Four bishops, 40 priests and thousands of parishioners from the Traditional Anglican Communion will petition the Vatican by Easter to be received into the Catholic Church.
Archbishop John Hepworth of Adelaide, primate of the TAC, said 26 parishes in Western Australia, Tasmania, NSW, Victoria, far north Queensland and South Australia hoped to be united with Rome by the end of the year.
The move comes as 100 Anglican parishes in the US and some in Canada have announced their decisions to convert to Catholicism en masse, voting to take up an offer made by Pope Benedict XVI in November in his apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus (On Groups of Anglicans). The initiative allows Anglican bishops, priests and entire congregations, if they wish, to join Rome.
Not much that’s new here. By Easter, four TAC bishops, 40 priests, 26 parishes and most of their people will have formally accepted the pope’s offer to join the Ordinariate. No surprise there.
However, a few nice quotes appear in this story, although they do cause me to raise a quizzical eyebrow.
++John Hepwoth, the 65-year old head of the TAC, who is not only on his second marriage but has three children, offers this positive spin on the deal:
[i]”In an age when the traditional family is under attack, the presence of a priestly family at the centre of parishes is a real gift.”[/i] Well, that could indeed be a nice gift for RC’s.
But a bit more puzzling is this welcoming statement by +Peter Elliott, the RC bishop who will coordinate the TAC’s reception and assimilation in Australia:
“[i]The Catholic Church will be enriched by the very prayerful and dignified approach and the sense of good taste and culture of traditional Anglicans.”[/i]
Hmmm. Sounds like more of a tribute to Englishness than to Anglicanism per se. I’m sure that the TAC is more “dignified” and full of “good taste” than most of contemporary western Anglicanism, but that still sounds a bit odd to me.
But the really telling quote that sticks out because of its jarringly negative tone is the rather snarky quote from the Aussie AC primate, ++Phillip Aspinall. His rather defensive statement, as quoted anyway, is a grim warning to those considering the papal offer is that [i]”they will have to accept all the teaching of that Church, including its moral teaching, for example, ON CONTRACEPTION.”[/i]
Hmmm. Not very polite and ecumenical, I’d say. Sounds like a sore loser, or in any case quite anti-Catholic.
So, if there are 99 TAC congregations in North America and only 26 in Australia, then it looks like the American group is rather larger. Both are apt to be dwarfed by the English TAC folk. We’ll see.
David Handy+
The largest bloc of TAC members is actually in the Indian subcontinent, where many high-church Anglicans refused to join the union Churches of South India, North India, and Pakistan when they were formed in 1947 and 1970. I haven’t heard of their plans, but it wouldn’t be surprising if they follow the Australians and Americans into the RC Church as Anglican Ordinariates.
[blockquote]So, if there are 99 TAC congregations in North America and only 26 in Australia, then it looks like the American group is rather larger. Both are apt to be dwarfed by the English TAC folk. We’ll see.[/blockquote]
Actually in terms of numbers of adherents the ACCA far outstrips the ACA, but American parishes are smaller than Australian ones and as such more numerous. However both bodies absolutely dwarf the TAC in England which at most has about 500 members. The vast majority of English Anglo-Catholics are FiF and as such still in the CoE.