" And he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men."
Matthew (chapter IV, v. 19)
The Roman Catholic Church has recently decided that, rather than trolling for converts one at a time (expensive and inefficient), they would, instead, cast a wider net. After all, there are only so many pagan babies left in the world. The target is the Anglican Communion which includes the 2.3 million members of the U.S. Episcopal Church. The Anglicans have been engaged in a civil war with themselves since the 70's when, horror of horrors, they began to ordain women as priests. Predictably the best argument for an all-male clergy (aside from the hassle of creating a girls locker room for the seminary basketball program) was that well, there had never been women priests before. There had also never been air conditioning in the rectory but that installation didn't seem to cause an ecclesiastical furor.
As if ordaining women wasn't blasphemous enough, the consecration of Eugene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop in 2003 was, as the Irish say, beyond the beyond. Robinson was elected Bishop of his New Hampshire diocese by a council of both clergy and lay people. There is no single head of the Anglican or Episcopal Churches so there is no one to whom the conservatives/reactionaries can appeal. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is the symbolic head of the Anglican Church worldwide but the title is mostly honorary (think Harry Reid in the Senate and Derek Jeter on the Yankees). Williams has been dealing with a virtual schism between conservatives and progressives within the Church ever since dioceses and parishes started defecting. Ironies abound.
In 1534 everybody's favorite English king, Henry VIII, decided that he could run the Church in England better than the Pope in Rome. His decision resulted in: a windfall of revenue from Church lands, a divorce from his then wife Katherine and, a considerable number of headless and barbecued English Catholics who expressed a contrary opinion. Breaking from Rome was all the rage in the 16th century (Lutherans, Calvinists, etc.)although Rome took umbrage at this decentralization.
Anyway, aside from the replacement of the Pope with Henry (Actually the Archbishop of Canterbury became functional head of the Church in England. Once Henry got the money and his divorce, he lost interest.) the Catholic liturgy of the English church remained mostly intact. Since Henry, England has had several brief dalliances with a Roman reconciliation. Henry's daughter Mary tried as did Charles I but, alas, it was not to be. Naturally the Popes in Rome applied their usual velvet glove approach, promising eternal damnation to anyone who swore religious allegiance to the King. While this concept gained some traction, keeping one's bowels inside one's body trumped the potential loss of one's soul. More recently Pope John Paul had attempted a gentler approach, emphasizing the commonality shared by both Churches.
Owing to the expansion of the British Empire the Anglican Church has a considerable flock. There are 80 million Anglicans worldwide making them the third largest Christian group behind the Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox Catholics. Ironically, (I promised irony) many American Catholics are flocking to the kinder, gentler Episcopal Church. After all, if you're going to ignore the constant stream of doctrines and prohibitions coming from your pope and bishops, why not do it from the pews of a Church that actually wants you. It's simple: Catholic Church - exclusive...Episcopal Church - inclusive.
As the name suggests, the Anglican Communion is a loose coalition of national/regional churches. Each country's Church functions independently. The name "Anglican" is derived from the Latin Ecclesia Anglicana meaning Church of England but the bonds are loose. The Anglican Church in Nigeria (Africa is the fastest growing region for Anglicans and Catholics) may object to gay clergy in America but they are powerless to reverse the trend.
However, cognizant of the desires of many Anglicans in America to return to the 15th century, where men were men and women were chattel, the Church in Rome is having a special. For a limited time (my words not theirs) disgruntled Anglicans may return to the Church that Henry forced them to leave all those years ago...and they get to bring their married priests with them. A document called The Apostolic Constitution will clear the way for entire congregations of Anglicans to join the Catholic Church.
In that the liturgy, rituals and sacraments are the same, most Anglicans won't notice much difference. How the transfer of Church buildings and property will be handled is a detail. Because the text of the Constitution hasn't been made public (at least not to Wikipedia or Google), how this reconciliation will come to pass is a bit mysterious. One thing is certain, Anglicans will have to start listening to the Pope in Rome. Ironically, (I told you) American Catholics listen to the dictates of the Pope about as often as they obey speeding laws. Henceforth we may have a situation where the Anglicans are more Catholic than the Catholics.
The effect might well be Three Anglican Churches instead of the two that are currently forming. We will have the Catholic Anglicans, the Non-catholic Conservative Anglicans (mostly in the South) and the Liberal Episcopalians. Something for everyone. Why this matters, I couldn't say. What I can say is that, while conservatives in the Anglican Church might side with Rome on homosexuality and women clergy, wait until they hear the phrase made famous by St. Augustine "Roma locuta causa finita est" or "Rome has spoken and that settles the matter". Maybe gay bishops aren't so bad after all.
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