger and thirst for something more, for whom the Catholic Church is a very intimidating but compelling presence. They must overcome misunderstandings about what the Catholic Church teaches, and fears about what it might mean to live in the Catholic Church. Patient pastoral work can resolve much of this, and I rejoice that the Holy Father has opened this door for them. "

New Canonical Structure for Anglicans Becoming Catholic

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith today released a Note About Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans Entering the Catholic Church.  The full text of the Note, in English, is at the foregoing link.

The The New Liturgical Movement posted the Note.  Forbes.com has an Associated Press article (hat tip Michael Liccione).  More articles at Associated Press, America Magazine Blog, and Damian Thompson's blog in the Telegraph (hat tip TitusOneNine).

The note allows for the creation of Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving "elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony".  It mentions a forthcoming Apostolic Constitution which allows for married Anglican clergy who wish to become Catholic priests.  Seminarians in the Ordinariate will study along with other Catholic seminarians, while the Ordinariate will be allowed to have its own house of formation to address the particular needs of the Anglican patrimony.

Zenit has posted the response by Abp. John Helpworth of the Traditional Anglican Communion (the Anglo-Catholic body from outside of the Anglican Communion that requested such an accommodation several months ago).  Forward in Faith (the Ango-Catholic organization within the Anglican Communion which has previously said that many of its members may become Catholic) has posted a reaction on its website:

It has been the frequently expressed hope and fervent desire of Anglican Catholics to be enabled by some means to enter into full communion with the See of Peter whilst retaining in its integrity every aspect of their Anglican inheritance which is not at variance with the teaching of the Catholic Church.

We rejoice that the Holy Father intends now to set up structures within the Church which respond to this heartfelt longing. Forward in Faith has always been committed to seeking unity in truth and so warmly welcomes these initiatives as a decisive moment in the history of the Catholic Movement in the Church of England. Ut unum sint!

+John Fulham
Geoffrey Kirk

Ruth Gledhill's blog for the Times includes a copy of a response from Bishops Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton, also of Forward in Faith, which is not posted on the Forward in Faith website.  In it, they speak about the discussions between Anglo-Catholic groups and the Vatican over the past few years.  Acknowledging that some will remain Anglican, and some will choose an individual route, they also wrote that some Anglo-Catholics now "will begin to form a caravan, rather like the People of Israel crossing the desert in search of the Promised Land."

The USCCB website has posted the response of Cardinal George, president of the USCCB, stating, "The USCCB stands ready to collaborate in the implementation of that Provision in our country." (hat tip Thomas Peters at American Papist).

Vatican Information Service also has a press release today concerning comments of Cardinal William Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at a press conference about the note.  Here is the press release:

In a meeting with journalists held this morning in the Holy See Press Office Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia O.P., secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, presented a note on a new measure concerning "Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church".

Commenting on the English-language note, which has been published by his dicastery, Cardinal Levada explained how, "with the preparation of an Apostolic Constitution, the Catholic Church is responding to the many requests that have been submitted to the Holy See from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful in different parts of the world who wish to enter into full visible communion.

"In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates, which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony. Under the terms of the Apostolic Constitution, pastoral oversight and guidance will be provided for groups of former Anglicans through a Personal Ordinariate, whose Ordinary will usually be appointed from among former Anglican clergy.

"The forthcoming Apostolic Constitution provides a reasonable and even necessary response to a worldwide phenomenon, by offering a single canonical model for the universal Church which is adaptable to various local situations and equitable to former Anglicans in its universal application. It provides for the ordination as Catholic priests of married former Anglican clergy. Historical and ecumenical reasons preclude the ordination of married men as bishops in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Constitution therefore stipulates that the Ordinary can be either a priest or an unmarried bishop. The seminarians in the Ordinariate are to be prepared alongside other Catholic seminarians, though the Ordinariate may establish a house of formation to address the particular needs of formation in the Anglican patrimony".

"The provision of this new structure is consistent with the commitment to ecumenical dialogue, which continues to be a priority for the Catholic Church, particularly through the efforts of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The initiative has come from a number of different groups of Anglicans" who, said Cardinal Levada, "have declared that they share the common Catholic faith as it is expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and accept the Petrine ministry as something Christ willed for the Church. For them, the time has come to express this implicit unity in the visible form of full communion".

The cardinal further indicated that "it is the hope of the Holy Father Benedict XVI that the Anglican clergy and faithful who desire union with the Catholic Church will find in this canonical structure the opportunity to preserve those Anglican traditions precious to them and consistent with the Catholic faith. Insofar as these traditions express in a distinctive way the faith that is held in common, they are a gift to be shared in the wider Church. The unity of the Church does not require a uniformity that ignores cultural diversity, as the history of Christianity shows. Moreover, the many diverse traditions present in the Catholic Church today are all rooted in the principle articulated by St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians: 'There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism'.

"Our communion", the cardinal added in conclusion, "is therefore strengthened by such legitimate diversity, and so we are happy that these men and women bring with them their particular contributions to our common life of faith".

In a joint declaration on the same subject, Catholic Archbishop Vincent Gerard Nichols of Westminster and Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury affirm that the announcement of the Apostolic Constitution "brings to an end a period of uncertainty for such groups who have nurtured hopes of new ways of embracing unity with the Catholic Church. It will now be up to those who have made requests to the Holy See to respond to the Apostolic Constitution", which is a "consequence of ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.

"The on-going official dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion provides the basis for our continuing co-operation", the declaration adds. "The Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) agreements make clear the path we will follow together.

"With God's grace and prayer we are determined that our on-going mutual commitment and consultation on these and other matters should continue to be strengthened. Locally, in the spirit of IARCCUM, we look forward to building on the pattern of shared meetings between the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales and the Church of England's House of Bishops with a focus on our common mission".

Damian Thompson on a Possible Rescue for Anglo-Catholics

"Time for Rome to rescue Christians trapped in the Anglo-Catholic wreckage", by Damian Thompson in today's Telegraph, says that "the present Pope, unlike his predecessor, is an admirer of the conservative Anglo-Catholic tradition - and open to the idea that doctrinally orthodox Anglicans should convert together, bringing with them spiritual gifts."  Mentioning the Traditional Anglican Communion (a breakaway traditional Anglican body) and Forward in Faith (a traditional Anglo-Catholic body within the Anglican Communion), Thompson suggests that some form of accommodation may in fact be made to bring large numbers of traditional Anglo-Catholics into the Catholic Church in a historic realignment.

Updated August 8: See Fr. Dwight Longenecker's insightful commentary at a "Standing on My Head" post Anglicans and Schism.

Fr. Dwight Longenecker Reflects as Jeffrey Steel Announces His Conversion

Jeffrey Steel, an Church of England priest and blogger at de cura animarum, announced today that he and his wife and children are going to become Catholic.  He wrote a post today about his journey of faith.

Fr. Dwight Longenecker, formerly Anglican, posted "Anglican Agonies" at his blog Standing on My Head.  In it, he asks why more Anglicans have not taken advantage of the Pastoral Provision that exists to make things easier for Anglican cleary and their congregations who want to swim the Tiber.

An Anglican Prelature?: "Conversion is a personal process."

The recent news articles and blog posts saying that the Pope would soon offer the Traditional Anglican Communion ("TAC") a prelature similar to that of Opus Dei apparently originated in an Australian publication called The Record, according to journalist Anthony Barich.  But Barich does not name his source.  The American Catholic picked it up from The Record, and Damian Thompson's excellent blog Holy Smoke in the Telegraph picked it up from the American Catholic.  I think once it hit American Catholic and the Telegraph, it was big news.

Now, a Vatican official has described it as "unlikely", as reported by Catholic News Agency, because "conversion is a personal process and a group of so many people could hardly be accepted."

When this possibility last hit the press, in October 2007, I mentioned in a blog post then that the Traditional Anglican Communion has been associated with predictions of that kind since 1995.  The statements always indicate that an announcement will be made shortly by the Vatican.  But the predicted announcement never follows.  It has even left some other Anglican groups wondering what is behind the TAC's reported discussions with the Vatican.

To my thinking, those expectations draw some Anglicans from other traditional Anglican bodies (including the Anglican Communion and other breakaway bodies like the TAC) into the TAC expecting something good to happen in the future when they are losing hope about their future where they are.  Those expectations may also keep some Anglicans from becoming Catholic because they think that if they just wait a little bit longer they will have a form of Catholicism that is more like what they are accustomed to.

But conversion is, as Msgr. Langham said, a personal process.  If someone accepts the faith of the Catholic Church and believes it to be their destination, it would be wrong to hold back from that personal conversion in hopes of a Catholic prelature that would be more like their present form of worship.  They are too similar to begin with for such a difference to be worth the wait.  Why would anyone, having come to the conclusion that the Catholic Church is the one true Church and that it is their desire to unite with Rome, wait years before making that move based on anything like the existing differences between the TAC and the Catholic Church?  If you believe that the Catholic Church is the one true Church and is your best hope as an Anglican, please go and talk to a Catholic priest about it now.  Don't wait to see whether the rumors that have been floating since 1995 will pan out.  There is no reason to wait.

Imagine two little boys and two little girls on a row boat that somehow floats out of the children's cove into the open sea and on a collision course with an ocean cruise liner.  One of the little boys stands up in the row boat and says, "I know what we'll do: we'll get on the cruise liner. . . . but first, we'll negotiate terms."  The captain of the ship may or may not play out the negotiation to get the children to safety.  But the smartest kids on the boat are not going to wait out the game.  They are going to get on the ship now.  And that is a personal process.

Those Papist Anglicans

"'High' Anglicans can be more papist than the pope" says an article in The Economist dated yesterday about Anglican clergy who have become Catholic in the past.  But most of them have been married clergy, prompting some to question whether that will impact the Catholic view of priestly celibacy.  The article discusses more than one reason for the Catholic concern about a split in the Anglican Communion.  Read all.  (Hat tip toTitusOneNine).

The Lambeth Conference, Dialogue and a Question Inspired by John Henry Newman

Anglican Fr. Warren Tanghe, on the Forward in Faith website, has asked "Was it worth it?"  He asks one of the same questions I would ask: As exhausted and frustrated as people are in seeking a resolution, was anything accomplished that was worth the expense?  He writes:

It is worthwhile to meet face-to-face with one another, and especially with those with whose ideas and actions one disagrees.  It is worthwhile to hear them, to understand why they think and act as they do, and to discover such common ground as one may have with them.  And it seems that the Lambeth Conference 2008 and its indaba process have done all that.  There has been a shift in the way the bishops regard one another, and some say that the sense of communion seems to have been renewed.  But still, that does nothing to resolve the crisis.  It remains, and at best Lambeth has bought more time.  Yet it is the temporizing, the talking without fruit, the pointing to the next meeting and the next, that have left those who have absented themselves from Lambeth and many who are here increasingly alienated from the Communion.

That news post was his third and last, I believe, in a series of posts writing from the Conference.  The other two are here and here.

I like the fact that he affirmed that it is worthwhile to meet and to better understand "those with whose ideas and actions one disagrees."  In the case of the Anglican Communion, the same position underlies the continuing dialogue between Catholics and Anglicans.  Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor similarly asked, in his address to the Conference, whether his many years of work in Anglican - Roman Catholic dialogue were worth it -- or at least he answered that question, which others would have asked him. 

While Damian Thompson called Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor an "old-style, glad-handing ecumenist" for his assertion that ARCIC had been worth his effort, I do not agree.  Dialogue is important, whether it is among Anglicans, or whether it is ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and other Christians.  Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said it was worth it "because I know it is Christ’s will that we be one, and however long it takes that has to be our goal. Pope Benedict again and again comes back to this as at the heart of what he is working for." I once wrote something similar in a post titled "Hope Amid Difficulties in Catholic-Anglican Ecumenism" a couple of years ago, even while admitting a lack of optimism about what the near future would hold for such ecumenical dialogue. 

Perhaps those who think that the Cardinal's address represented old-style ecumenism did not read all the way through it, to the point where he said, "Our future dialogue will not be easy" and perhaps overlooked that Cardinal Kasper also stated in his address that ARCIC "has indeed borne good fruit."  I appreciated Damian Thompson's work in comparing and contrasting all three Cardinals' addresses, but I did not find them to be quite so far apart from each other as Thompson's commentary seemed to me to suggest.

It is not possible to know, as in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," how things would be now if ARCIC and ARCIC II had not happened.  Nor is it possible to know how things would be now if the Catholic-minded Anglicans had not made the efforts they have made over the past 30 or 40 years to turn the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as a whole in a different direction from the one it is taking.  I couldn't say it has not been worth it.  I couldn't answer whether the expense of the just-completed Lambeth Conference was worth its accomplishments.  Dialogue bears fruit.

Yet, dialogue must be moving toward something and, if unity within the Church is to be protected, that unity must have some means of resolving conflict.  Ultimately, the dialogue needs to end and a decision needs to be made that can and will actually be effected. Fr.Tanghe's frustration in "the pointing to the next meeting and the next" and the lack of fruit is indicative of the lack of an effective resolution to Anglican difficulties after so many meetings.

I would also mention Anglican Fr. Kendall Harmon's asking today, from a perspective that is different from Fr. Tanghe's in some respects, "Was anybody listening?", quoting his blog post on August 3, 2003, while he was blogging the 2003 Episcopal Church General Convention that voted to approve the election of an actively gay bishop who had left his wife to live with his male lover. 

An adequate response to those frustrations, I think, should consider at least one part of what Cardinal Kasper said in his address about the need for a new consideration of the writings of John Henry Newman (See Father Z's commentary on Cardinal Kasper's words too):

Ecclesiological questions have long been a major point of controversy between our two communities. Already as a young student I studied all of the ecclesiological arguments raised by John Henry Newman, which moved him to become a Catholic. His main concerns revolved around apostolicity in communion with the See of Rome as the guardian of apostolic tradition and of the unity of the Church. I think his questions remain and that we have not yet exhausted this discussion.

Whereas Newman dealt with the Church of England of his time, today we are confronted with additional problems on the level of the Anglican Communion of 44 regional and national member churches, each self-governing. Independence without sufficient interdependence has now become a critical issue.

I know little of Newman's work.  On the consideration of Newman, I would defer to Fr. Alvin Kimel and his Pontifications category on Anglicanism, for one.  In a post a couple of years ago, he too mentioned an aspect of Newman's writing that Fr. Kimel, somewhat like Cardinal Kasper, said has never been adequately answered:

Even Anglo-Catholicism, the most “successful” attempt at catholic recovery, had to abandon its goal to transform the Church of England and settle for party status. Within the churches of the Reformation, catholicity remains, and will always remain, an expression of private judgment. In 1850 J. H. Newman pleaded with his former Anglo-Catholic colleagues to recognize the irrationality in remaining a part of the Church of England. He has never been adequately answered:

In the beginning of the movement you disowned private judgment, but now, if you would remain a party, you must, with whatever inconsistency, profess it;—then you were a party only externally, that is, not in your wishes and feelings, but merely because you were seen to differ from others in matter of fact, when the world looked at you, whether you would or no; but now you will be a party knowingly and on principle, intrinsically, and will be erected on a party basis. You cannot be what you were. You will no longer be Anglo-Catholic, but Patristico-Protestants. You will be obliged to frame a religion for yourselves, and then to maintain that it is that very truth, pure and celestial, which the Apostles promulgated. You will be induced of necessity to put together some speculation of your own, and then to fancy it of importance enough to din it into the ears of your neighbours, to plague the world with it, and, if you have success, to convulse your own Communion with the imperious inculcation of doctrines which you can never engraft upon it.

Applied to the Lambeth Conference and other Anglican meetings over the past 5 years, I think what Newman was saying is this: Is it not necessarily the case that in these meetings -- when Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals necessarily argue for one position as Catholic or orthodox, while others argue for another, and there is no means of resolving the matter except by the continuation of that political process -- they have become inherently Protestant by the fact that their situation is inherently one of private judgment?  Where a series of meetings on such central issues finds no solution, and each speaker, each group, has become a party lobbying for one position among others, with no means of resolution except by such political lobbying among parties, is that not then inherently Protestant, rather than what Anglo-Catholicism seeks to be?

While Fr. Kimel could better expound upon those aspects of Newman's thinking that challenge Anglicanism today, and Cardinal Kasper could well say more about those issues raised by Newman that he believes have not yet been exhausted, this must surely be one of them.

Catholic Addresses at the Lambeth Conference

This is my first post about the ongoing once-a-decade Lambeth Conference.  I might have something more to say after it is over, but I would rather let it play itself out and, for the time being, write only about what the Cardinals have said who have addressed that Conference. 

[Added August 1: For anyone looking for a commentary and comparison now, Damian Thompson has written about all three of these cardinals in his blog at the Telegraph (hat tip Fr. Dwight Longenecker).]

Cardinal Ivan Dias:

The Vatican and Zenit have the full text of the address given by Cardinal Ivan Dias, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.  Ruth Gledhill offered commentary at her Timesonline blog Articles of Faith (hattip to Kendall Harmon at TitusOneNine for linking to Ruth Gledhill's article and several other sources mentioned in this post).

As the first of the three Cardinals mentioned here who addressed this Lambeth Conference,  Cardinal Dias addressed the Conference on the subject "Mission, Social Justice and Evangelization."  He spoke about the necessity of evangelization for a Christian, quoting St. Peter's words in Acts 4:12 that "there is salvation in no one else but Jesus, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which they can be saved."  He spoke of spiritual combat in today's world against secret sects, Satanic groups, New Age movements, and secularism.  While the traditional areas of evangelization in the past were hearth and home, today, he said, we must be aware of "the many modern Areopagoi" (recalling St. Paul's sermon at the Areopagus): the mass media, the world of science and technology, etc.

Cardinal Dias then spoke of morality -- a theme closer to the focus of Anglicans attending the Conference.  He said, "In the Western world, which is increasingly becoming distanced from its Christian traditions and roots, a context of moral confusion has ensued, and sound Christian ethical and moral principles and values are under threat from various quarters." Christians, he said, cannot "remain on the sidelines"; they must be witnesses. He spoke of the importance of inculturation, including "blending Faith and Culture harmoniously together through art, music, dance and liturgy, making something beautiful before God and men."  He also spoke of proclaiming Christ in inter-religious dialogue, picking out "those values in non Christian traditions which are compatible with Christian thought and behavior and use them as starting points for a fruitful inter-religious dialogue."

He spoke of the importance of the ecumenical dimension of evangelization.  He said that when Christians "are of one mind and heart notwithstanding their diversity, their missionary thrust is indeed enhanced and strengthened. But, when the diversity degenerates into division, it becomes a counter-witness which seriously compromises their image and endeavors to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ." In that context, he commented on a spiritual Alzheimers and spiritual Parkinsons affecting some people today -- a comment that drew Ruth Gledhill mentioned in her post as possibly referring to the present situation among Anglicans.

He spoke of Mary, Mother of God, as the "Star of the new Evangelization," mentioning the ARCIC II statement "Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ."  He called for Mary to be the bishops' model, guide and intercessor in discerning "whether their pastoral endeavors are inspired by God, or motivated by human criteria, or prompted by the Evil one."  Lastly, he quoted from Cardinal John Henry Newman's poem, "Lead Kindly Light," in praying to the Holy Spirit, commending the Lambeth Conference to God.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Conner:

The Diocese of Westminster and Zenit have the full text of his address to the Lambeth Conference on the subject of ARCIC and ARCIC II (Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission).  He began by saying that he wanted to reflect on his own experiences.  While many people have become skeptical of Anglican - Roman Catholic dialogue through that process, he said that he has not become skeptical.  He looked back over 26 years of his life involved in ARCIC.

As the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Murphy-O'Conner has surely been more actively involved in discussions with Anglican clergy than is often reported.  He is known to be a personal friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and he has been in authority over many formerly Anglican/now Catholic clergy within his own archdiocese.

Discussing how the Anglican ordination of women has changed Anglican - Roman Catholic dialogue, he said, "It became increasingly clear that the ordination of women priests and bishops in a growing number of provinces has presented what is for the Catholic Church a major stumbling block to the hoped-for reconciliation of ministries."

However, he said, fundamental issues of ecclesiology have now come to the fore in the  ARCIC II discussions.  Emerging through the ARCIC II statements, he said, "what was emerging through them was a deepening doctrine of the Church as koinonia."  He said that the work that he has put into Anglican-Catholic dialogue over many years has been worth it.  He pointed to Christ's will that we be one, saying "Pope Benedict again and again comes back to this as at the heart of what he is working for."

Confirming that he is "not gloomy" and that "dialogue will continue in some form," Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor also offered this assessment of 40 years of dialogue:

"It is forty years since The Malta Report set Anglicans and Catholics on the way towards unity. Throughout these years, the Catholic Church has always sought dialogue with the Anglican Communion as a whole, with all the challenge that your treasured diversity can sometimes bring to the table. So our Church takes no pleasure at all to see the current strains in your communion – we have committed ourselves to a journey towards unity, so new tensions only slow the progress. But they do seem to concern matters that are very important. These discussions are about the degree of unity in faith necessary for Christians to be in communion, not least so that they may be able to offer the Gospel confidently to the world. Our future dialogue will not be easy until such fundamental matters are resolved, with greater clarity."

Cardinal Walter Kasper:

Zenit and Sandro Magister have Cardinal Kasper's address.  Magister wrote, "Kasper highlighted the growing distance between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, especially since some of the Anglican provinces began ordaining women to the priesthood in 1974, and to the episcopate beginning in 1989."  Father Zuhlsdorf mentions Sandro Magister's article and offers his own commentary on Cardinal Kasper's address.  Ruth Gledhill offered commentary in the Timesonline.  Catholic News Agency also has an article about the address.

He brought greetings from the Holy Father and from the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, assuring the Conference that they were in their prayers.  He expressed hope for the future "that we will not be drawn apart, and that we will be able to remain in serious dialogue in search of full unity, so that the world may believe."

He gave an overview of the successes of ARCIC and ARCIC II; the obstacle posed by the Anglican ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate; and a common "love for Christ which invites us into practical co-operation and service." He expressed a wish to continue on the path toward union that was begun 40 years ago.  Yet, he said he was "deeply discouraged by recent developments."

He then commented on ecclesiological issues.  He mentioned his address in 2006, saying that  while the backdrop was the Church of England's possible ordination of women bishops, "the central argument about the nature of the episcopal office as an office of unity is relevant to all of the points of tension in the Anglican Communion" that he had mentioned earlier in this week's address.

"In brief," he said, "I argued that unity, unanimity and koinonia (communion) are fundamental concepts in the New Testament and in the early Church."  He further explained that argument, referencing the third century's St. Cyprian of Carthage, as he had mentioned in 2006 that St. Cyprian was the source of a theology of the episcopal office as an office of unity.  Cardinal Kasper stated that, in the ARCIC dialogue "we have been able to set forward a strong vision of episcopal ministry, within the context of a shared understanding of the Church as koinonia."

Cardinal Kasper then discussed the 2004 Windsor Report, which sought to provide an Anglican ecclesiology of koinonia.  The weakness, he mentioned, was that the report stresses maintaining communion within the existing Anglican Communion, but pays little attention to being in communion with the Church through the ages. He stated that "it has been particularly disheartening to have witnessed the increasing tensions within the Anglican Communion," and expressed a desire for the Anglican Communion to stay together.

In the final section of his address, Cardinal Kasper spoke of the Catholic position on the issues of sexuality now facing the Anglican Communion.  He mentioned "the ARCIC statement "Life in Christ", where it was noted (nn. 87-88) that Anglicans could agree with Catholics that homosexual activity is disordered," and stated that "a clear statement from the Anglican Communion would greatly strengthen the possibility of us giving common witness regarding human sexuality and marriage, a witness which is sorely needed in the world of today."  He also mentioned the Catholic opposition to the ordination of women and said that it is "not only a disciplinary position but an expression of our faithfulness to Jesus Christ."  He stated clearly: "While our dialogue has led to significant agreement on the understanding of ministry, the ordination of women to the episcopate effectively and definitively blocks a possible recognition of Anglican Orders by the Catholic Church."

Concerning the impact that this has had on Anglican - Roman Catholic dialogue, Cardinal Kasper stated:

"It now seems that full visible communion as the aim of our dialogue has receded further, and that our dialogue will have less ultimate goals and therefore will be altered in its character. While such a dialogue could still lead to good results, it would not be sustained by the dynamism which arises from the realistic possibility of the unity Christ asks of us, or the shared partaking of the one Lord’s table, for which we so earnestly long."

Lastly, he expressed a hope for a new Oxford Movement as "a re-reception, a fresh recourse to the Apostolic Tradition in a new situation," and concluded by an assurance of prayer for God's grace and the Holy Spirit's guidance.

Traditional Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England Seeking a Way Forward -- or Ways?

The news stories and statements by traditional Anglo-Catholics since the Church of England voted to allow women bishops have begun to show differences in their reactions and probable future plans. 

The Forward in Faith initial reaction, signed by Simon Killwick (Chairman, Catholic Group in General Synod), Geoffrey Kirk (Secretary, Forward in Faith) and Stephen Parkinson (Director, Forward in Faith) spoke of a period of "prayerful contemplation" and said that "actions have consequences."

Yesterday, a further reaction appeared on the Forward in Faith website with no name at the bottom, saying "We will in the coming days continue to explore all possible avenues which might secure our corporate ecclesial future and look to our bishops to facilitate this."  The further reaction sounded, to me, as if some of the Anglo-Catholics would remain Anglican, while the earlier reaction sounded, to me, more like Cardinal Kasper's statement.

The latest statements and news stories make references to the Catholic Church, but not all seem directed toward the same way forward.  While sad, it reflects that those who will probably seek to enter the Catholic Church will do so because they are truly ready to become Catholic and not because it is what everyone else is doing.

On the one hand, Forward in Faith's Bishop John Broadhurst today issued a statement of his own that expresses a wish that "whatever we do needs its timing to be agreed by us all so that we can act together."  His statement mentioned conversations "between some of our Bishops and the Holy See" (indicating that he was not among those bishops who have recently met with the Vatican) and asked whether those conversations would lead to a way forward.  Yet he also expressed concerns remaining since earlier conversations with Rome in 1992 over the lack of an offer of "ecclesial reconciliation."  Today, he released a proposed pastoral letter for parishes in his diocese of Fulham this Sunday, saying that he "will be calling a Lay Assembly in the Autumn so that together we can look at this matter as well as the implications of the Lambeth Conference."

The concept of a meeting in the Autumn sounds to me too much like the series of meetings among Anglicans in the U.S. and globally over the past 5 years, with an increasingly clear Protestantism among most conservatives remaining in the Episcopal Church.  I am wary of a promise of future meetings that hold out hope, but without a real resolution that is lasting.

On the other hand, also today, Catholic World News reported that Anglican Bishop Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet, another long-time Forward in Faith "flying bishop," has already expressed a desire to enter the Catholic Church, and that Anglican Bishop Keith Newton of Richborough, a relatively young and impressive Forward in Faith "flying bishop", may do the same.  In an article published in the Catholic Herald, Bishop Burnham said, "Codes of practice are shifting sands. The sacramental life of the Church must be built on rock."  His hope for Rome is this:

"What we must humbly ask for now is for magnanimous gestures from our Catholic friends, especially from the Holy Father, who well understands our longing for unity, and from the hierarchy of England and Wales. Most of all we ask for ways that allow us to bring our folk with us."

Similarly, Bishop Edwin Barnes also issued a statement in The Church Union saying that it is no longer "possible for members of the Church of England to claim to be part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. . . Now catholic Anglicans are looking to the future without any real chance of remaining members of the Church of England."   

In the U.S., the hope for Anglo-Catholics to move in unity after the Gene Robinson vote was not a realistic hope in the end.  Different people had a different way forward in mind.  Over time, some became Catholic, some became Greek Orthodox, some became Protestant, and some moved toward a more Protestant/Evangelical form of conservative Anglicanism.

In the end, I was left to sort things through on my own, eventually entering the Catholic Church with a group of people I had met for the first time at my new parish.  Among them were 2 or 3 other former Episcopalians, none of them from my former Episcopal Church parish.  Around the same time, I heard from a few others I had known as an Episcopalian that they had become Eastern Orthodox.  I knew when I left that some were leaning more toward Protestant churches or toward a more Evangelical form of Anglicanism.

In the process, I realized that the need to sort things through for myself, in itself, differed from the pattern of the Early Church described in Acts 15.  The process itself entailed "a matter of one's own interpretation" of Scripture (II Peter 1:20) that an individual, in the Early Church, was not supposed to have to do.  The process itself made clearer the value of the Church's magisterium and the papacy, and the Church's greater similarity in that respect to the way the Early Church resolved conflict.  Once that became apparent, the other issues faded in importance.

Father Dwight Longenecker has a good checklist for Anglican Tiber swimming (or walking on water, if you prefer) and a clever T-shirt suggestion.

It still saddens me to watch the fracturing and the loss of a sense of home among those who were shocked at the clarity of this week's voting at synod.  In my own experience of moving toward Rome, while some other people chose a different route a few years ago, it sometimes reminded me of the final scenes of Fiddler on the Roof, thoughts that come back to me now:

Tevye: Where are you going?
Lazar Wolf: Chicago. In America.
Tevye: Chicago, America? We are going to New York, America. We'll be neighbors.

I hope, for the sake of all, that those in the Church of England whose faith is basically Catholic will find that in listening to the Holy Spirit, they can come, together, into full unity with the Catholic Church without more delay than is really needed to work through the issues of faith that are essential to Catholic initiation.  If a personal prelature or some other option is quickly offered to help Anglicans entering the Catholic Church, then that is for the better.   But I really hope that those whose faith now leads them to Rome will act on that, and not delay for more meetings than are really necessary.