Introduction

In my first paper on this matter that I wrote last week, I concluded that relatively little would happen as a result of Pope Benedict’s initiative and described it as ‘much ado about nothing’. [...]]]> The Papal Apostolic Constitution allowing groups of Anglicans or Ex-Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church –Part 2

Introduction

In my first paper on this matter that I wrote last week, I concluded that relatively little would happen as a result of Pope Benedict’s initiative and described it as ‘much ado about nothing’. It would appear that the leader writer in the ‘Church Times’, the most widely read weekly Anglican newspaper in England, agrees with me. Last Friday he wrote,

‘On the Anglican side, the view appears to be gaining ground that, for those people who have been petitioning Rome repeatedly and insistently, the time for persuading them to stay passed some time ago. The issue for them has ceased to be how to fit into the Anglican set-up, but whether the Pope’s offer meets their desires. Just how many of these petitioners there are remains to be seen, of course. When those in “irregular marriage situations”, and those who were formerly Roman Catholics, and those who have difficulty accepting the Roman Catholic Catechism in its entirety, and those who object to the removal of lay people from government are excluded from the figures, there might well be fewer than expected’.

Anglicans receiving communion at a Roman Catholic mass

In view of what I wrote, several people raised with me the question of whether Anglicans should/can take communion at a Roman Catholic mass. The official Roman Catholic position is that only communicant Roman Catholics are allowed to receive communion at an RC mass. Only in very extreme circumstances can an exception be made. However, whilst that is the official view, the reality on the ground is often quite different.

As some of you may have experienced yourselves, if you ask a Roman Catholic priest whether as a communicant Anglican or as a communicant member of another Christian Church, he will admit you to receive communion, the answer quite often is “Yes”. Some will say “No”, upholding the official line. But many others, providing one can express some understanding of ‘real presence’ in the Eucharist, will happily allow you to receive. Sybille and I have a Roman Catholic priest friend in Spain who is a paid-up member of Opus Dei, who would be quite upset if we didn’t receive at a mass at which he was the celebrant!

About twenty-five years ago, an agreement was reached between the Anglican Church and the French Roman Catholic Bishops Conference. This allows for Anglicans in France, if because of distance they cannot regularly attend an Anglican Chaplaincy, they may with the agreement of the local Roman Catholic priest, receive communion from him. Quite how this squares with the official RC position emanating from Rome, I’m not sure!

Roman Catholics receiving communion at an Anglican Eucharist

Let me also take the opportunity to address this issue about which I’m also asked about from time to time.

The wording in our service booklets, which is the official wording of the Anglican Diocese in Europe, states quite clearly;

‘We invite to receive Holy Communion, all baptised persons who are communicant members of other Churches which subscribe to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and who are in good standing in their own Church’.

Therefore, communicant Roman Catholics are always welcome to receive communion when attending St. Clements, as I know many regularly do.

Of course, the official Roman Catholic position is that lay Roman Catholics shouldn’t, as the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize the validity of Anglican orders which therefore means that the sacrament is not valid! Once again however, the reality on the ground is quite different.

When I am asked by lay Roman Catholics whether they may receive communion in a service where I am the celebrant, I always draw their attention to the wording that appears in our service booklets. I usually also add that, “Whilst the Pope would not approve of you doing so, I suspect that God would!” It is then up to the conscience of the individual concerned.

At the recent Clergy Pastoral Conference in Cologne, I was talking to a female Anglican priest who works in a non-stipendiary capacity in one of the Chaplaincies in France. Her Chaplaincy, like many in France, uses Roman Catholic Churches for their services with the agreement of the local Roman Catholic hierarchy. She told me that, she has celebrated the Eucharist in a joint bilingual service with Roman Catholics, and has had local Roman Catholic priests receive communion from her and in turn, the priests then encouraged their laity to do the same.

The Anglican Chaplain in Barcelona has also told me a similar story. During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, he and his congregation attend a mass in the nearby Roman Catholic Church where they are all invited to receive communion. Then later in the week, the Roman Catholic priest and his congregation attend a Eucharist at the Anglican Church where the priest and his flock all also happily receive communion. The Anglican Chaplain did ask his Roman Catholic colleague how he got away with doing so, knowing what the official position of the RC Church is. The priest’s response was, “Rome is a long way away!”

Rome to Canterbury

One thing I did mean to mention last week but forgot to do so.

Much is made by the sensationalist end of the media, about the number of clergy and laity who might ‘go over to Rome’ as a result of this recent papal initiative. As I’ve previously said, I believe it will be very few for the reasons I outlined and as extremely well expressed in the ‘Church Times’ leader article I quoted above. However, what the press hardly ever mentions is the traffic that comes the other way – those who travel ‘from Rome to Canterbury’.

Over the twenty years of my public ministry, I’ve known many Roman Catholics who have happily worshipped as Anglicans. I am aware of quite a number within the current St. Clement’s congregation. Some do take the formal step of being received into the Anglican Church but many do not. It is now perfectly possible to remain a lay Roman Catholic but be on the Electoral Roll of an Anglican Church or Chaplaincy. Anglicans are quite inclusive!

Whilst doing some internet research, I was particularly pleased to find a recent speech by Bishop Tom Butler, the Anglican Bishop of Southwark, to the first meeting of his newly elected Diocesan Synod. Commenting on the publication of the Papal Apostolic Constitution, he remarked that there has always been movement between the two Churches and that his own diocese had been well-served by several clergy who were former Roman Catholic priests.

How many former Roman Catholic priests are now working as clergy within the Anglican Church is a figure it seems no one can come up with. But within the Church of England alone it is probably at least two hundred at an educated guess. It may well be more. Some come across because of wanting to be married. Others do so because they cannot accept aspects of Roman Catholic doctrine or ecclesiology. But unlike any who ‘go over to Rome’, who the Pope insists must be ‘re-ordained’, (in reality as far as the official line of the Roman Catholic Church is concerned, ordained for the first time), those priests who travel ‘from Rome to Canterbury’ are just received into the Anglican Church. They do receive some training in Anglican ways but their original ordination and previous public ministry are regarded as being totally valid.

Ricky Yates – 20^th November 2009

Introduction

On Tuesday 20th October 2009, it was announced that Pope Benedict was establishing an Apostolic Constitution which would provide a canonical structure allowing groups of Anglicans and Ex-Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Roman [...]]]> The Papal Apostolic Constitution allowing groups of Anglicans or Ex-Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church

Introduction

On Tuesday 20th October 2009, it was announced that Pope Benedict was establishing an Apostolic Constitution which would provide a canonical structure allowing groups of Anglicans and Ex-Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. There were two new concepts contained within this announcement. The first was that provision was being made for a whole group to become part of the Roman Catholic Church. Previously this has always been on an individual basis. The second was that such a group would be allowed to continue to maintain some form of Anglican identity.

This announcement was made both in Rome and, somewhat more surprisingly, at a joint press conference in London given by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols and the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. The text of their joint press statement can be found here on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.

At the time of this announcement, the text of the proposed Apostolic Constitution was not available. This was only published on Monday 9th November 2009 – the English version can be found here.

The joint press statement

One of the things that annoyed me and many others about the joint press statement was the Roman Catholic Church being described as purely the ‘Catholic Church’. The word ‘catholic’ means ‘universal’. It is with that meaning that we declare when we recite the Nicene Creed, “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church”. The official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church is that it alone is the ‘Catholic Church’ whereas Anglicans see themselves as being ‘…..part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church’. The joint press statement could easily be seen as the Anglican Church agreeing with Roman Catholic ecclesiology which I’m sure was not the intention of Archbishop Rowan.

The timing of the announcement

It is quite clear to me that Archbishop Rowan had little forewarning of this announcement from Rome. Although the plans for the Apostolic Constitution had been underway since June or July this year, he was only told about it a few days before it was due to be announced. This can quite clearly be seen in the text of his letter to all Church of England Bishops and to the Primates of other Churches that form the Anglican Communion. You can find a link to this letter on the same page as the joint press statement on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.

It is my belief that, in agreeing to a joint press statement and joint press conference with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Archbishop Rowan was being extremely generous. One should never really question someone’s generosity but I would say that Archbishop Rowan was being generous almost to a fault.

The origin of the Apostolic Constitution

It is extremely important to note from where within the Roman Curia the Apostolic Constitution has originated. It is the work of the ‘Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith’ rather than the ‘Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity’. The ‘Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith’ was of course, previously known as ‘The Inquisition’ and used to be headed by the current Pope when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. It would appear that the ‘Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity’, headed by the very ecumenically minded Cardinal Walter Kasper, has been completely sidelined and ignored in this whole matter.

It is quite clear that it will be the ‘Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith’ that will take this whole matter forward. In the commentary that accompanied the publication of the text of the Apostolic Constitution there is the clear statement that, “The competence of erection has been given to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith”. Not surprisingly, this rather interesting use of the English language has been the source of some amusement amongst various commentators!

How many Anglican clergy and congregations will take advantage of the Apostolic Constitution?

No one knows the answer to that question but, in my opinion, it will be very few. The Apostolic Constitution may well appeal to some groups of ex-Anglicans; i.e. those who for various reasons have already left the Churches that form the Anglican Communion. However, the largest of these groupings, the so-called ‘Traditional Anglican Communion’, who are one of the groups who have made approaches to Rome, are led by a twice-married former Roman Catholic priest, who would be totally ineligible to minister under the published terms of the Apostolic Constitution!

The main reason that I think very few Anglican clergy and congregations will take up the provision of the Apostolic Constitution is because the official Roman Catholic position with regard to Anglican orders and practice has not changed. Whilst the Roman Catholic hierarchy will acknowledge the validity of an Anglican baptism, they will not recognise the validity of anything else. Therefore, any lay people who go across to Rome will need to be re-confirmed into the Roman Catholic Church.

For priests and bishops the same will apply. Not only will they need to be re-confirmed but also have to be re-ordained. In other words, they will have to deny the validity of their entire past ministry. They will have to accept that every Eucharist they have ever celebrated was an invalid sacrament! Whilst the idea is allow whole groups to transfer, when it comes to clergy who are married, then the Constitution clearly states that each one will only be considered on an individual basis.

Even the concept of maintaining some form of Anglican identity will have little appeal. Mention is made of maintaining the use of some parts of the Anglican liturgy, provided that Rome has first given its theological approval. However, the very Anglo-Catholic congregations who just might be tempted by what is on offer are usually ones who already use the English RC Missal in total breach of Anglican Canon Law!

Mainstream Roman Catholic reaction

From what I know from past conversations with Roman Catholic laity, and from various things that I have heard in recent days, much of the mainstream Roman Catholic laity are not particularly happy about this Apostolic Constitution. Any survey of them will reveal a sizeable majority believing that their priests should be allowed to marry and that women should be ordained. Most do not believe that the Pope is infallible and you can clearly see by the average size of their families that most happily also ignore papal teaching on birth control. Therefore, they are not very keen to receive an influx of new members who will quite clearly take a far more conservative position, especially with regard to the ordination of women.

In Conclusion

When the dust settles, I fully believe that this whole matter will be ‘much ado about nothing’. Headlines declaring that at least 400,000 Anglicans will cross over to Rome are written by journalists who know little about Church affairs and are purely looking for a sensationalist story. The ‘competence of erection’ that has been given to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith may well be remembered more for the interesting use of the English language than for any lasting change wrought on either Anglican Communion or the Roman Catholic Church.

Ricky Yates – 12th November 2009