Rebuff for Vatican offer to Anglicans: CEN 10.30.09 p 3.

First published in The Church of England Newspaper A mass exodus of overseas Anglo-Catholics in response to last week’s announcement of a proposed Anglican enclave within the Roman Catholic Church is unlikely, a review of the Communion by The Church of England Newspaper finds.   While overseas leaders acknowledge that individual Anglicans may take advantage of the provisions of the proposed Apostolic Constitution for the creation of “Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church,” no diocese or province is set to quit the Anglican Communion for Rome.

In jurisdictions where traditional Anglo-Catholics predominate: the Provinces of Central Africa, Tanzania, West Africa, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the West Indies; the Australian dioceses of The Murray and Ballarat and the US dioceses of Fort Worth, Quincy and San Joaquin—individuals may take up the Vatican’s offer, but no institution is likely to follow. Nor is the offer likely to divide North American conservatives into rival Anglo-Catholic and Evangelical camps, its leaders tell CEN.

For the liberal and evangelical wings of the Communion, the statement is an encouraging sign of ecumenical progress and recognition by the Vatican of the Anglican ethos, but not a “live issue.”

“It’s not too much of an issue in New Zealand,” Archbishop David Moxon said, adding that he was unaware of anyone considering the offer. But “the fact that the Pope can receive a small group of traditionalist Anglicans into the Roman Catholic Church without too much complication means that quite a lot of common ground exists” between the churches, he said.

Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria and the leaders of the Global South primates group also welcomed the Pope’s “stance on the common biblical teaching on human sexuality, and the commitment to continuing ecumenical dialogue,” but said adoption of an Anglican Covenant was a better way to fulfill “God’s divine purposes” for “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church of Jesus Christ.”

Archbishop Robert Duncan of the ACNA welcomed the statement, describing it as “recognition of the integrity of the Anglican tradition within the broader Christian church.”

“While we believe that this provision will not be utilized by the great majority of the Anglican Church in North America’s bishops, priests, dioceses and congregations, we will surely bless those who are drawn to participate in this momentous offer,” he said on Oct 20.

US Anglo-Catholic leader Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth said the proposal was a “very generous and welcoming offer” for those seeking to maintain “certain aspects of the Anglican way of worship, spirituality, and ethos while entering into full communion with the Pope.”

However, “not all Anglo-Catholics can accept certain teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, nor do they believe that they must first convert to Rome in order to be truly catholic Christians,” Bishop Iker said on Oct 20 noting that “other Anglicans who desire full communion with the See of Peter would prefer some sort of recognition of the validity of Anglican orders and the provision for inter-communion between Roman Catholics and Anglicans.”

Bishop Ross Davies of The Murray told The Age he was “shocked and pleased” by the announcement as it provided a “way to leave with dignity.” But he did not expect a “great stampede” of Australian Anglo-Catholics to Rome as a result.

For evangelical Anglicans, submission to Rome was a non-starter. Archbishop Eliud Wabukala of Kenya told the BBC’s Network Africa programme there was “no possibility” of his submitting to Rome. “The Protestant family understands faith in different ways, for example, the idea of the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, the interpretation of ministry,” he said.

Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda said the Vatican’s offer was directed towards traditionalists in England and the white commonwealth countries. “The Archbishop of Canterbury sent us letters welcoming the offer, but it is essentially to deal with the local England context and does not apply to other provinces,” he said.

The Anglican Churches of Africa do not need the Vatican’s helping hand to combat liberalism because “it is strong on biblical theology,” Archbishop Orombi told a Kampala newspaper.

The Episcopal Church’s ecumenical officer Bishop Christopher Epting observed the “announcement reflects what the Roman Catholic Church, through its acceptance of Anglican rite parishes, has been doing for some years more informally” and would not harm ecumenical relations.

Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz concurred, writing on Oct 22 that “among the vast majority of Anglicans and Roman Catholics in Canada and in the world there is a genuine commitment to build on 40 years of formal dialogue between our Communions.”

“While this announcement from the Vatican creates some shock waves, I do not believe them to be seismic,” he said. “I believe the greater will of the whole church while acknowledging our ‘real but imperfect communion’ is to continue steadfast in dialogue,” Archbishop Hiltz said.