“Anglican Catholics”?

Christians have seen recent Anglican reforms as widening the Reformation breach between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. Two significant stumblingblocks include the ordination of women priests and homosexuals, issues that rage hottest in the U.S., Canada and Australia. The manner in which mainstream Anglicanism is dealing with its liberal members, however, indicates that the church is more interested in its Catholic, “conservative” roots than in further reformation away from the mother church.

Earlier this year, the international Anglican Communion requested the U.S. and Canadian churches disassociate themselves from its councils to reconsider their liberal stand. This in itself could indicate a consolidation of conservative values in the mainstream Anglican Church—more in line with Vatican policies.

Further, in April the archbishop of Canterbury rejected an invitation to attend a joint meeting of U.S. and Canadian bishops. Anglican leaders from other countries have also distanced themselves or cut ties with their North American colleagues. Shunning the wayward liberals of North America raises the possibility that the more conservative Anglican contingent across the Atlantic will rejoin its mother without them. Ironically, the “Anglican split” may actually make it easier for the dominant traditional Anglican Church to be absorbed into the Roman Catholic Church.

In addition, the crisis within the Anglican Church, primarily in North America, is pushing many adherents toward conservatism. The international Traditional Anglican Communion (tac), orthodox and traditional in doctrine, has grown from just a handful of members in 1977 to half a million adherents around the world today and is gaining 15,000 members a month (Halifax Daily News, Nova Scotia, April 1). Observers expect this growth to accelerate when the tac is accepted into Uniate communion with the Roman Catholic Church, as the TAC’s leader, Archbishop John Hepworth, anticipates. Hepworth says that though Uniate Anglicans will not become Roman Catholic, they will “be accepted as Anglican Catholics … into union with the Holy See” (ibid.). “Unity for the [Anglican] church,” Hepworth maintains, “is not an option. Unity with Peter [and his successors] is a biblical imperative.”

Despite church controversy, the attraction of strong church dogma in line with Catholic doctrine is increasing its pull among many.