Is Anglicanorum Coetibus Only about White Anglo-Saxons?
October 13, 2012 14 Comments
Deborah Gyapong asks the question, and a rather good one it is.
If you see a congregation full of people who are black say from Africa or the Caribbean backgrounds, or brown from South American backgrounds, or brown from India perhaps wearing a sari, would you assume these folks could not possibly have true Anglican backgrounds?
If the Anglican background thing is stretched to the max under Canon law, then I perhaps would not qualify to be a member as I am Slavic, with my only English blood from my maternal great grandfather, a Protestant chap whose ancestor’s set up a rope-making factory in Archangel, Russia back in the 19th Century.
To me Anglicanism is more about language than it is about race, about the contributions of English culture through the Prayer Book and the King James Bible and other aspects of that cultural ethos that has a worldwide application in the Anglosphere, which includes many countries which are not predominantly white.
Should the Holy See ensure Anglicanorum coetibus is extended to those other countries? Was it a strategic mistake not to have episcopal delegates in some African countries and India?
About Fr Stephen Smuts
Yes.
Yes, indeedy-oh!
I am a little testy about this oft-repeated, if sotto-voce, suggestion of racism on the part of the Holy See.
Episcopal Delegates were appointed where requests had already been made for them. If India and the nations of Africa make similar requests, then delegates will be appointed.
Also, you don’t have to be in India or Africa to have black populations: unless I am mistaken, St Luke’s, Bladenburg has a majority black congregation
I look forward to there being Ordinariates across the world. I just don’t buy into the suggestion there some kind of of ethicity-test or colour-bar.
I do not think the suggestion is racism. If looked at in conjunction with Male’s comment, it is really about restricting who can take advantage of the offer so that those who are ‘supposed’ to be under the local ‘regular’ Roman bishop, cannot escape his clutches by escaping to another jurisdiction under the RC Communion. It is about control over those deemed to be the proper subjects of the local Roman bishops and cutting any escape hatches they could have whilst at the same time giving places for groups who would otherwise not be in their church.
I meant Dale’s comment. The program I used changed without my noticing it.
Byzantine rite Roman Catholics are expected to only have missions within their respective traditional (Orthodox) lands; so if this applies to Byzantine rite Roman Catholics, the same concept must be applied to Anglican Use Roman Catholics as well. Hence, yes, according to Rome, the Anglican tradition must be limited to individuals of British backgrounds.
The fact that there may be parishes such as St Luke’s is an aberration.
But Anglicanism still is a global religion, Dale. The most vibrant parts of the Anglican world are not in the west but in the global south. As for the “requests” coming from other parts of the world, Catholicleftwinger, the request from the Traditional Anglican Communion came from a global communion with the bulk of its members in India and Africa. I would not say it was racism on the part of the Holy See, just a kind of tone deafness or lack of sensitivity not only to optics but to the souls in those countries who yearned for an opportunity to become Catholic. Sadly, their leadership in the TAC has stepped away from asking for something they were never offered in the first place. Could the fact that this was never offered play a part in their decision to back away? As the Catechism says, division and schism in the Church are the fault of men on both sides of the divide. Is it too late now? Are there any groups in India or Africa the least bit interested in Anglicanorum coetibus?
We all remember the “400,000 Anglicans to Join Catholic Church” headline mindlessly reprinted by newspapers worldwide when AC was proclaimed. The vast majority of those were TAC members in India and Africa and their interest in the idea seems to have been limited at best. A few months later a website for the TAC presence in India finally made its appearance—with the 39 Articles prominently featured! What evidence is there that Anglican souls yearned to become Catholic other than through normal channels in Africa or India?
Historically and theologically, the Anglican Communion was simply English, and too really Reformed, as to the BCP and the Articles. We always seem to forget this!
I think it has to be recognised that Anglicanorum Coetibus is experimental in the sense that Ordinariates are being established based on some kind of prior assessment of the level of demand.
The OLW Ordinariate came first, perhaps because that that was were it was assessed that England was where there might be the greatest demand. After all, England has a population of 49 millions of which 4 in 10 self-identify as Anglicans even if only 1.7 million attend a CofE service. Anglicans are thinner on the ground in the USA: The Episcopal Church claims a membership of just 2.1 millions out of a population of 284 millions. In Australia, the ACA claims a membership of 3.9 millions out of a total population of 17.7 millions.
I very much doubt that any of these three initial jurisdictions will be self supporting for quite some time. And until they are self-supporting, they must be thought of as experimental.
Whether an Ordinariate would be the best means of achieving unity between Anglicans and the Catholic Church in, say, Uganda, Kenya, or the Sudan is much more questionable. First there would have to be some level of demand from Anglicans within a particular national bishops’ conference and second that national bishops’ conference would have to give its opinion.
It might well be that national conferences would weant to see the avaliable resources targeted at the non-Christian populations. Further, given the way the Anglican provinces in Africa are reacting to some of the innovations in the Northern provinces of the Anglican Communion, it may be that the way to renunion might take a very different shape.
Your right, ECUSA, and thus this form of Anglicanism is very minimal in the US! Though there are some solid Evangelical Anglican Churches in America! But, they function rather independently, and as I have been saying the Local Church is always important! In fact, in England the Free Church has always (somewhat now) been historically strong, Evangelically! *But, I know means little to the Catholic minded, here! But, one really wonders what God thinks, and how HE really measures a Church, especially the Local Church.
It is not widely known that the former Anglican Archbishop of Korea is now a Catholic deacon in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. There is an opportunity for Anglicanorum Coetibus to bear fruit among non-Anglos. I think, too, of the large West Indian and African Anglican populations here in California and wonder if we can make overtures to their priests and people.
Do you honestly believe Rome would be mad enough to encourage a group of ex Anglicans to have a celibacy opt out where Catholic vocations are thriving.
Very true, very true.