"This is a moment of grace, perhaps even a moment of history, not because the past is undone, but because the past is transformed." – Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion.
By John Heard
When I lived at Newman College, the Jesuit-led residential community at the University of Melbourne, I had an Anglo-Catholic friend. That is, I always thought of him as specifically Anglo-Catholic, rather than something else, because he attended services in both chapels, sang in the (Anglican) Trinity College choir and listened to Gimmel recordings of early sacred (Catholic) music. Certainly, he wavered between what he saw as compelling and, in some respects, competing traditions. He was raised in the Anglican Communion, but I know he was drawn to Catholicism intellectually and spiritually (doctrinally, he was quite sound). Still, he was not sure – when I knew him – whether or not one could find the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church in Rome, attached to the See of Canterbury, or somewhere in the Christian East.
The poignancy of his situation, living as he did in a college named for one of the most famous Anglican converts to Catholicism, was not lost on him (and it was not lost on me). I frequently urged him to “come home”.
Regardless, I have known few men of a more profoundly Christian sensibility. His witness, important during my formative years, was impressive and serious. He introduced me to Lectio Divina. It was my Anglo-Catholic friend who encouraged me to study the debates that swirled, in the early Noughties, around the Radical Orthodoxy school of theological and philosophical thought, an engagement which led – in turn – to a thesis in natural law. And it was he, ambling down the hall, rumbling at my door (he had a distracted, donnish mien), asking me to come aside and pray evening prayer with him, who first showed me what Catholicism might mean, what it might demand of those who profess to “hold and teach the Catholic faith that comes to us from the Apostles”.
I thought of my old friend this week when I read about the Holy Father’s plans for individuals and whole communities from the Anglican tradition. I thought of him, a man I have always considered a spiritual brother. I thought of him, someone who was a signal guide in my own journey of Faith and obedience, even though we mostly lost touch when he went up to Cambridge.
What a wonderful thing the Pope has wrought, I thought. This gesture of tremendous solicitude, this great gift to Anglo-Catholics, this is – in part – for him.
It is also, however, for us – for Catholics everywhere. In the same way that my friend’s witness and example surely strengthened my Faith, the witness and example of those who choose to return under these provisions will strengthen and sustain the whole Church. Particularly in English-speaking countries, the closer union and collaboration of Catholics, the witness of diversity, the bond of unity, God-willing – these may flower and bear much fruit.
Of course, some will fuss. Some Catholics will think to bring up thorny issues at first instance, and complain about married priests. Some Anglicans, on the other hand, will point to the Catholic teaching on Anglican Orders (ie they are invalid – Apostolicae Curae), but in the main, the quotation from John Hepworth describes how many people are feeling. The past cannot be undone, but by this gesture, the Holy Father has moved decisively to transform the history of English-speaking Christianity.
It is perhaps no coincidence, then, that the website for the Cause of Canonisation of John Henry Newman had this message as its “thought” for Wednesday, October 21, 2009:
“To the narrow-minded and the bigoted, the history of the Church for 18 centuries is unintelligible and useless; but where there is Faith, it is full of sacred principles, ever the same in substance, ever varying in accidentals, and is a continual lesson of ‘the manifold Wisdom of God’”.
Ever the same in substance, ever varying in accidentals, the faith is rich, pure, and true. It is with great joy, and profound gratitude, then, that English-speaking Christians everywhere will receive, and prayerfully support, the Holy Father’s gesture.
Our beloved brothers and sisters are home at last. “Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our fore-
fathers.”
John Heard is an Australian writer
emaildreadnought@gmail.com. www.johnheard.blogspot.com. Facebook: Dreadnoughters