I think I have written before that my favourite one word definition of the Anglican church is "accommodation". Benedict's offer to Anglicans to leave our accommodation for his, in a Personal Ordinariate, is generous. But I have observed in several posts that it may not lead to many takers; its real significance lying in the fact that it demonstrates that where there is a will, a way can be found. My consequential question to the Anglican world at large is whether we are doing enough, measured by the clever and generous spirit of Benedict's approach, to accommodate the manifest differences among us.
Nevertheless I need to acknowledge two challenges concerning Anglican accommodation of Anglicans. One challenge was highlighted by a commenter here a week or so ago.
Challenge one is the threat that if we welcome certain guests to our hotel, others will leave. This challenge, at least to an extent, is being faced in North America and in the Church of England. Putting it a bit crudely, in the former, Liberal agenda supporters in, Conservative agenda supporters out; and vice versa; in the latter, Women bishops in, Against women bishops out; Against women bishops in, Supporters of women bishops out.
Challenge two is what "rules" lead to some guests not being welcome if they will not observe them, or to some guests being shown the door if they break them. The commenter's point was that historically the Anglican church has been most unaccommodating to certain groups: the Methodists is perhaps the best known and most significant example; closer to home in Aotearoa New Zealand, an example is the prophet Ratana and his followers who were nearly accommodated by our church, then not, and today the Ratana church is one of the stronger churches in respect of Maori affiliation.
Then, heading in a slightly different direction, but 'on topic' with Benedict's offer. There is a view abroad that an 'Anglican' is someone in Communion with the See of Canterbury. Claimants to the descriptor 'Anglican' who are not in such communion, according to this view, are not Anglicans. If this is so - it is not necessarily my own view - then Anglicans may leave the Communion for a Personal Ordinariate, but once within that fold, they will not be Anglicans. If they are not 'Roman Catholics' in the sense of ordinary members of the Roman Catholic Church worshiping in normal Catholic parishes, what are they?
You will have to explain your thinking better Peter.
ReplyDeleteIn what sense are members of the proposed Personal Ordinariate "not 'Roman Catholics' in the sense of ordinary members of the Roman Catholic Church worshiping in normal Catholic parishes"?
Whatever you might think they will be (and I cannot see how they can be viewed as anything other than fully Roman Catholic) they will certainly NOT be Anglicans. They may use a variant of Anglican liturgy etc. but that does not make them Anglican any more than current Anglicans using a variant of Roman Catholic liturgy etc. makes them Roman Catholic.
Let's not muddy the water.
Hi Bosco
ReplyDeleteWould, for example, an Anglican baptized with an Anglican certificate of baptism and thence received into a Personal Ordinariate (in NZ) be understood by our government as an (ordinary) Roman Catholic for the purposes of exercising preferential entry into the Catholic schooling system here?
Would an Anglican Catholic of a Personal Ordinariate seeking ordination as a priest only within the sphere of the PO be treated as an ordinary Roman Catholic seeking ordination, or treated differently?
I do not wish to overstate the possible differences between worshipping Catholic in a PO and worshipping Catholics in an ordinary RCC parish!
I presume that Anglicans becoming members of a PO (and members of the Roman communion as well) will think of themselves as Anglican Catholics, for a while, at least, but what their children and grandchildren think of themselves as? On that, I agree: they would 'not be Anglicans'.
"Would, for example, an Anglican baptized with an Anglican certificate of baptism and thence received into a Personal Ordinariate (in NZ) be understood by our government as an (ordinary) Roman Catholic for the purposes of exercising preferential entry into the Catholic schooling system here?"
ReplyDeleteYes. They would have the same status as any other person who joined the Roman Catholic Church, eg through RCIA
"Would an Anglican Catholic of a Personal Ordinariate seeking ordination as a priest only within the sphere of the PO be treated as an ordinary Roman Catholic seeking ordination, or treated differently?"
I think the concept of "a priest only within the sphere of the PO" is alien to RC thinking and I don't know what you could possibly mean by that, but the texts are clear, Yes.
"I do not wish to overstate the possible differences between worshipping Catholic in a PO and worshipping Catholics in an ordinary RCC parish!"
You have and are overstating the differences when you write "they are not 'Roman Catholics' in the sense of ordinary members of the Roman Catholic Church"
"I presume that Anglicans becoming members of a PO (and members of the Roman communion as well) will think of themselves as Anglican Catholics, for a while, at least, but what their children and grandchildren think of themselves as? On that, I agree: they would 'not be Anglicans'."
There is no mention of "Anglican Catholics" in any of the documents that I can see. They are not Anglican Catholics, they are Roman Catholic members of a Personal Ordinariate. Some might think of themselves as pink and blue bananas this does not alter the fact that they are "'Roman Catholics' in the sense of ordinary members of the Roman Catholic Church." In fact it is clear they are full members of the Latin Rite.
Hi Bosco
ReplyDeleteYou may be right, probably are right, in each of the points you make below.
But a number of commenters around the world do not see things quite as you do!
Perhaps you, like Benedict, will be proven right by how events turn out in the long run.