Pope An Anglican? Church Unity Plan

Taken from The The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 Feb 2007
By Barney Zwartz and Linda Morris

A RADICAL proposal to reunite Anglicans with the Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope has been delivered by bishops from both churches.



Their 42-page statement suggests the churches could turn back the ecclesiastical clock, 450 years after Henry VIII separated from Rome in the Reformation.

Australian leaders from both churches dismissed the move as highly improbable last night, although the Australian who heads the Catholic side of the project, Brisbane's Archbishop John Bathersby, said it was a significant step forward in an attempt at unity that began 35 years ago.

Archbishop Bathersby, the co-chairman of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, said the relationship between the churches was closer than ever.

The statement was leaked to The Times in London, but Archbishop Bathersby said a suggestion that an agreement was close was too strong.

Neither church had yet officially launched the report. It is being considered by the Vatican, where Catholic bishops are preparing a formal response.

Worldwide, there are about 78 million Anglicans compared with a billion Catholics. The commission was established in 2000 by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, and Australia's Cardinal Edward Cassidy, then head of the Vatican's Council for Christian Unity. Its aim was to find a way of moving towards unity through "common life and mission".

Problem areas on the Anglican side include the Pope and on the Catholic side women bishops and the ordination of a practising gay as bishop in America. The world's Anglican leaders are meeting in Tanzania to discuss the crisis over sexuality that may lead to schism and Archbishop Bathersby says they will also consider the 42-page report.

It says: "We urge Anglicans and Roman Catholics to explore together how the ministry of the Bishop of Rome might be offered and received in order to assist our Communions to grow towards full, ecclesiastical communion."

Sydney's Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, said unity was "highly unlikely". The Anglican Bishop of North Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, could not see his church submitting to the Pope's authority. "We believe Jesus Christ is the true leader of the church. If a Pope gives a directive, every parish priest follows it. If the Archbishop of Canterbury offers a directive, most ministers of a parish would think that a nice piece of advice. The very thought we would hand over our authority would be a romantic notion at the least."

However, Archbishop Bathersby, an "optimist", said: "Discussion about a universal primate has been going on since 1976. There is a fair degree of support within the Anglican Communion … Within that there would be freedom and diversity."

Rome has already accepted dozens of married priests from the Church of England into the Catholic priesthood when they left over women's ordination.