An Australian Catholic Bishop who was himself once an Anglican discusses the ramifications of Pope Benedict XVI’s historic decision for the Catholic Church in Australia
By Anthony Barich
National Reporter
POPE Benedict XVI’s October announcement of a way to welcome Anglicans has exposed Henry VIII’s 16th century break with the Catholic Church as fatal for the Church of England, Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett said.
Bishop Jarrett of Lismore, NSW, who was received into the Catholic Church in 1965 having served as an Anglican priest, said that the Anglican Church’s schism is fatal as its ordination of women and openly homosexual men as priests and bishops shows it is “completely at the mercy of secular thinking and political correctness”.
He said a decisive step in ecumenical movement and realignment is taking place as “it is finally apparent to many Anglicans themselves that their claims to apostolic continuity are not sustainable”.
“The 16th century break was indeed a fatal rupture and, despite the valiant attempts of the Tractarians and their successors, the efforts could not turn out to be more than great expressions of hope for unity with the Holy See,” said Bishop Jarrett, who, along with Melbourne Auxiliary Bishop Peter Elliott, has emerged a front-runner as a potential leader of an Ordinariate for disillusioned Anglicans in Australia.
Australia’s Bishops will discuss the scope of the impact of Pope Benedict’s announcement at their Plenary Meeting next week in Sydney, including likely leaders of an Ordinariate to cater for the disaffected Anglicans. Bishop Jarrett, Secretary of the Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, and Bishop Elliott will be instrumental in these discussions. “We’re just beginning to talk about it and see what is emerging as to the need, the numbers, and to look at the personnel,” Bishop Jarrett said.
He said Henry VIII’s decision to split with the Catholic Church in the 16th century was fatal as, by doing so, the Anglican Church “lost an enduring authority to bind it together”.
Though it had this while the Royal authority of the English crown as Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England was exercised, this effectively ended when Queen Elizabeth died in 1603.
“After that, the Monarch still retained the title ‘Defender of the Faith’ and Supreme Governor of the Church of England, but in practical terms up to the present, authority has devolved more to the synods and bodies of governance which determined discipline and other matters by a majority vote,” Bishop Jarrett said.
“So if you get the numbers to ordain women bishops you go ahead and do it. It’s no different to political democratic processes.”
He said there are Anglicans, particularly clergy, who have felt very strongly that “the Anglican Church that we’ve known and loved is at the mercy of secular thinking and political correctness”.
He said that Anglican thought “in great parts of the world” leaves no place for inheritors or descendants of the original Tractarian movement – an Oxford group of Anglican academics who began publishing ‘Tracts’ in 1833 about their Church’s failure to appreciate its Catholic heritage.
These Anglican academics, he said, have “hoped against hope for so long that the Catholic understanding of Anglicanism would be the one that would in the end be the strongest; but now they see it’s that which is the weakest, and there’s no comfortable space let for them within the existing Anglican structure”.
He said “considerable difficulties” remain for Anglicans who want to join the Catholic Church, especially for dedicated pastoral clergy with great gifts with loyal congregations which will collapse if they leave.
“What’s especially difficult is they live in parishes and are very attached to their parish church, which is the spiritual home for Anglicans as it is for Catholics,” he said.
“The thought of having to leave it and go out into great uncertainty is a daunting prospect. What the Pope is doing is providing a welcome for them.”
He said property also remains a sensitive issue, as there would “understandably not be a great willingness on the part of the Anglican dioceses to part with property”.
This presents a challenge for Australia’s Bishops to cater for such Anglicans in Catholic churches, he said.
While Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion which claims a global membership of over 400,000, resides in Adelaide, Bishop Jarrett said that Pope Benedict’s announcement will have comparatively minor repercussions in Australia, where small groups and individuals will take advantage of the Pope’s offer.
In the long term, he said that most of these Anglicans who join the Catholic Church will “become more at home in the ordinary Catholic parish, as their liturgical heritage has been so much affected by Catholic liturgy and ways of doing things, there’s very little that’s distinctively Anglican that they’ll bring with them”.
“Now we should be generous in applying Pope Benedict’s way forward and welcoming all those who now make their way home, bringing with them many gifts of faith and grace which I believe will further enrich the Catholic Church,” he said.