While the Church of England is clearly entering the last stages of decay, with Rowan Williams’s proposal of a two-track church – one accepting homosexual union and clergy, the other rejecting it – it would be a mistake for Catholics to crow over its demise, for at least three reasons:
First of all, it would be in poor taste. That may appear trifling to some, but bad taste is not a trifle. It would be a very bad move for the Catholic cause in England, playing right into the (Reformation-made, but long inhaled) local stereotype of Catholics as untrustworthy, sinister people, bad Englishmen, un-English, alien. It is a false stereotype, historically, but now is not the time to reinforce it. A lot of cradle Anglicans have been going through very painful and confusing times. They are more likely to turn to the Church (THE Church, obviously) if we carry ourselves well.
Second, I haven’t spoken to more than a couple of people who appear to have the faintest notion of the social confusion that will follow the disappearance of the C of E, the many cultural losses it will necessarily entail, and the huge strides triumphant Secularism will quickly make. We, as English Catholics, are facing an enormous challenge: this should be a time of intense preparation, spiritual, intellectual, practical.
Finally, I think something positive might actually come from this two-track scenario. Recent developments have made it nominally illegal to disapprove of homosexual practice in England, even in matters of conscience: Catholic orphanages, for example, are no longer allowed to refrain from sending their orphans to homosexual couples. If the Anglicans proceed with their plans for a church that will make room for those who cannot accept same-sex union and manifestly homosexual clergy, and organise parishes accordingly, then the Church of England will hurtle into head-on collision with the gay rights movement and the mainstream media. I may be wrong, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Williams pick up this gauntlet as a conscience issue. In other words, rather than the one-sided taunting game the same-sex issue has been for the Catholic Church at the hands of the media in England, we could finally have a proper fight on our hands.
I may be mistaken on this one, but – watch this space.
Indeed, Mr. Asch. I’ve been reading God’s Secret Agents (Alice Hogge) and understand from an historical viewpoint as well as a moral one how the Gunpowder Plot and other Catholic lapses–even very small lapses–neutralized all the good the Jesuit mission had accomplished.
The temptation to crow over the Anglican crisis is difficult to overcome, but our Catholic conscience should know better. We are tempted to excuse ourselves with such defenses as “it’s only human,” but the Catholic cause in England was lost perhaps by such excuses.
The nationalism that nurtured the Anglican Church in its infancy is a pitfall that Catholics are blessed to transcend, but our perception of it should be the same as those standing in the crowd when Christ said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”
It’s disastrous that the English do not recognize freedom of conscience in their current secular legislative moves. There is as much religious persecution in such an attitude as there was in enforcing attendance to their state church. We in the U.S. may well face the same legislative crisis in the very near future; it would be in our interests to pray ardently for the success of any Anglican efforts to defeat this movement.
Both conscience and common sense should govern the Catholic response to the problems the Anglican church now experience, and, as always, we have the example of the Holy Father to guide us. We know in our hearts what is right here, because actually (we must remember) we are not “only” human, but Christian as well.