This is the final part of a series of essays by Fr Dan Donovan examining where the Church seems to have lost its way in the modern world. What he writes today explores how the dialogue between the Anglican and Catholic churches seems to have been skewed in the pontificates and John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

The change of direction under JPII and Benedict...

Disputes about authority, ministry, orders and eucharist would continue between the Anglican and Roman Churches over the centuries and even to the present day. The restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England in 1843 and the definition of papal infallibility at Vatican Council I in 1870 fanned the centuries old suspicions between the two Churches. The validity of Anglican orders was raised again by Leo XIII in his letter, Apostolicae Curae in 1896 to which the Anglicans replied in Saepius Officio (1897). This exchange of correspondence provided little more than reaffirming the traditional positions of the two Churches but it did highlight the need for greater co-operation between the two Churches on sacramental life and ministry.[1]

While it is never possible to nuance precisely matters of form and intention, it is significant that the Catholic and Anglican Churches continue to dialogue. In the years 1970-2005, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, established an Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) to explore matters of doctrine with the view to developing agreement (and even reunion) between the Churches. The Commission was to have two phases; the first 1970-1981 and a second 1983-2005.

It was the task of the Commission's first phase to prepare statements on eucharist, ministry and church authority which would express the faith experience of both communities and ultimately furnish a doctrinal agreement.

Canon Donald Bolen, Archbishop Alex Brunett, Archbishop Peter Carnley, Canon Gregory Cameron at the launch press conference for the joint statement on Mary 27 May 2005. Image source and further information: www.anglicancommunion.org. Click image to enlarge.

The second phase (1983-2005) had a wider brief and was required to investigate a range of doctrinal matters focused on the fourth part of the creed or the nature, structure and daily life of the Church.[2] The slow progress of the Commission underline that agreement between the Churches is the work of the Spirit and therefore cannot be expedited to accommodate either the doctrinal sensitivities of the "traditional Anglicans" or the administrative needs of Rome. That the Churches are continuing to dialogue and that the Spirit directs their discernment provides hope that past damage might be repaired and the Church might again be the sacrament of human solidarity and the sacrament of a world transformed in the Spirit.

Three significant points emerge from the above discussion concerning the interface between the Vatican and the new world order.

• First the model of Church which emerged from Vatican II emphasised the role of the local Churches: the shared responsibility of national bishops' conferences, collegiality and regular world synods of bishops to address Church matters. This working model would have served the universal Church well as it journeys into the uncharted waters of the new world order. However the Council's vision of a network of local Churches was unceremoniously dropped during the papacy of John Paul II. It was replaced with a new centralism characterised by papal authority. Gradually the local bishops and their Churches were reduced to the status of branch offices of Rome. As a result, the Church has failed to capitalise on its being-in-the-modern-world and has since the mid-1980's been fascinated by its past especially, the sixteenth century to expunge the excesses of Vatican II and return to authentic Church order. The question is therefore in the new world order can the Church pursue its medieval reverie or must it restore the role of the local Church?
• Second even China in its English language newspaper is promoting the need for trust among the countries of the world as the basis of the way forward. The Church would appear to be squandering the trust which it has built up over the centuries by its failure to address the exercise of power and sexual abuse within its ranks. Abuse of power and even paedophilia occurs across society therefore it is not surprising that such abuses are experienced within the Church. However the scandal is that Church leaders covered up these crimes and failed to protect the young and the vulnerable from sexual predators. In the effort to avoid scandals, the hierarchy has destroyed credibility and still they continue to use inadequate theological word like "sin, sorrow, forgiveness and reconciliation" to describe the heinous crimes and their impact on the victims and their families.
• Thirdly there must be an emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit in the Church and society. The Catholic Church is growing in the developing nations and still has its central administration is in Rome. This is not to deny the role of the Pope but rather to question the effectiveness of such a centralised administration for such a diverse world Church. More importantly, as the European culture becomes less normative among the nations of the world, there will be a need to recast the doctrines of the creed in idioms suited to Asian and African mindsets and languages. The Spirit alone will continue to guide the Church into all truth (Jn 16:13).

FOOTNOTES:
[1] Leo XIII claimed that the Book of Common Prayer (1552) reflects the intention of the English Church "to introduce a radically new rite into England one markedly different from those approved by the Roman Catholic Church." See http://www.nccbuscc.org/seia/arc.anglicanorders 1990.shtml The Anglicans pointed out that there were in the early Church ordinals which did not contain all the words and actions required by Leo's form for validity. The Ordinal in Edward VI Book of Common Prayer reads; "Receive the holy Ghost for the Office and work of a Priest in the Church of God, now committed unto thee by the Imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou does forgive they are forgiven; and whose sins thou does retain they are retained. And be thou a faithful Dispenser of the Word of God, and of his holy Sacraments In the as the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."
The Form and Manner of Ordering of Priests, The Book of Common Prayer Oxford UK: Oxford University Press, p 337.
For Leo this ordinal made no mention of the power to consecrate and to offer the eucharistic sacrifice.
In 1930 the Lambeth Conference endorsed Saepius Officio as the English Church's position on Orders. This followed a series of Conversations between the Catholics and Anglicans at Malines (Belgium) 1921-1925 which seemed to reach an "agreement" that there was a marked connection between ordained ministry and eucharistic sacrifice.
[2] The matters discussed in this second phase were: salvation and the Church (1986); Church as communion (1991); Life in Christ: Morals, Communion and the Church (1993); the Gift of Authority (1999) and finally a publication on Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ (2005). It might have been a more useful methodology if the discussions had begun with the final topic and provided a thoroughgoing Christology to ground their ecclesiology. Anyone who is familiar with the documents of Vatican II will notice that the list of topics mirror those of Lumen Gentium, (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church). The deliberations of ARCIC are available: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/ministry/ecumenical/dialogues/catholic/arcic/docs/e...
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/ministry/ecumenical/dialogues/catholic/arcic/index.c...
Similar dialogues occurred between the Anglicans and Roman Catholics in the United States (ARC-USA ) in 1990 and there is an excellent report on the progress of the discussion on Anglican Orders and the Church today. http://www.nccbuscc.org/seia/arc_anglicanorders_1990.shtml
REFERENCES:
Collins, R., (2009), Keepers of the keys of Heaven, London UK: Phoenix Paperbacks.
Corner, S.,(1973), Captain Cook and Australia, Sydney NSW: V.C.N. Blight, Government
Frowde, H., The Book of Common Prayer, London UK: Oxford University Press
McBrien, R., (2000), Lives of the Popes, San Francisco Ca: Harper.
McDowell, B.,(1991), Inside the Vatican, Washington DC: National Geographic Society.
Mesiti, P., (1997), Attitudes and attitudes: The dynamics of 21st century leadership, Baulkham Hills NSW: Pat Mesiti Ministries Inc.
Micklethwait, J&A. Wooldridge, (2009), God is back: How the global rise of faith is changing the world, New York NY: Penguin Books.
Morton, S., (1995), China: Its history and culture, New York NY: National Geographic Society.
Rigert, J., (2008), An Irish tragedy: How sex abuse by Irish priests helped cripple the Catholic Church, Baltimore Md: Crossland Press.
Wilson, G.,(2008), Clericalism: The death of priesthood, Collegeville Mn: Liturgical Press.
Photo Credits:
Clicking on the other images in the article will take you to the original source.

©2010 Fr Daniel Donovan

[Index of Commentaries by Dan Donovan]