Anglicanism's Breakdown Assists in Conversion

Introduction

Was it ironic or was it providential that two weekends ago when I attended the Coming Home Network Conference for Catholic converts the Vatican had just released a statement concerning a Provision for groups of Anglicans desiring to enter the Catholic Church?

There have been many prophetic commentators who have detailed the breakdown of the Anglican Church (called Episcopalian in the U.S.) over the last century, especially in the last decades with allowing the ordination of women, openly gay bishops, and now gay marriage. The liberal mind may see nothing wrong with such issues, but Divine Revelation in the areas of human morality and ecclesiology demand otherwise, which are other detailed dialogues not at present issue.

What is at issue, then, is that due to this breakdown many Anglicans and Episcopalians have realized the problem that, when having broken with the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century, they lost the stability provided by the Magisterium of the Christian Church.

Here’s a little Church History to put the matter into perspective for those not familiar with the history of the Christian Church and the Christian denominations that later arose.

Historical Context

The Catholic Church started with the Apostles as the original Magisterium, the Apostle Peter being the first “pope,” so to speak (this title was later added to his special office that Christ gave him). Acts, chapter 15, describes the first “Church Council” (Jerusalem) whereby this Magisterium exerted its authority over all the local Christian communities that the Apostles had founded. The Apostles chose men to be bishops over the local communities to take over their authoritative roles. Saint Ignatius, one of these disciples of the Apostles who they had made bishop of Antioch, has the oldest written usage of calling the whole church the “Catholic Church” (c. 107 AD).

The Catholic Church then underwent severe persecution for the next 300 years until Constantine converts to Christianity (to whatever extent) and frees the Church from persecution with the Edict of Milan in 313. Hereafter the authorities of the Church are able to enter into collegial dialogue and again address issues of concern for the sake of the whole Church by entering into Church Council, the first of which was First Nicaea in 325 and addressed the Arian heresy.

Over the next 1200 years the Catholic Church addressed heresy after heresy, consciously seeking to preserve the teachings of the Apostles while also better articulating them and addressing their implications. This last matter concerning the implications of apostolic doctrines has caused confusion for some, thinking that the Catholic Church has “invented new doctrines” over time. Not so. These “new doctrines” were nothing more that appropriately developed understandings of core doctrines.

Such was what partially added to the confusion for the Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century who thought to prune down the developed doctrinal thought of Christian teachings. One of these apostolic teachings rejected by the Protestants was the role of the popes – the role of Peter – as the sign of Christian unity. It was the responsibility of Peter at the Council of Jerusalem to bring the brethren together and make the final verdict. It had thus been the responsibility of the popes who succeed Peter's recognized role at every Church Council thereafter to do the same.

There were three major splits as a result of the Protestant Reformation: the Lutheran; the Anglican (or Church of England); and the Calvinist. These are the first major “denominations” (the Catholic Church is not a “denomination” as it is the original whole). From these three splits, having abandoned the Teaching Magisterium of the Church, over the next 400 plus years what has resulted was constant disagreement over doctrine and practice and thus further and constant denominational splits. Now, statistics suggest that there are well over 30,000 Protestant and Evangelical denominations.

Some groups within the Anglican Church have remained theologically closest to the Catholic Church as the denomination’s split was not instigated by theological debate (at least those unaffected by Calvinism). As many know, it was due to King Henry VIII’s desire for a divorce. Herein, many Anglicans have always referred to themselves as “Anglo-Catholics,” recognizing that the ancient term “catholic” (or “universal”) is not really the “name” of the Christian Church, but rather a defining characteristic of it. In other words, the Church that Jesus Christ founded is “universal” in that it encompasses “all nations” with the one teaching that the Apostles spread abroad.

Present Situation

Now, many Anglicans and Episcopalians are coming to recognize and appreciate the role that the papacy – the Petrine Ministry/Ministry of Peter – had played in maintaining Christian unity over the first fifteen hundred years before the Protestant Reformation. Thus, many have petitioned the Vatican to allow them to re-enter the Church while retaining aspects of their Anglican liturgy, since it is not much different from the Mass. Hence, the Vatican made the recent Provision.

Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, responding to the Vatican’s Provision, released this statement,

“Today the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has received word of the new Provision in the form of an apostolic constitution issued by the Holy See for the reception into full communion with the Catholic Church of groups from the Anglican tradition. The USCCB stands ready to collaborate in the implementation of that Provision in our country.

“This step by the Holy See is in response to a number of requests received in Rome from groups of Anglicans seeking corporate reunion. The application of the new Provision recognizes the desire of some Anglicans (Episcopalians) to live the Catholic faith in full, visible communion with the See of Peter, while at the same time retaining some elements of their traditions of liturgy, spirituality and ecclesial life which are consistent with the Catholic faith.

“This Provision, at the service of the unity of the Church, calls us as well to join our voices to the Priestly Prayer of Jesus that ‘all may be one’ (Jn 17:21) as we seek a greater communion with all our brothers and sisters with whom we share Baptism. For forty-five years, our Episcopal Conference has engaged in ecumenical dialogue with The Episcopal Church, which is the historic Province of the Anglican communion in North America. The Catholic Bishops of the United States remain committed to seeking deeper unity with the members of The Episcopal Church by means of theological dialogue and collaboration in activities that advance the mission of Christ and the welfare of society.”

My Final Thought

There have always been individual Christian converting to the Catholic Church, but this Provision is a glorious instrument for fostering Christian unity and will hopefully be a great sign for other Christians to come back to the Church in groups. Christian division is a great scandal to the world as it causes conflict and confusion. May Jesus’ prayer to the Father be fulfilled concerning the Church, “that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them” (Jn 17:23).