Anglican/R. C. Agreement?
Hebblethwaite, Peter
ANGLICAN/R. C. A( REErdENT? PETER HEBBLETHWAITE A vision of church unity starting from below With the publication of Authority in the Church in January, the Anglican/Roman Catholic...
...This document does not actually bridge the gap between the two Churches, but it assembles all the materials for bridge-building...
...This service is "intrinsic to the Church's structure according to the mandate given by Christ and recognized by the community" (5...
...These two difficulties seem graver than the four which are listed in the document itself as part of its unfinished business...
...Having got thus far, the Commission sketches out a vision of Church unity starting from below...
...No doubt the same can be said of the notion of the primacy being "of divine right...
...Raymond E. Brown was justified in saying, (in Crises Facing the Church, p. 83), that "the side which takes the first bold step will be recognizable as the most Christian...
...Whatever else it may mean, "development" implies not only legitimacy but some sort of "progress...
...But the perspective of the document, necessarily so in view of its aim, is to suggest that some developments were erroneous or mistaken, and so can be abandoned without any sense of loss...
...The second problem concerns infallibility...
...Should dialogue be with the most advanced and most "prophetic" thinkers of the other Church...
...That is, as I grasp it, the Anglican position...
...Otherwise there will be misunderstanding and howls of betrayal...
...Polemics distorted not only the views of the other side (which could hardly be glimpsed through the haze of caricature) but also one's own position (since people were terrified of anything that "bordered on heresy...
...Its fundamental purpose is to lead all those who live in the koinonia to be more sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and to declare the implications of the Gospel in different cultures and new situations...
...but if it somehow were made to imply previous validity, it would be inconsistent with earlier statements on the question...
...I will confine myself to two...
...There is a dynamic drive towards communion with them: "A local Church cannot be truly faithful to Christ if it does not desire to foster universal communion, the embodiment of that unity for which Christ prayed" (13...
...In the past there has been a serious imbalance...
...C. A( REErdENT...
...18 February 1977:108...
...The hope of ecumenism does not depend upon one concession being made in exchange for another, as in diplomatic negotiations...
...But the crucial point is that dogmatic interpretations---and not merely theological onesmhave been attached to these variations which have been described as a "development...
...It seems appropriate that in any future union a universal primacy such as has been described should be held by that see (23...
...Reservations However, the "basic principles of primacy" as uncovered by ARCIC are certainly not--and are not meant to be--an account of the way the papal primacy is actually exercised...
...There can be no doubt that this is true, and the Commission's real achievement must be saluted...
...The Commission concludes that its statement "not only justifies but requires a,:tion to bring about closer sharing between our communities in life, worship and mission" (26...
...One begins here, but one cannot stop here, for a local Church cannot without danger remain closed to other churches...
...As far as the papacy goes, the central affirmation of the document is contained in the following passage: The only see which makes any claim to universal primacy and which has exercised and still exercises such episcope is the see of Rome, the city where Peter and Paul died...
...The answer to this problem may simply be that the Catholic theory of the development of doctrine, as traditionary presented in the last hundred years, was itself an over-ambitious attempt to square too many circles...
...It ties rather in engaging the whole Christian community in a process of conversion which would involve the abandonment of institutional empire-building and submission to the Gospel and the Lord of the Church...
...Office in the Church always takes the form of ministry or service...
...The latest document attempts not so much to remove or circumvent the pontifical obstacle, but rather to show that it is possible to envisage it in a new way: "The consensus . . . . while it does not wholly resolve all the problems associated with papal primacy, provides us with a solid basis for confronting them" (24...
...In other words an isolated pope is no more use than a truncated or beheaded council...
...The whole Church is a learning Church, a gathering of disciples...
...This is the gravest difficulty about a document which claims neither to say the last word nor to prescribe what the "authorities" of the respective Churches ought to do...
...It is not a matter of selling the past or betraying a heritage...
...They prefer the approach indicated in Vatican II's Constitution On the Church...
...The logic of the drive leads inevitably to some sort of primatial office which--surprise, surprisemhas in fact been held by the see of Rome...
...It appears, then, that ARCIC has cheerfully endorsed Hans Kiing's version of indefectibility of the Church, a version which has had its difficulties with Rome and may be said to have provoked Mysterium Ecclesiae...
...It can prepare but not force the future...
...Dean Henry Chadwick, of Christ Church, Oxford, put it this way: "A council needs a primate to make it work...
...This authority can be shared--al18 February 1977:106 ways inadequately--and it is authenticated either by holiness of life, charismatic gifts or ordination for office...
...Yet in Christian hope, we are confident that such failures cannot destroy the Church's ability to proclaim the Gospel and to show forth the Christian life...
...However, before all the Canterbury caps and the Roman birettas can be thrown high in the air, and before inter-communion moves from the underground shadows into the light of official day, it is essential to grasp the method and limitations of the document...
...These are the harmonies they contribute to the ecumenical symphony...
...Interpretations of primacy, says the document, stating the obvious, have Varied: "The theological interpretation of this primacy and the administrative structures throug h which it has been exercised have varied considerably throughout the centuries" (12...
...If the Malta Report in 1968 which set the Commission on its way spoke of "unity by stages," an important new stage has been reached...
...And this, ultimately, is the challenge of the document and its historic importance...
...Over-riding all is the authority of Christ, Lord of the Church...
...It is not, therefore, a merely human structure...
...they need each other...
...The first phrase is a neutral historical observation: there are no other candidates for the job...
...No problem either with the "variations" of 'theological interpretation to which the Church is not bound...
...If such recognition implied that validity had not previously existed, it would be felt as injurious...
...Yoking together Vatican Councils I and II, the Commission feels able to say: "The teaching of these Councils shows that communion with the bishop of Rome does not imply submission to an authority that would stifle the distinctive features of the local churches" (12...
...More modestly, it invites us all to answer the question: Do you recognize here your faith as it is lived now...
...Conc'liar and primatial authority are not exclusive of each other and are indeed complementary...
...Its members do not adopt the post-Vatican I method of making the papacy the apex of the ecclesial pyramid while the laity form the remote base-line...
...Here is how primatial---or pontifical--statements are described: The recognition of his position by the faithful creates an expectation that he (the primate) will take an initiative in speaking for the Church...
...As for the remaining Anglican difficulties---the Marian dogmas and the Pope's claim to "universal immediate jurisdiction"--there is nothing in them which could not be met by a self-denying ordinance on the part of the papacy...
...But in order to meet these objections, it would have to be a very different sort of papacy...
...and there is the primatial approach, embodied in the Bishop of Rome, which emerged gradually and "in most cases in response to appeals made to him, but sometimes on his own initiative" (17...
...The first concerns the fate undergone by the traditional teaching on the "development of doctrine...
...The second I PETER ItEBBLETHWAITE is Lecturer in French at Wad'ham College, Oxford, and author of The Runaway Church (Seabury) and Christian-Marxist Dialogue and Beyond (Paulist and Darton, Longman and Todd...
...For some reason, which one can perhaps guess, its members eschew "Authority in matters of Morals...
...Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury, is due to go to Rome in April this year, and he won't lack topics for conversation with Pope Paul...
...There should be no opposition between ministry and the community it exists to serve...
...We have tried to reassess what are the real issues to be resolved" (25...
...After agreements, variously described as "full" and "substantial," had been reached on the Eucharist and on Ministry, it was recognized that Authority would prove the hardest nut to crack...
...PETER HEBBLETHWAITE A vision of church unity starting from below With the publication of Authority in the Church in January, the Anglican/Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) has completed its agenda...
...What were they trying to do7 "We have endeavored," they say, "to get behind the opposed and entrenched position of past controversies...
...To show this was the whole aim of NewCommonweal: 107 man's theory of development...
...A further claim is being made here: it is that conciliar and primatial styles of authority respectively represent the contribution that Anglicans and Catholics can make to each other...
...Accepting these principles and reading the document with the sympathy its authors say is necessary to understand it, one can nevertheless express certain doubts and indicate the reefs ahead...
...What is proposed is a synthesis, a dialectical interplay, an enrichment of both Churches...
...Whatever one may privately think of Kiing's theories, it seems rather ill-advised at this stage to accept Kiing's understanding of the Roman Catholic Church rather than a more mainstream understanding...
...for we believe that Christ will not desert his Church and that the Holy Spirit will lead it into all truth...
...McAdoo, quoted Karl Rahner: "The initiative is passing from the theologians to those who hold office in the Church...
...But even more worrying is the substitution of the term "indefectibility" for infallibility: The teaching of the faith and the ordering of life in the Christian community require a daily exercise of this responsibility...
...That is why the Church, in spite of its failures, can be described as indefectible (18...
...The Commission next considers: "Authority in matters of Faith...
...Pessimists declared it impossible...
...It would be difficult to devise a more understated account of what Roman pontiffs thought they were doing when they made pronouncements...
...They very understandably add, however, that there has always been something of a gap between theory and practice...
...and a primate needs synodical and conciliar help to rid him of national and theological narrowness...
...but there is no guarantee that those who h~ve an everyday responsibility will--any more than other members :invariably be free from errors of judgment, will never tolerate abuses, and will never distort the truth...
...It is a rule in all such enterprises that the members of the Commission undergo an intensive process of mutual education which is not generally available...
...They discern two "modes" of dealing with controverted questions and exercising authority in the koinonia...
...It would be, as A.P...
...This frank statement cuts the ground from under one simple solution to Anglican/Roman Catholic difficulties: the recognition of the Anglican ministry and Eucharist by the RC Church...
...Primatial statements are only one way by which the Holy Spirit keeps the people of God faithful to the Gospel (20...
...is a recommendation, and a rather more urgent one than the understated language might suggest...
...The polemical positions taken up at the Reformation have been left way behind...
...After all, Pope Paul himself had lamented that "We ourselves and our office are for some an obstacle to ecumenical union...
...ARCIC is now armed with its key concepts...
...It might have been better to say so...
...At the press conference at Lambeth Palace, the Anglican Co-chairman, Bishop H.R...
...In this way the Commission is convinced that it has reached a "consensus" on "auhority in the Church and, in particular, on the basic principles of primacy" (24...
...A footnote attempts to remove the term from this discussion, but what is more germane is the way the document strives to find a replacement or equivalent term...
...They are not normative...
...But it can be taken in another sense: If it were further implied that as long as a Church is not in communion with the Bishop of Rome, it is regarded by the Roman Catholic Church as less than fully a Church, a difficulty would remain: for some this difficulty would be removed by simply restoring communion, but to others the implication would itself be an obstacle to entering into communion with Rome (24...
...There is the conciliar approach which is found in the earliest period of church history and which has been reflected in the Anglican preference for synodical government...
...This works outwards from concrete local communities which are the Church for their own neighborhood...
...Borne along by the momentum of the Spirit as well as the ordinary workings of group dynamics, they move more swiftly and dazzlingly to their conclusions than those not so involved...
...It may well be that the remaining difficulties are as much psychological and cultural as theological...
...The exegesis of Petrine texts in support of papal claims should not prove too serious an obstacle: the Catholic-Lutheran discussion on the same subject showed that there was much anachronism involved in trying to "read into" the New Testament concepts such as "magisterium" or "universal jurisdiction" which derive from a different period and a different set of questions...
...Few are worried about the administrative structures: on any account they are accidental, and the Roman Curia is not foreshadowed, as the late Cardinal Dani~lou once attempted to prove, in the Acts of the Apostles...
...But what does "varied" mean...
...The "real issues" are the nature and purpose of authority in the Church or the koinonia---the Commission's preferred term...
...Herbert said of Big Ben striking thirteen, "a statement not only false in itself but likely to cast doubt on previous utterances from the same source...
...Here the Anglicans (one presumes) make a concession and enter a caveat: if "of divine right" means simply that the primacy is part of God's design for the universal koinonia, then they have no problem...
Vol. 104 • February 1977 • No. 4
