Since when is a family reunion or a homecoming or a family feud resolved bad news? Well, in the secular news media apparently whenever the Catholic Church is involved.
The dust has settled on the October 20 announcement and the November 4 publication of the Apostolic Constitution streamlining the entry of Anglicans into full communion with the Catholic Church. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, has even been to Rome to discuss matters with the Pope in a “cordial dialogue”. The dust has also settled in large part on the uproar of news pieces, articles and blogs on the subject. Some choice pieces spoke of the Pope in huntsman’s terms: poacher, fishing without a permit, sheep stealing. Far fewer have been articles by members of the Traditional Anglican Communion who feel they have fallen into a poacher’s trap; none to my knowledge but I’m neither God nor Google.
Others complained that Rome didn’t give Canterbury enough heads up, only forty-eight hours by some calculations. I wouldn’t know that either although I suppose the archbishop’s secretary does. Either way there was enough time to prepare a joint statement featuring the Archbishops of Westminster and Canterbury on very day the announcement was made.
Another fascinating insight featured in an op-ed of the New York Times proposed that such a drastic move is not about liberals vs. conservatives but rather in building up the Catholic Church against the threat of Islam. “Interesting; I hadn’t thought of that”, is all I could say. I venture that Benedict XVI would have said something similar.
You would almost think that the Pope had presented the Anglican Communion with a big red ‘reconciliation and communion’ button that somehow translated — a la Dan Brown — into ‘salt lick’.
Even if some of these articles are well intentioned they are missing the point. This is all about communion.
The Catholic Church and the Church of England have been estranged since Henry VIII’s split with Rome in the 16th century. The separation weighs down on leaders from both sides. They are all acutely aware that Jesus’ intention was to found his Church, not many churches: “That they may be one.”
For well over a hundred years there have been meetings on both sides and this activity intensified after Vatican II. The Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission has issued numerous doctrinal statements since then that have built the close ties between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.
Meanwhile large splits in the Anglican Communion have been caused by… what? The Bishop of Rome tightening moral doctrine to pharisaical extremes? Prominent Catholic bishops making public wisecracks about the “founding” of the Church of England? No, none of the above, but rather from within the Anglican Communion; yes, with the ordination of every variety and orientation of people to the office of bishop and an almost systematic slackening of moral doctrine. This is not to say that these problems have never existed in the Catholic Church. They actually have, but always at an individual or small group level and have never enjoyed universal sanction.
So you have some (hundreds of thousands) Anglicans feeling a little disenfranchised, perhaps asking themselves, “Is this what Jesus had in mind when founding his Church?” At the same time they wanted to retain some aspects of their liturgy and tradition. They asked and they received.
So all the other spin/blogs/articles on the topic are either a slightly mistaken defense of the Anglican Communion on behalf of folks who didn’t want to be a part of it anymore or just another swipe at the biggest target out there: the Pope and whatever he stands for.
While many third parties are complaining about the events, about a dozen Anglican Bishops are celebrating; and a few have already declared their intentions to take up the Pope on his offer.
This is anything but a story of hunting without a permit or horse thievery. It’s a homecoming, a dream come true for thousands of Anglicans, it’s the beginning of what could be a big family reunion, it’s a piece of good news, it’s a story whose happy ending is nothing less than full communion.
