"WE HAVE A POPE!"

From Christopher Webber in the comments to Jim Naughton's post at The Lead titled "The disinvitations arrive".

There were no tendrils of smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, so far as I know, but I awoke this morning to discover that the Anglican Communion now has a Pope. He speaks and it is done. Surprise!

The Archbishop of Canterbury had sent a letter out several weeks ago on the subject of Pentecost. Pentecost, he reminded us, was the occasion on which the Holy Spirit overcame the divisions of language and understanding. The Archbishop’s letter, however, had to do with solidifying divisions. He took note of the fact that the “Instruments of Communion” had requested gracious restraint in relation to the issues that divide us until the member churches of the Anglican Communion could act on the proposed Covenant. There was, in other words, a request, not an order, for restraint, not abstinence.

Nevertheless, the Archbishop proposed (note that word) that those churches that had not been sufficiently restrained in relation to the issues that divide us should no longer be participants in the ecumenical dialogues in which the Communion is formally engaged. How, he asked, could persons not in agreement represent the Communion? One might have thought that a Communion embracing diverse viewpoints would need to be represented by individuals with diverse views, but that seems not to have been the Archbishop’s understanding of Anglicanism. The member churches had not yet spoken as to the Covenant, but the Archbishop would enforce it anyway. He was “forced to act,” he said, because the member churches had not yet acted. “Agree with me quickly,” he said in effect, “or I will have to act for you.” Included in this proposal, said the Archbishop were not only The Episcopal Church but other churches also and not only in North America.

That was alarming enough, but today we have learned that what the Archbishop proposes, the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion disposes. A letter has been sent by the SG to the members of The Episcopal Church representing the Anglican Communion in ecumenical discussions thanking them for their past contributions but informing them that they will no longer serve in that capacity. They may continue to be consultants but their membership has been “discontinued.” They were not appointed by the Archbishop, but he seems to feel that he can, nevertheless, discontinue their membership.

The Archbishop had not indicted The Episcopal Church alone for its waywardness but other churches as well and specifically not only in North America. The Secretary General has, therefore, written to the Church of Canada and the Province of the Southern Cone inquiring whether they would like to be disciplined as well. No time limit was suggested for their response but the SG does not seem to like to wait so they had better hurry. One might have thought from the Archbishop’s letter that he was also concerned about certain African provinces and dioceses, but these have not engaged the SG’s attention.

It is interesting to remember that Archbishop Longley of Canterbury was reluctant in 1868 to invite the first assembly of Anglican Bishops to Lambeth and made it clear in doing so that they would make no decisions relating to the Communion. “I should refuse,” he wrote, “to convene any assembly which pretended to enact any canons, or affected to make any decisions binding on the Church.” We have come a long way since then. We have moved in not much over 150 years from a church moving tentatively toward communion-wide consultations to one with a presiding officer who speaks and it is done.

Has Archbishop Williams, then, smoothed the path toward reunion with Rome? If we are to have a bishop with papal authority, why not the real thing?