London (Martin Revis), 19 November 2009:
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has arrived in Rome for a visit during which he will meet Pope Benedict XVI in their first meeting since the pontiff's offer to allow Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church while retaining some of their own traditions.
The Vatican on 9 November published an apostolic constitution setting down the arrangements for "personal ordinariates", similar to dioceses, to be led by former Anglican bishops or other senior clergy who wish to be in full communion with the Catholic Church.
Williams: informed late
The plans had been announced by the Vatican in October and Williams said at the time in a letter to Anglican leaders around the world that he had been informed of the decision only at "a very late stage".
The announcement had come from the Vatican's doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and triggered speculation that there was dissatisfaction in Anglican circles about the way it was made and its timing.
In a 19 November address at the Gregorian University in Rome, Williams said that the announcement of the apostolic constitution "shows some marks of the recognition that diversity of ethos does not in itself compromise the unity of the Catholic Church".
However, the proposals do not include any formal recognition of existing ministries, "but remains at the level of spiritual and liturgical culture", he noted. "As such, it is an imaginative pastoral response to the needs of some; but it does not break any fresh ecclesiological ground."
The visit of the leader of the 77-million worldwide Anglican Communion to Rome had been arranged some time before the Vatican made its announcement about accommodating disgruntled Anglicans.
An urgent phone call
In an interview published on 15 November in the Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Walter Kasper, who heads the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, recalled how Williams had phoned him in the middle of the night while he was at a meeting in Cyprus, to ask for an explanation about the proposals.
"We talked about the significance of the new apostolic constitution, and I reassured him about the continuation of our direct talks, as indicated to us by the Second Vatican Council and as the Pope desires," said Kasper.
The bishop of Southwark in London, Tom Butler, was reported on the Daily Telegraph Web site on 16 November as saying he believed the archbishop of Canterbury should express "disappointment" to the pontiff in Rome at the failure to give fuller advance notice of the papal plan.
500 Anglican clergy
In October, about 500 Anglican clergy, including overseas members of the worldwide Anglican Communion, met in London to discuss whether to abandon Anglicanism and join the specially created "ordinariates", but no decision was taken.
Asked about the Anglican crisis in a BBC interview, the bishop of Ebbsfleet in England, Andrew Burnham said "I don't think dioceses will go over, but parishes might, and will now face serious decisions. We have not asked or been given a deadline."
Burnham is one of three Church of England bishops who look after parishes that do not want women priests.
In the United States, Bishop Christopher Epting, who deals with ecumenical issues for the Episcopal (Anglican) Church, described the Vatican offer to Anglicans as, "not necessarily very ecumenical".
He said, "This appears to be a unilateral action on the part of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which flies in the face of the slow, but steady progress made in the real ecumenical dialogue of over 40 years."
[The text of the Apostolic Constitution, which outlines provisions to accept groups of former Anglicans who wish to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, was released Nov. 9 by the Vatican.
The full text of Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus is available on the Vatican website, click here.
