PURPOSE-DRIVEN

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

Donald Harvey, moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada, is not down with Anglicanorum Coetibus:

An invitation from Rome to join the Catholic Church is “offensive in the extreme,” the head of a breakaway group of Canadian Anglicans says.

“Apart from being an intrusion at the very highest levels of one major church into the internal affairs of another, under the guise of being ecumenical, this invitation offers very little that is new,” Bishop Don Harvey, moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada, told the group’s annual synod Thursday morning.

“I find the words in the official joint communique referring to ‘the Catholic Church and the Anglican Tradition’ offensive in the extreme and reporters who suggested that this may be a solution to the Network’s needs are not really aware of what we truly profess,” he said.

And Dr. Williams fervently hopes that Anglicans don’t do anything rash.

"One is indeed something to do with our contemporary anxieties. We need to tell the stories of the Saints to remind ourselves what is possible and within any Christian family. We need to tell the stories of those who have made God credible to us. And within our Anglican family we need to go on telling a few stories about those who have shown us that it is possible to lead lives of Catholic holiness even in the Communion of the See of Canterbury! We need to be reminded of what we have to be grateful for in the lives of those who within our communion and fellowship have lived out God’s presence and made him credible here in this fellowship with these people. God knows what the future holds for any of us for any of our ecclesiastical institutions, but we can at least begin with what we can be sure of; that God has graced us with the lives of Saints; that God has been credible in this fellowship with these people. This church with its very particular place in the history of the Church of England is one small but significant facet of that great mystery and that great gift. And at times when the future seems more than usually chaotic and uncertain, it doesn’t hurt simply to give thanks."

Bishop Harvey? My lord Archbishop? Four words. Give me a reason.

There is a major problem with the Anglican Christian tradition. Thus far, the only person to propose a solution to that problem has been the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI.

Will I avail myself of that solution? At this point, probably not. Will the Apostolic Constitution cause a major realignment in Western Christendom? Doubtful. Nevertheless, Benedict’s solution has a major advantage over any of its Anglican counterparts.

It exists.

I don’t respect anything simply because it’s old. I was baptized into the Anglican tradition but I’m not wedded to it and I’ve never considered Anglicanism to be anything other than another form of Protestant Christianity.

Therefore, I’m going to need a reason to hang around. There’s a Catholic option in place; there’s no Anglican option in place at all aside from staying put because of something or other that may or may not happen down the road somewhere, with any kind of luck.

The Pope has proposed a procedure whereby conservative Anglicans can enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church if they so desire. Anglicans have proposed nothing in particular. While I may not take Rome up on its offer, the lack of an Anglican alternative makes it less and less likely that I’ll remain any kind of Anglican at all.

Bishop Harvey? My lord Archbishop? As far as this writer and I suspect lots of other Anglicans are concerned, time is something you no longer have.