Little more than a week ago the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, knelt together in prayer at the tomb of St Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey in a poignant demonstration of ecumenism and friendship between Catholics and Anglicans. The moment was perceived by many as a further sign of the growing reconciliation between the two Churches. Yet within just a couple of days, Dr Williams was told by Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine for the Faith – the CDF – of bold plans by the Roman Catholic Church to enable groups of Anglicans – possibly entire parishes and even dioceses – to leave the Anglican Communion for Rome. Dr Williams then appeared once more alongside the Archbishop of Westminster, this time at a press conference announcing Rome’s plans. On this occasion, his demeanour was distinctly different. He appeared discomfited, and reddened under questioning.

The decision by Rome to set up a canonical structure or “ordinariate” making it easier for groups of dissenting Anglicans to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church comes at a difficult time for the Anglican Communion, which the Archbishop of Canterbury has been struggling to stop fragmenting over the issues of homosexuality in the clergy and the appointment of women bishops. Indeed, the ordination of women as priests, and recently as bishops in the Anglican Communion – a change to which the Church of England is also now officially committed, is cited by Anglicans who welcome this move by Rome as a cause of their current disquiet.

A number of priests and laity of the Church of England became Roman Catholics in the 1990s, following the General Synod’s decision to approve the ordination of women priests. Many of them said then that they were not accepting the teachings of the Catholic Church as a whole simply because they disagreed with the General Synod on one point. It was much more the case that a unilateral decision, disregarding what Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy said officially on the matter, had forced them to revise their view that Anglicanism was part of the universal Church. As they felt a strong duty to be in communion with that Church, they had no choice, they felt, but to move to where they now recognised it to be.

On this occasion, the Vatican is focusing on groups of dissenting Anglicans, some of whom are within the so-called Traditional Anglican Communion, who wish the Roman Catholic Church to be their spiritual home. Anglicans who become Roman Catholics will be allowed to retain some of the distinctive marks of Anglican spirituality, including their liturgy – although it may have to be modified in small details. It is not stated so in the announcement, but the aim may well be to allow Anglican parishes to remain together under their minister as they make the transition collectively. There are said to be about 400,000 members of the Traditional Anglican Communion in about a dozen countries. It is headquartered in Australia although also has significant numbers in the United States. While members may makes the first moves to Rome, many other Anglo-Catholics, particularly in England, have been watching this process with close interest, and may soon also follow suit.

This is bound to be an awkward time in relations between Anglicans and Catholics. Archbishops Williams and Nichols have shown great tact towards each other, holding a joint press conference and issuing a joint statement – an example their two Churches will want to follow. But this Vatican initiative will make the work of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity more difficult, for partners in dialogue could well be suspicious that the agenda of the Catholic Church, while seemingly about Christian unity, is otherwise. It will also cause concern that the pontifical council is being left out of the loop on matters of huge importance affecting its dialogue partners, given that its officials were not kept up to speed on the issue by the CDF, and despite the fact that the council’s president, Cardinal Walter Kasper, is also is a member of the congregation. However, the Vatican’s new structures for Anglicans converting to Rome are matters of canon law and doctrine, not the diplomacy of interfaith dialogue. The business of ecumenism and conversion are best kept separate.

One Church’s loss is inevitably another’s gain. Few would deny that the influx of new blood brought many benefits to the Catholic Church last time. The requirement of celibacy was waived in the case of ordained Anglican clergy, which means there are now a significant number of married priests happily serving the Catholic community in England and Wales with no real problems. More of the same will no doubt sharpen the sense of anomaly concerning Catholic priests who have had to accept laicisation as the price of marriage. There are many things in Anglicanism from which Catholicism can profit, not least an enhanced role for the laity in church government and a rich liturgical heritage. What the Anglicans may gain, in return, is a deeper sacramentality. And they may even discover, once it ceases to be such a neuralgic point, that they can be more open to the ministry of women.

There will be no doubt many more months of discussion before any Anglicans cross the Tiber en masse. Talks will not only be theological; practical matters, such as the pay of Anglican clergy and the ownership of church buildings, need to be discussed. There will be long-term consequences for the Catholic Church, such as a growing plurality of liturgy, from Mass in the vernacular to the Tridentine Rite and a possible mix of Anglican-Catholic liturgy for the newcomers.

Earlier this year, in response to the lifting of the excommunications of four Lefebvrist bishops, Pope Benedict wrote: “Leading men and women to God, to the God who speaks in the Bible: this is the supreme and fundamental priority of the Church and the Successor of Peter at the present time” – a sentiment which will resonate with Anglicans accepting the Petrine ministry. The most important issue for all Catholics is that anyone of good conscience who seeks to join their Church, be they John Henry Newman, or Tony Blair, or the vicar of an Anglican parish or his flock, should be given a generous and hospitable welcome to their new home.