Discussion Of Anglican Use Liturgy Dominates Conversion Speculations

07/22/2008
By: John P. Connolly , The Bulletin

As Christians around the world watch the Anglican Lambeth Conference unfold, the rifts in the Global Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church have fueled speculation that some dissatisfied elements might be preparing to convert to Roman Catholicism.

The speculation has intensified with an address by Roman Catholic Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision to the Anglican Use Conference in San Antonio earlier this month. During that speech, Archbishop Myers said the Vatican is trying to expand the "Anglican Use" liturgy to accommodate converting Anglicans.

"We are working on expanding the mandate of the Pastoral Provision to include those clergy and faithful of 'continuing Anglican communities,'" he said. Continuing Churches are churches that split from Anglican Communions following the 1976 Episcopal Church decision to allow women's ordination. "We are striving to increase awareness of our apostolate to Anglican Christians who desire to be reconciled with the Holy See. We have experienced the wonder of several Episcopal bishops entering into full communion with the Catholic Church and we continue to receive requests from priests and laity about the Pastoral Provision."

In 1980, Pope John Paul II created the Pastoral Provision, allowing some parishes in the United States to celebrate a modified Anglican liturgy. While the Pastoral Provision is currently only in effect in the United States, ongoing talks between traditional Anglicans and the Vatican may include an expansion of the Anglican Use to other countries.

Fr. Eric L. Bergman, chaplain of the Thomas Moore Society in Scranton and chaplain of the Anglican Use Society, explained some of the changes that have been made in the Anglican Use.

"The Anglican Use and the Pastoral Provision are now open to Continuing Church Anglicans as well as members of the Episcopal Church," he said. "The [Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith] said the Pastoral Provision can apply to men in Continuing Churches and their communities."

Fr. Bergman also said a community in Kansas City is forming because of the new opportunities, but the Anglican Use remains in the United States only, for now.
"Whether it will be expanded to other countries is anybody's guess," he said.
Archbishop Myers suggested those who have benefited from the Pastoral Provision over its 28 years of existence should remember that it was granted "for an indefinite period of time."

"Catholic faithful who worship according to the Anglican Use must never see themselves as different from other Catholics or somehow privileged among other Christian communions," he said. "We are Catholics together, obedient to the Holy Father, to those bishops in communion with him and ever faithful to magisterial teaching."

"We long for an expansion of the Anglican Use that would welcome a body into communion," said Bishop David Moyer, a bishop of the Traditional Anglican Communion and rector of The Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont. "The Traditional Anglican Communion petitioned for that in October. Any move toward expansion of the Anglican Use by the Vatican is very welcomed."

There have been no official statements from the Vatican on the results of the continuing dialogue with various Anglican groups. Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is scheduled to address the Lambeth Conference this week.

John P. Connolly can be reached at jconnolly@thebulletin.us

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