Anglicans And Catholics
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
4 Mar 2007
Life in Australia is good and easy to take for granted. As parts of the world become increasingly brutal and dangerous our country looks more and more like an oasis of peace. So it would come as a surprise to most Australians that Christians around the world continue to be persecuted, even enslaved and killed for their faith, and in significant numbers.
At home, thank God, we do not have religious persecution. But in Western countries Christians are sometimes singled out and penalised for opposing the hostile secular agenda which mandates abortion, cloning, euthanasia, same-sex marriage and easier access to pornography and drugs.
All Christians need to cooperate to resist these pressures and one of the greatest sources of strength is unity.
So there was some excitement last month when media reports announced “Churches back plan to unite under pope”. Unfortunately it was much ado about nothing.
The Anglican and Catholic churches have been talking for forty years about how to foster friendship and co-operation. In 2000 they established a joint international commission to draft a report to summarise their efforts.
Its very first pages explicitly state that the time is not yet right for reunion under the pope. The report outlines limited agreement on the pope as a focus for Christian unity and lists options for collaboration but rules out any sweeping plans for imminent re-unification.
It is all pretty clear. But not, apparently, to some English media outlets which chose to put a sensational and inaccurate spin on a carefully worded document.
This report came as Anglican primates from around the world met in Tanzania to discuss serious disagreements about the ordination of practising homosexuals as bishops by the American Anglicans.
Perhaps the reporters who beat-up the story of a “secret plan” for unity with the pope were anticipating a big split in the Anglican church sometime soon. Perhaps some others were trying to hurry it along.
Whatever the explanations it was not helpful to the task of preserving and strengthening inter-church relations.
Significant differences between the wings of the Anglican communion do exist, and its structures have evolved to take this reality into account. Reports of “secret plans” to force an issue destroy good will and create mistrust at a time when both trust and good will are essential among all Christians for the common struggle.
God writes straight in crooked lines. Chapter 17 of St John’s Gospel makes clear that unity is the goal for all Christians. But sociologically competition is good and the wide range of Christian communities and styles attracts a vast spread of personalities.
A hasty rush to unity would only produce a lowest common denominator form of cohesion, sacrificing the richness of traditions along the way and weakening Christianity still further. Unity is strength, but so is unity in diversity.
