Anglicans at risk for schism:
Archbishop of Canterbury
proposes two roads for his flock
One for traditionalists, the second for modernists.
This is the solution Rowan Williams has devised
in order to keep together those who accept and
those who reject holy orders for homosexuals.
Archbishop Williams; in right photo, with wife Jane.
ROME, August 3, 2009 – In a last-ditch attempt to ward off yet another schism among his faithful, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of the Anglican Communion, Rowan Williams, has even asked the Vatican for help. And they've immediately gone running to his aid.
The implicit request for help came in a text that Williams published on July 27 on his website, entitled "Communion, Covenant and Our Anglican Future."
The Vatican's support was expressed in an article in
L'Osservatore Romano on the following day, and in a statement on July 29 from the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity.
In addressing the 77 million Anglicans in the world, Williams has taken into account the fact that the danger of schism among them is real, especially after the resolutions approved in mid-July by the Anglicans of the United States, where they are called Episcopalians.
But he has urged them to do everything possible to remain united. And in order to convince them, he has also pointed to the disaster that schism would bring to ecumenism, the journey to union with the other Churches and Christian communities, and with the Catholic Church first of all.
The resolutions approved by the American Anglicans in Anaheim, California – Williams noted – are in fact in profound contrast with the teaching and practice of Catholics and Orthodox, as well as the views of a great number of Anglicans.
The issue is homosexuality. An initial resolution established that all of the baptized can be admitted to the priesthood and the episcopacy, and therefore, also men and women in relationships with persons of the same sex.
A second resolution determined that homosexual marriages should be blessed with a special liturgy.
Williams objected that marriage between homosexuals has no foundation in the Sacred Scriptures. And that the Anglican Communion must adhere only to these, without following the shifting social norms that, for example in six American states, permit marriage for homosexual couples. Much less should they admit to the priesthood and episcopacy men and women who live together with persons of the same sex.
In order to ward off this and other possible schisms, Williams then proposed that the 44 provinces making up the Anglican Communion sign a "Covenant," a pact on biblical orthodoxy. Those who sign and who do not sign would go separate ways, but not entirely.
On the one hand there would be those who adhere to biblical tradition, share a common vision of Anglican teaching and practice, and feel themselves part of a larger fraternity with the other Churches and Christian communities.
On the other hand would be those who give priority to the decisions of their own community, and view the Anglican Communion as a free federation of independent bodies, with simply a common cultural history behind them.
The individual faithful would in any case be able to sign the "Covenant," even if their province did not do so. And in any case – Williams emphasized – only the signers of the pact would take part in ecumenical encounters as representatives of the Anglican Communion, so that the other Churches and Christian communities would always know with whom they are in dialogue, and what they think.
***
A few hours after the release of the text by the Archbishop of Canterbury, L'
Osservatore Romano printed an extensive summary of it, under the title: "Two different styles of being Anglican." The account was clearly sympathetic toward Williams's effort to shore up the disintegrating Anglican Communion.
Even more explicitly in support of Williams was the statement released on July 29 by the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, headed by Cardinal Walter Kasper, which ended as follows:
"It is our prayer that the Anglican Communion, even in this difficult situation, may find a way to maintain its unity and its witness to Christ as a worldwide communion."
Williams enjoys widespread respect and sympathy in the Catholic camp. When he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England in 2002, before taking office he spent two weeks in Italy at the Catholic monastery of Bose, founded and headed by his friend Enzo Bianchi.
The fact is that for years the Anglican Communion has been continually subjected to divisive impulses.
The ordination of women, begun in 1994, is one of these sources of division. Because of it, many Anglicans have gone to the Catholic Church or to other Christian Churches.
In order to restrain the dissidents, at the Anglican cathedral in Blackburn, Lancashire – where there are canons of both sexes – they devised a strange solution a few months ago, for the 10:30 Sunday Mass.
There are two lines for communion: on one side, those who accept the host consecrated by Reverend Sue Penfold; on the other side, those who accept only one consecrated by Reverend Andrew Hindley.
__________
The reflection by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, on the divisions among Anglicans, posted on his website on July 27, 2009:
'Communion, Covenant and Our Anglican Future'
www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2502
I may be obtuse, but how can this 'separation' within the Anglican Communion be justified in the name of unity, which here would appear to be a mere ploy?
And if the Vatican does support this 'solution' devised by Williams, is that not supporting cafeteria Catholics who have always maintained that they dance to their own tune (or in their words 'their own conscience'), never mind what the Church teaches?
Particularly since consecrating gay men and women is just not a Christian practice, as Archbishop williams himself points out.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 04/08/2009 04:09]