Published: July 08, 2008 11:15 pm            

Stephanie Salter: News from the future: Both halves of God’s children now fully serve

TERRE HAUTE — London July 9, 2038 —

The governing body of the Anglican Church in Britain voted today to join forces with the Roman Catholic Church to “use every resource within our great institutions, including shared worship,” to combat global poverty, disease, illiteracy, discrimination, human trafficking, “the ravages of environmental exploitation” and war.

The Most Rev. Mary Elizabeth Wright, archbishop of Canterbury, said she considered the action so significant, she made the announcement herself after the General Synod of the Church of England voted 399 to 1 for the official collaboration.

In Rome, Cardinal Maria Magdalena Risorgimento hailed the Anglicans’ decision as “a historic and holy offering of open hands and hearts” that she said “will allow our two sister churches to more closely present the face of Christ on Earth.”

The cardinal is widely expected to be elected to the papacy upon the retirement next year of an ailing and aging Pope John Paul V.

The lone vote against the “miraculous merger” — as news media here have dubbed the collaboration — was cast by a 92-year-old bishop who represents the once powerful but nearly extinct “traditionalists” faction of the Church of England.

Three decades ago, on July 7, 2008, the Anglican synod in York, England, voted 263 to 124 to allow women to be appointed as bishops. Then, the traditionalists threatened to split the church with a defection of some 1,300 clergy members in Britain, alone.

While several hundred clergy did leave, the number was far short of 1,300 and was not followed by mass defections from Anglican and Episcopal churches on other continents. A serious, worldwide schism that was predicted to cripple the church never materialized.

Most of the self-exiled traditionalists in 2008 did as their brethren had done in 1994 when the Anglican Church initially voted to ordain women; they joined the Roman Catholic Church, which still resisted opening its ranks to women priests.

However, a staggering, unabated priest shortage in the early 2000s accomplished rapidly what countless petitions by progressive Catholic scholars and laity — and even the inclusion of married male priests — had failed to achieve: Rome was forced to ordain women, first as deacons, then as priests.

Today’s historic collaboration by the Anglican and Roman churches — and the high-profile roles of Archbishop Wright and Cardinal Risorgimento — are in marked contrast to the scene 30 years ago in York and Rome.

The day after the 2008 vote, the Vatican was quick to weigh in. In a statement released to media, church officials said, “We learned with regret the news of the vote of the Church of England that opens the way to the introduction of legislation that would lead to the ordination of women bishops.”

The decision, said the Vatican, would be “a new obstacle to reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Church of England.”

As today’s vote and announcement by Archbishop Wright confirms, that obstacle was temporary and fairly short-lived.

Cardinal Risorgimento alluded to her church’s long-held resistance to women priests during her decidedly upbeat news conference today in Rome.

Referring to a 1976 document that was researched for the Vatican by Catholic scripture scholars, then rejected when its findings did not support prohibition of female clergy, the cardinal said, “It took the Holy Spirit awhile to be heard above the din of fear and confusion, but her voice is strong and her message of good news prevailed.”

Cardinal Risorgimento added, “Do not forget, in a church that was born more than two millennia ago, 50 years is but one exhaled breath.”

Archbishop Wright also was asked during her news conference about the distance her church has traveled since the 2008 synod in York.

“In the thriving Church of England today, it is difficult for many to comprehend the attitudes of 2008,” she said. “Despite widespread acceptance of female Anglican priests, a vocal minority still deeply believed that Christ, himself, did not want women to be ordained. Their arguments were that women did not ‘image’ Jesus — meaning they weren’t male — and that the 12 apostles officially recognized by the early church did not include any women.

“Mercifully, the exclusionary narrowness of that interpretation has gone the way of other misguided prejudices, opening the way for all, not just half, of God’s children to fully serve in pastoral and sacramental capacities.”

After their respective news conferences, Archbishop Wright and Cardinal Risorgimento concelebrated Masses via simultaneous satellite telecasts.

The elderly bishop who cast the one dissenting vote against the Anglican-Catholic collaboration said he was “weighing my dwindling options” as to where he might now find like-minded clergy and laity.

Declining to give his name to reporters, the bishop said he planned to “investigate the remnants” of an ultra-conservative Catholic splinter group that was formed about 35 years ago by the Hollywood actor, Mel Gibson.

Stephanie Salter can be reached at (812) 231-4229 or stephanie.salter@tribstar.com.

        

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