LONDON – The prospect of ordaining women as bishops in the Church of England means that the quest for unity is at a plateau, said a British cardinal at a press conference Feb. 6, the same day as the first session of the Church of England's general synod, at which Anglican leaders were scheduled to debate the ordination of women as bishops.
There is "no doubt that recent developments in the Anglican Communion with regard to the ordination of women as priests and now as bishops – even more profoundly because a bishop is in a particular way a figure of unity – as well as other developments in the ethical sphere have meant that ecumenism is at a plateau," said Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster, England.
"It's probably inevitable that in due course there will be the ordination of women as bishops," said Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor. "If you have women as priests, it's an inevitable conclusion. I don't think that there will be as many (Anglicans) wishing to change and become Catholics as a result of the ordination of (women) bishops – I think they would have done so already at the time of the ordination of women (as priests)."
Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said he was also saddened by the apparent failure of the Anglican Communion to accept the conclusions of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, especially in the area of authority in the church.
The cardinal, who was a co-chairman of the commission for 16 years, said he felt bad about divisions within the Anglican Communion over such issues as the ordination of women and sexually active gay men as bishops.
"I'm very sorry about the difficulties they (Anglicans) encounter in all kinds of ways in terms of their communion with each other, which is becoming very, very impaired in all kinds of important ways," he said. "Personally, I can't avoid disappointment, but I also can't avoid understanding the difficulties for the Anglican Communion."
He said ecumenical dialogue was hampered by differences between Anglican principles of "Scripture, tradition and reason" and Catholic principles of Scripture, tradition and teaching authority.
"I think the reasonableness of Anglicanism has come under pressure," the cardinal said. "In a real sense England is 'terra ecumenica' (an ecumenical land), and we've got to keep on this road in every possible way, but the present difficulties are certainly something that gives me no pleasure."
Although the Church of England decided in 1975 there were no theological objections to the ordination of women as priests, it was not until 1992 that the church voted to allow the ordinations, which led to about 400 English Anglican clerics converting to Catholicism.
In July, the general synod voted to remove the remaining obstacles to women becoming bishops, following the example of three other Anglican provinces that already have women bishops.
On Feb. 7, the synod agreed to "take note" of a Jan. 16 report by the Church of England's House of Bishops, which outlined a possible process by which the ordination of women as bishops might proceed.
The proposals, set out by a working party under Anglican Bishop Christopher Hill of Guildford, England, seeks to legally open every Anglican diocese to women priests by 2012. In addition, the proposals would allow parishes that reject women bishops to choose a male traditionalist bishop for their care. The synod was to debate the proposals Feb. 9.
Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, told the synod Feb. 7 that the Guildford Report might help the Church of England resolve the issue of "where authority lies."
"In the work of finding some kind of structure that will carry us forward together we are, I think, trying to find principles and practices and ideals and hopes to which we can all submit in good Christian conscience," said the archbishop. "In other words, we're trying in practice to discover where authority lies by finding what it would take to create a measure of godly concord between us in the Church of England."
In October the Department of Dialogue and Unity of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales said the "ordination of women would undoubtedly create a further major obstacle" to reconciliation.
"Even within the present situation we share as an 'ecumenical partner' the concern of those who foresee irreparable damage to the internal visible and spiritual unity of the Church of England," the bishops said.
Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
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