Catholic World News News Feature

Anglican bishop seeks union with Rome July 09, 2008

An Anglican bishop has indicated a desire to enter the Catholic Church, and perhaps bring many thousands of faithful with him, after the synod of the Church of England approved the ordination of women as bishops.

In a column appearing in England's weekly Catholic Herald, the Anglican Bishop Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet pleads for "magnanimous gestures from our Catholic friends" to accommodate those Anglican traditionalists who now seek to enter the Catholic Church.

Confirming reports that have circulated in Rome and London during the past week, the Catholic Herald reveals that Bishop Burnham has talked recently with Vatican officials about the possibility that a large number of conservative Anglicans might seek to enter the Catholic Church. The Herald reports that he has spoken with Cardinal William Levada, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. Another Anglican prelate, Bishop Keith Newton of Richborough, was reportedly involved in the conversations.

Bishop Burnham indicated that he hopes for a Vatican decision that will open the door to a large number of Anglicans, allowing entire parishes to enter the Roman Church. He says that many Anglican clerics are interested in establishing full communion with the Holy See, but hope to give their congregations the same option. "Most of all we ask for ways that allow us to bring our folk with us," the Anglican bishop writes in his Herald column.

Because he is married, Bishop Burnham himself cannot expect to become a Catholic bishop. (While married Anglican priests have been accepted into the clergy of the Roman rite, the Catholic Church has maintained the rule of celibacy for bishops.) Nevertheless Bishop Burnham pleads for some measure from Rome that will allow Anglicans to retain their distinctive identity.

The Anglican bishop asks for a generous gesture "especially from the Holy Father, who well understands our longing for unity, and from the hierarchy of England and Wales."

Explaining his decision to break with the Church of England, Bishop Burnham says that he cannot accept any compromise gestures intended to reassure traditionalists. "Codes of practice are shifting sands," he writes. "The sacramental life of the Church must be built on rock." He adds that traditionalist Anglicans can no longer accept in good faith the promises of the Anglican hierarchy, since "every suggestion we have made for our inclusion has been turned down flat."

Bishop Burnham acknowledges, in his Catholic Herald column, that Anglican dissidents should not view the Catholic Church simply as a refuge. "You become a Catholic because you accept that the Catholic Church is what she says she is and the Catholic faith is what it says it is," he writes.

While making his case for "magnanimous gestures" from the Vatican, the Anglican bishop says, "Meanwhile we retreat into the wilderness and watch and pray. "