|
Sign up to our Weekly Newsletter.
 |
|
Church in the World Anglicans weigh up Pope’s offerMark Brolly, Peter Kavanagh, Fredrick Nzwili - 31 October 2009 Members of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) around the world and other conservative believers have welcomed Pope Benedict XVI’s overture to Anglicans enabling them to become Catholics “en masse”.
The primate of the TAC, which claims 400,000 members worldwide and is not part of the Anglican Communion, said Pope Benedict’s response “more than matches the dreams we dared to include in our petition of two years ago”. Adelaide-based Archbishop John Hepworth expressed gratitude to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for not standing in the TAC’s way.
A US group affiliated to the TAC is the Anglican Church in America (ACA), which claims 5,200 members. In a statement its House of Bishops said they welcomed the Pope’s announcement “with deep joy”. ACA Bishop Louis Campese told The Tablet the ACA bishops planned to hold a special synod to consider the proposal. Bishop Peter Wilkinson who heads the Canadian TAC organisation, the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, said they shared Archbishop Hepworth’s excitement. He said the next moves would be determined after full details of the Apostolic Constitution were released.
Members of Forward in Faith, the reform group within the Anglican Communion, are to consider the proposals. The deputy chairman of Forward in Faith in Australia, Fr Christopher Seton, described the offer of full communion with Rome as a “pretty glamorous lifeboat” but told The Tablet the gesture would test Anglican Catholics. “Are they Catholics in the Anglican Church or are they Anglicans who like a few Catholic trimmings?” he asked.
Other conservative Anglicans who have joined new breakaway groups in protest at the liberal drift of the Communion were unswayed by the Pope’s offer. “I don’t want to be a Roman Catholic,” said Bishop Martyn Minns, missionary bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.
African conservatives called for reform of the Anglican Communion rather than acceptance of the Pope’s invitation. The Global South Primates Steering Committee, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, said in a statement that those opposed to the ordination of practising gays and other liberal reforms should “stand firm with us in cherishing the Anglican heritage and pursuing a common vocation”. The head of the Anglican Church in Uganda, Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, said the African Church did not need the Pope’s initiative “because it [the African Church] is strong on biblical theology”.
A spokesman for the Anglican Diocese of Sydney said the Pope’s gesture was “likely only to attract extreme Anglo-Catholics who were heading towards Rome already”.
n The Swiss theologian Hans Küng was highly critical of the Pope’s gesture. Writing for The Guardian this week he said it was an example of “the Roman thirst for power” which “divides Christianity and damages its own Church”. He said it would lead to a further weakening of the Anglican Church, the widespread disturbance of the Anglican faithful, and the irritation of Catholic clergy and laity in favour of married priests.
Church in the World Anglicans weigh up Pope’s offerMark Brolly, Peter Kavanagh, Fredrick Nzwili - 31 October 2009 Members of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) around the world and other conservative believers have welcomed Pope Benedict XVI’s overture to Anglicans enabling them to become Catholics “en masse”.
The primate of the TAC, which claims 400,000 members worldwide and is not part of the Anglican Communion, said Pope Benedict’s response “more than matches the dreams we dared to include in our petition of two years ago”. Adelaide-based Archbishop John Hepworth expressed gratitude to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for not standing in the TAC’s way.
A US group affiliated to the TAC is the Anglican Church in America (ACA), which claims 5,200 members. In a statement its House of Bishops said they welcomed the Pope’s announcement “with deep joy”. ACA Bishop Louis Campese told The Tablet the ACA bishops planned to hold a special synod to consider the proposal. Bishop Peter Wilkinson who heads the Canadian TAC organisation, the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, said they shared Archbishop Hepworth’s excitement. He said the next moves would be determined after full details of the Apostolic Constitution were released.
Members of Forward in Faith, the reform group within the Anglican Communion, are to consider the proposals. The deputy chairman of Forward in Faith in Australia, Fr Christopher Seton, described the offer of full communion with Rome as a “pretty glamorous lifeboat” but told The Tablet the gesture would test Anglican Catholics. “Are they Catholics in the Anglican Church or are they Anglicans who like a few Catholic trimmings?” he asked.
Other conservative Anglicans who have joined new breakaway groups in protest at the liberal drift of the Communion were unswayed by the Pope’s offer. “I don’t want to be a Roman Catholic,” said Bishop Martyn Minns, missionary bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.
African conservatives called for reform of the Anglican Communion rather than acceptance of the Pope’s invitation. The Global South Primates Steering Committee, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, said in a statement that those opposed to the ordination of practising gays and other liberal reforms should “stand firm with us in cherishing the Anglican heritage and pursuing a common vocation”. The head of the Anglican Church in Uganda, Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, said the African Church did not need the Pope’s initiative “because it [the African Church] is strong on biblical theology”.
A spokesman for the Anglican Diocese of Sydney said the Pope’s gesture was “likely only to attract extreme Anglo-Catholics who were heading towards Rome already”.
n The Swiss theologian Hans Küng was highly critical of the Pope’s gesture. Writing for The Guardian this week he said it was an example of “the Roman thirst for power” which “divides Christianity and damages its own Church”. He said it would lead to a further weakening of the Anglican Church, the widespread disturbance of the Anglican faithful, and the irritation of Catholic clergy and laity in favour of married priests.
Back to the front page
|
|
In this week’s issue
When the hurt stops and the healing starts
Making markets moral
Iron and velvet
Love in a Catholic climate
Someone to talk to
A good Lent takes planning
South American surprise
Can the Church support abuse victims on its own terms?
Elena Curti
Is the Church too slow in recognising that academies are the future for Catholic schools?
Christopher Lamb
Goodwin the scapegoat
Elena Curti
The pain of being a coeliac Catholic
Sr M, guest contributor
The Church's moral obligation to victims of clerical sexual abuse
Speeches from this week's conference in Rome
This week in Rome bishops and religious superiors met at the first Vatican-backed symposium devoted to forging a global response to the crisis of clerical sexual abuse that has disgraced ...
Archbishop voices 'shame and sorrow' after priest's abuse trial
Longley to visit parishes 'damaged' by Walsh
Today, Tuesday 7 February, Bede Walsh, who served as a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, has been convicted by a jury, following a 10-day trial at Stoke-on-Trent ...
|
|
