Opinion: Will Entire Episcopal Diocese Come into Full Communion with Rome?

Given the recent history of this Episcopal Diocese, astute observers should watch these developments very closely.

FORT WORTH, Texas (Catholic Online) - Much of the Christian world has prayed fervently and mourned grievously as members of the global Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church have suffered from the wounds against the ancient faith occasioned by the internal struggles between orthodox, heterodox and heretical members of that Christian community. Many Catholics have noted with great interest the growing number of Anglican Christians who have approached the possibility of coming into full communion with the Catholic Church.

These overtures have occurred in several diverse ways; from the growth and expansion of the Anglican Use provision to the exciting overture made at the international level by members of the Traditional Anglican Communion directly with the Holy See. 2008 has been a year of potentially historic breakthroughs between Anglican Christians and the Chair of Peter.

In 1980 the Holy See, under the leadership of the late, great Servant of God John Paul II implemented the "Pastoral Provision" which opened the way for individual Episcopal priests, after entering the Catholic Church, to be considered for ordination to the Roman Catholic priesthood. It also authorized the establishment of "Anglican Use" parishes which would follow an "Anglican Use" Liturgy and follow the Book of Common Prayer while being in full communion with the Chair of Peter and the Catholic Church.

Since then, a growing number of former Episcopal priests have been ordained to the Catholic Priesthood. They are both celibate priests and married priests. Their presence has enhanced the life of the whole Catholic Church. Additionally, several Anglican use parishes have been established whose worship and Catholic life has enriched and advanced the "New Springtime" prayed for by the late Holy Father in the entire Church. This year the Anglican use provision was expanded. There is talk of its further expansion.

The Holy See has opened its arms, its heart and its prayer to the restoration of the full communion of the whole Christian Church in this Third Christian Millennium. The breakthrough Encyclical letter of the late Servant of God John Paul II, "Ut Unum Sint" (May They Be One) has borne some of the most fruitful activities toward that end in modern Church history. In his first homily after assuming the Chair of Peter, Pope Benedict XVI signaled his unwavering commitment to continuing the groundbreaking work of his predecessor, the Servant of God John Paul II with these words:

"Thus, in full awareness and at the beginning of his ministry in the Church of Rome that Peter bathed with his blood, the current Successor assumes as his primary commitment that of working tirelessly towards the reconstitution of the full and visible unity of all Christ's followers. This is his ambition, this is his compelling duty. He is aware that to do so, expressions of good feelings are not enough. Concrete gestures are required to penetrate souls and move consciences, encouraging everyone to that interior conversion which is the basis for all progress on the road of ecumenism."

Pope Benedict has offered his constant prayer for Christians in the Anglican Communion as that community has been beset with internal difficulties. At the last consistory when 23 new cardinals were named, the Holy Father emphasized the progress in efforts toward Christian unity. He greeted the Cardinals and the Cardinal designates, led them in prayer and then turned the discussion over to Cardinal Walter Kasper of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Part f the discussion concerned the formal request from the "Traditional Anglican Communion" (TAC) for "full, corporate, sacramental union" with the Roman Catholic Church. That request is under serious consideration.

There are several thriving "Anglican Use" parishes in the United States. There are four in Texas, in Houston, San Antonio, Arlington and Corpus Christi. That is what makes the events of Saturday, November 15, 2008 of particular interest to this observer. Perhaps one of the least noticed yet most intriguing efforts in this growing movement toward full communion came last summer when a delegation of Episcopal priests from Fort Worth, Texas, with the full approval of their own Bishop Jack Iker, paid a visit to Catholic Bishop Kevin Vann. They asked the good Bishop for guidance on how their entire Diocese might come into full communion with the Catholic Church.

So, as an observer of these developments I now raise the question. Could this overture soon unfold into the making of Church history?

This is the same Diocese which voted to secede from the Episcopal Church on Saturday. Under the leadership of Bishop Jack Iker, the one who approved the delegation of priests to dialogue with Catholic Bishop Vann about full communion, the entire diocese of Fort Worth realigned itself with the "Southern Cone", an Argentina-based province of Anglican Christians which rejects the departure from orthodoxy and orthopraxy which has characterized some segments of the Anglican communion. The Diocese of Fort Worth has 19,000 members and spans 24 Texas counties.

Bishop Iker proclaimed to a group of the faithful gathered at St. Vincent's Cathedral in Bedford on Saturday: "The time has come for a new path. The Episcopal Church you once knew no longer exists. It's been hijacked." Some members of the Diocese claimed that this new alignment with the "Southern Cone" was temporary and would only continue until there is a formation of an orthodox Anglican province in North America. Given the recent history of this Diocese, astute observers should watch these developments very closely. Will an entire Episcopal Diocese Come into Full Communion with Rome?

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