Church of England Rejects Compromise on Women Bishops; 70 Clerics Meet with Catholic Bishop

(Photo: AP Images)

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, speaks during the debate on Women Bishops being held today at the General Synod, Central Hall, York University.

From Catholic World News

Paving the way for the ordination of women bishops with full governing powers, the House of Clergy of the Church of England has rejected a compromise proposal put forward by Archbishop Rowan Williams, the church’s primate, that would have permitted traditional parishes to be governed by a male bishop.

Seventy Anglican clergy met with Catholic Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham on July 10 to discuss the possibility of converting to Catholicism under the provisions of Pope Benedict’s 2009 apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. One Anglican cleric estimated that 200 Anglican clergy are considering conversion.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Women bishops bid to pass key stage (UKPA)
  

• Hundreds of traditionalist clergy poised to leave Church of England (Daily Telegraph)

• Traditionalists "not giving up" in women bishops row (BBC)

Traditional Anglicans in Canada Request Union with Rome

From Catholic World News

The Anglican Catholic Church of Canada is formally seeking union with the Holy See under the provisions of the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus.

Describing the apostolic constitution as a “most welcome, gracious, and generous response” to their 2007 petition, the leaders of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada have requested “that the Apostolic Constitution be implemented in Canada; that we may establish an interim Governing Council of three priests (or bishops); and that this Council be given the task and authority to propose to His Holiness a terna for appointment of the initial Ordinary.”

The requests were made in a March 12 letter to Cardinal William Levada, prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• ACCC College of Bishops' Petition for Implementation of Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus and erection of an Ordinariate in Canada (Anglican Catholic Church of Canada)
• Pope Benedict XVI: Anglicanorum Coetibus
• Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (Wikipedia)

U.S. Traditionalist Anglican Group Votes to Enter Catholic Church

From LifeSiteNews
By Patrick B. Craine

The Anglican Church in America (ACA), the U.S. branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), announced yesterday that they will seek communion with the Roman Catholic Church under new Vatican guidelines released in the fall.

The TAC and Forward in Faith are part of a movement of Anglicans seeking a more Biblical and traditional Christianity than what has come to be espoused within the Global Anglican Communion. They have reacted in particular against the Communion's decision to ordain women as priests and bishops, as well as the approval of homosexual activity, such as the ordination of practicing homosexuals and the blessing of homosexual unions.

The ACA's House of Bishops met this week in Orlando with the Primate of the TAC, Archbishop John Hepworth. They were also joined by representatives from Forward in Faith UK and from “Anglican Use” Catholic parishes, the latter who have already united with Rome under previous pastoral provisions.

“At this meeting, the decision was made formally to request the implementation of the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus in the United States of America by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,” a press release reads.

Anglicanorum coetibus was released in November, as promised by the Vatican in October. The Constitution provides for the mass entrance of groups of Anglicans through the creation of personal ordinariates that would allow them to preserve much of their Anglican tradition.

The Vatican constitution was a response, in particular, to a request from the ACA's umbrella group, the Traditional Anglican Communion, for such a means of corporate entrance into the Church.

The TAC branch in the UK, with approximately 20 parishes, was the first to accept the Vatican's offer, doing so within days of the Constitution's release. In the middle of February, the Australian branch of Forward in Faith, another traditionalist group of Anglicans, formally thanked the Vatican and called for the establishment of an ordinariate in Australia.

There are four ACA dioceses across the US, with approximately 100 parishes.

Christianity Lite

From First Things
By Mary Eberstadt

Once in a while comes an historical event so momentous, so packed with unexpected force, that it acts like a large wave under still water, propelling us momentarily up from the surface of our times onto a crest, where the wider movements of history may be glimpsed better than before.

Such an event was Benedict XVI’s landmark announcement in October 2009 offering members of the Anglican Communion a fast track into the Catholic Church. Although commentators quickly dubbed this unexpected overture a “gambit,” what it truly exhibits are the characteristics of a move known in chess as a “brilliancy,” an unforeseen bold stroke that stunningly transforms the game. In the short run, knowledgeable people agree, this brilliancy of Benedict’s may not seem to amount to much. Some 1000 Church of England priests may convert and some 300 parishes turn over to Rome—figures that, while significant when measured against the dwindling numbers of practicing Anglicans there, are nonetheless mere drops in the Vatican’s bucket.

But in the longer run—say, over the coming decades—Rome’s move looks consequential in another way. It is the latest and most dramatic example of how orthodoxy, rather than dissent, seems once again to have taken the driver’s seat of Christianity. Every traditionalist who joins the long and already illustrious history of reconversion to the Catholic Church just tips the religious balance more toward Rome. This further weakens a religious communion battered from within by decades of intra-Anglican culture wars. Meanwhile, the progressives left behind may well find the exodus of their adversaries a Pyrrhic victory. How will they possibly make peace with the real majority of Anglicans today—the churches in Africa, whose leaders have repeatedly denounced the Communion’s abandonment of traditional teachings? Questions like these are why a few commentators now speak seriously about something that only recently seemed unthinkable: whether the end of the Anglican Communion itself might now be in sight.

Even so, it is the still longer run of Christian history whose outlines may now be most interesting and unexpected of all. Looking even further out to the horizon from our present moment—at a vista of centuries, rather than mere decades, ahead of us—we may well begin to wonder something else. That is, whether what we are witnessing now is not only the beginning of the end of the Anglican Communion but indeed the end of something even larger: the phenomenon of Christianity Lite itself.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Australian Anglican Organization Votes to Seek Union with Rome

From Catholic World News

Three months after Pope Benedict issued the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, which makes provision for Anglicans seeking corporate union with the Catholic Church, the members of an organization of Australian Anglo-Catholic group have voted to seek full communion with the Holy See.

Forward in Faith Australia “receives with great gratitude the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus of Pope Benedict XVI and directs the National Council to foster by every means the establishing of an Ordinariate in Australia,” said national chairman Bishop David Robarts. “We warmly welcome the appointment of Bishop Peter Elliott as delegate of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference in the project to establish a Personal Ordinariate in this country [and] note the formation of a working group with Bishop Elliott comprising Members of Forward in Faith Australia, the Traditional Anglican Communion, and the Anglican Church of Australia, to set in train the processes necessary for establishing an Australian Ordinariate.”

Three Australian Anglican parishes are affiliated with the Anglo-Catholic organization, which was founded in 1999. Forward in Faith’s web site lists another 13 parishes that are sympathetic to its purposes.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Australia's traditional Anglicans vote to convert to Catholicism (Daily Telegraph)
• Forward in Faith Australia Inc. and the Apostolic Constitution (FIF Australia)
• Phil Lawler: The apostolic constitution: a closer look (Catholic Culture, 11/9/09)

Pope Confirms Travel Plans in Blunt Speech to British Bishops

Many of our non-Catholic readers may be perplexed as to why Pope Benedict would need to insist that British bishops "be generous in implementing the provisions of the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus," and to readily and warmly welcome Anglicans seeking union with the Roman Catholic Church.

Unfortunately, liberal bishops in that country have resisted for decades just what the Holy Father has now provided -- the opportunity for Anglicans to unite with Rome, while retaining their own hierarchy, liturgy, hymnody, culture and traditions. Those bishops know that Anglicans eager for union and faithful to all that the Church teaches and upholds, will be a conservative, orthodox influence. Anglican Catholic parishes in union with Rome will also provide cradle Roman Catholics in that country and elsewhere, a faithful, orthodox alternative to those presided over by heterodox bishops.

Pope Benedict has made many superb appointments; the new Archbishops of Westminster and New York are good examples. And we look forward to a Catholic succeeding the present Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles, among others, but it takes time to clear out the detritus that lost their way (and faith?) in the early 1970's.

From Catholic World News

Pope Benedict XVI confirmed plans for his visit to Great Britain in September-- and offered some unusually blunt reflections on the situation facing the Church there-- in a February 1 address to a group of visiting British bishops.

The Pope told the bishops, who were in Rome for their ad limina visit, that he looked forward to his trip to their country. Although he did not mention specific dates, informed Catholic sources in London have confirmed that the trip will take place in September.

The Pontiff went on to say that the Church leadership in England and Wales "needs to speak with a united voice." His words appeared to be a reference to the friction within the episcopal conference, and the willingness of some British prelates to countenance open dissent from Catholic teaching. In an even more evident reference to that problem, the Pope went on to say:

In a social milieu that encourages the expression of a variety of opinions on every question that arises, it is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate.

Later in his address the Pope prodded the English bishops to be prepared to receive Anglicans entering the Catholic Church under the terms of the new apostolic constitution. In the past many English bishops have resisted pleas from Anglicans looking for corporate reunion with the Holy See. The Holy Father tacitly acknowledged that resistance, saying: "I would ask you to be generous in implementing the provisions of the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, so as to assist those groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. I am convinced that, if given a warm and open-hearted welcome, such groups will be a blessing for the entire Church."

Pope Benedict voiced his strong support for the bishops of England and Wales in their stand against an "Equality Bill" that would have threatened sanctions against the Church for failing to ordain women as priests and for resisting same-sex marriage. " In some respects," the Pontiff said, the legislation-- which encountered defeat in the House of Lords-- "actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed." A headline in the Guardian reported that the Pope "condemns gay equality laws." The Times, with the flagrant bias that characterizes that paper's treatment of Catholic affairs, made the sensationalistic claim that the Pope had "attacked Britain's move towards equal rights in its secular democracy."

The Vatican traditionally does not formally announce plans for a papal trip until a few weeks before it occurs. But Pope Benedict has now, on several occasions, spoken openly about plans for foreign travel before the "official" announcement is made.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Pope Speaks of Forthcoming Apostolic Trip to Great Britain (VIS)
• Pope Confirms Great Britain Trip (Vatican Radio)
• Pope Benedict confirms first papal UK visit since 1982 (BBC)
• Pope Benedict XVI confirms first state visit to UK (Times)
• Pope condemns gay equality laws ahead of first UK visit (Guardian)
• Pope tells English and Welsh bishops to get their act together (Telegraph)
• Pope to Visit UK; Urges Church to Accept Anglicans (AP)

Conservative Anglican Group Moving Toward Union with Rome

From Catholic World News

Anglican Archbishop John Hepworth, the head of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), has reported substantial progress toward the goal of entering into communion with the Holy See. The Australian prelate reported that he would soon meet with officials of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and then with the Anglican bishops who have joined him in a petition to be accepted into the Catholic Church.

Under the terms of Pope Benedict’s apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, Archbishop Hepworth observed, Anglicans now have the opportunity to become Catholics while maintaining their identity. “The ball is in our court,” he said. “We asked for this and this is what we got.”

“This becoming Anglican Catholics, not Roman Catholics,” the archbishop continued. He noted that the Pope’s policy allowed for the Anglican bishops entering the Catholic Church to retain “those revered traditions of spirituality, liturgy, discipline and theology that constitute the cherished and centuries-old heritage of Angli­can communities throughout the world.”

Archbishop Hepworth recognized that some Anglicans object to the Vatican’s demand that all the bishops and priests of the TAC must be conditionally re-ordained, in light of the Catholic stand that Anglican orders are invalid. TAC members may contest that stand, Hepworth said, but should recognize that “we ourselves moved beyond the Anglican Communion in order to ensure the validity of sacramental life. Rome is now seeking the same assurance.”

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Ordinariate: the sceptics ‘are eating humble pie’ (Church Times)

An Anglican Bridge Across the Tiber

A Bob Jones University Graduate, former Anglican Vicar, and now a Catholic Priest Reflects on the Apostolic Constitution

From The Times (UK)
By Father Dwight Longenecker

Last Monday I was traveling to Tampa, Florida for a week long retreat with other Catholic priests who were once Anglican priests. In the airport I got an email with the news that the new Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus had been published. Suddenly the rest of the week’s program was decided. My brother priests and I spent time studying the document and discussing its implications.

The wider implications of Pope Benedict’s invitation to Anglicans to come into full communion are genuinely historic. It impacts discussions not only with Anglicans, but with all of the churches derived from the Protestant Reformation. It is a popular past time among traditionalist Catholics to throw dirt at ecumenism. Catholic triumphalists trumpet the truth of the Catholic faith and denigrate discussions with Protestants. They point out the false premises, the artificial camaraderie, and the fickleness of their ecumenical partners. The ecumenical movement is not without its faults, but it is also not without its accomplishments. Through the ecumenical movement Catholics and Protestants really have learned from one another. Over the last 40 years astounding progress has been made. Old prejudices have disappeared. Historic misunderstandings have evaporated. New formulas for old truths have been discovered and agreed.

Some commentators have reported the end of the old ecumenism. In one sense this is true. Through the new Apostolic Constitution, the Catholic Church is following up her warnings with action. For over a decade now the Vatican has had a consistent message to the Anglican Church, and the message can be summed up as, "Please don't do that. It puts yet another obstacle in the path of Christian unity." Time and again the Anglicans have gone ahead anyway. Each item on the progressive agenda has been another wound to the body. Now Rome has acted and with Anglicanorum coetibus, directed the ecumenical journey in a radical new direction. No doubt the old style ecumenical meetings will continue, but they will lack urgency. It is as if the Catholic Church has sent a butler with a bell into the hall where the pre prandial cocktail party was going on to announce that dinner is served. The drinks are over. Dinner time has begun. Are you coming in to dinner or not?

Ecumenism isn’t over. It has taken a new direction. To understand the wider implications of Anglicanorum coetibus one needs to look further than the shores of England and Europe. Most people have rightly focussed on the troubles within Anglicanism, and the new relationship between the Catholic and Anglican churches. However, we sometimes forget that the rest of Protestantism is struggling with the same conflicts that besiege Anglicanism. It is said that “where Anglicanism goes the rest of the Protestants soon follow." Here in the United States, where Anglicanism is just one of many Protestant groups, the Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists and Evangelicals are all battling over the same issues of modernist theology and relativist morality.

In England, the Anglican Ordinariate will benefit the small rump of Anglo Catholics who are still in the Church of England, but elsewhere in the world I believe it will eventually become a bridge into full communion with the historic Church for Protestants of many different backgrounds. In the United States there are large numbers of Evangelical Christians who are attracted to the historic liturgical churches. They hold to the historic faith, but they want to move away from the sectarian and often shallow worship and theology of the large Evangelical churches. They admire Catholic liturgy and spirituality, but they are repelled by the progressive political and moral agenda of the liturgical Protestant churches like the Lutherans and Episcopalians. They admire the Pope and much of Catholicism, but for most of them the step into the Catholic Church is still a step too far.

If the Anglican Ordinariate includes 'broad church Anglicans' as well as Anglo Catholics, then these other Protestants may also find a way to 'come home to Rome.' If this is the way the Ordinariate develops, then it will provide not only a bridge across the Tiber for Anglicans, but an Anglican bridge across the Tiber for many other Christians, and if this happens, then the harvest from the ecumenical discussions over the last forty years will be rich indeed.

Fr Dwight Longenecker is Chaplain to St Joseph's Catholic School in Greenville, South Carolina. He is a former Anglican priest, and the author of ten books on the Catholic faith. He blogs at Standing on My Head .