The archbishop of Canterbury today pleaded with Roman Catholics to set aside their differences with Anglicans over the issue of female bishops, insisting there was more uniting the denominations than dividing them.
Rowan Williams was giving a lecture in Rome before Saturday’s meeting with the pope, their first encounter since the Vatican’s surprise announcement of a special institution for traditionalist Anglicans wanting to convert to Catholicism.
In his address at the Gregorian University, Williams said the Anglican communion was proof that churches could stay together in spite of their differences.
The communion has teetered on the edge of schism for nearly a decade over the issue of gay clergy but has retained a sliver of fellowship. Williams urged Roman Catholics to continue their 35-year dialogue with Anglicans in spite of theological and ideological divisions.
[blockquote]In his address at the Gregorian University, Williams said the Anglican communion was proof that churches could stay together in spite of their differences.[/blockquote]
I guess he thinks no one in Rome reads newspapers or surfs the Internet. Of course, those Romans are SOOOOOO medieval…
…Because the reception of female bishops has been accepted so warmly and universally that it is model for the Orthodox and RCs??? Thank you +++Rowan, but, have you noticed what is going on in the CofE lately over this exact issue? And again, this issue IS so important that because it touches on the validity and efficacy of the Eucharist, as well as the validity of Orders for all those that a woman would ordain as a female bishop? I don’t get it. Can he really not see the profound absurdity of this statement? This issue isn’t adiaphora, but is in fact “first order” and touches on the very core of RC/Orthodox beliefs. This “issue” isn’t limited to the RCs!
He says in regard to maintaining profound theological differences while remaining in communion, “And if it can be managed within the Anglican family, is this a possible model for the wider ecumenical scene? At least, by means of some of the carefully crafted institutional ways of continuing to work together, there remains an embodied trust in the possibility of discovering a shared ministry of the gospel; and who knows what more, ultimately, in terms of restored communion?”
But it doesn’t seem that this is in fact working in the Anglican communion, and that the response has rather been a shattering with pieces landing in the ACNA, the RCs and the Orthodox. How can you hold the Church up as a model as the pieces are literally falling through his fingers? I KNOW that he sees what is going on, but how is it that someone that is so theologically brilliant comes across as not understanding the practial realities and ramifications of his church falling apart? Is it invincible ignorance of choosing not to recognize what’s happening? I truly don’t get it.
Never in a million years would the Catholic Church, even if it were of the mind to ‘ordain’ women, do so. Do you think we would further alienate the Orthodox for the sake of ecumenism with the Anglican Communion? +Rowan is really “spraying and praying” in Rome right now, isn’t he?
What can it possibly mean to say that “churches are staying together” when the bishops in those various churches refuse to receive Holy Communion from one another? What can “being in communion” mean if it doesn’t include bishops receiving Holy Communion from one another? I suspect this is another example Anglicanism’s “deeper knowledge”.
[blockquote] +Rowan is really “spraying and praying†in Rome right now, isn’t he? [/blockquote] You mean like a fitch? (A chiefly nocturnal European carnivorous mammal of the weasel family that ejects a malodorous fluid to mark its territory and ward off enemies.)
Seriously, who will send this man his pink slip?
Phil Swain is exactly right. Look at the position of FiF UK: the CoE isn’t even in communion with itself. It is almost recklessly foolish for Rowan Williams to be holding out the Anglican Communion as some kind of example for anyone.
Wow. Is Rowan Williams taking his lead from ECUSA, which is clearly divorced from reality?
I can understand why he wants ecumenical relationships with the RC church to continue, but such a suggestion is completely absurd.
Breathtaking! I think the evidence is abundant that it has. The CoE is on the verge of splitting over this very issue. Is that not evidence in Williams’ backyard? Women’s ordination has clearly damaged ecumenical relations. There is no question about that.
What deeply disappointing remarks. As a leader of the church, shouldn’t he start from truth?
I wouldn’t take his advice on how to fry an egg.
Well, +Rowan is going on offense, for which I can’t blame him. But tragically, women’s ordination has failed because 99% of the people don’t care about it. Those of us who support it have lost.
So does this mean that the gloves are off? For the fight surely is within Anglicanism, not outside it.
[blockquote]”When so much agreement has been established in first-order matters about the identity and mission of the church, is it justifiable to treat other issues as equally vital for its health and integrity?”
Those issues included papal primacy, female clergy and the relations between the local and universal church in making decisions. “Is there a level of mutual recognition which allows a shared theological understanding of primacy alongside a diversity of canonical and juridical arrangements?” he wondered[/blockquote]
I think Dr Williams is trying to imply that the magisterium is a “second-order” matter. That would certainly clear up a small problem in the Anglican “communion”.
However, there are (logical) problems with making the question of authority secondary!
Methinks that ++Rowan is in need of some serious reality testing. Of course, any of the Roman (or Orthodox) prelates could, with straight face, point to the war within the CoE over women bishops, or better yet, to KJS, as their counterargument.