George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the world-wide Anglican Communion, and his colleague, David Hope, the Archbishop of York, expressed their view in the foreword to The Eucharist: Sacrament of Unity, a statement of Anglican belief by the Church of England’s House of Bishops.
The document states that Anglicans find the ban on Roman Catholics receiving Anglican Communion, even in exceptional circumstances “an ecumenical, theological and pastoral affront.” Anglicans and Protestants are also prevented, by Vatican rules, from officially receiving communion in Roman Catholic churches. Despite this ban, however, many Anglicans take communion in Roman Catholic churches, particularly when visiting mainly Catholic countries such as France and Italy, and even at the Vatican itself.
The document calls for a more flexible approach by the Vatican. Sharing of the Eucharist between Anglicans and Roman Catholics should not be reserved for the “end point of unity between separated churches.” It also states that as the two churches share the same beliefs about the presence of Christ in Holy Communion, Anglicans should not be excluded from receiving the Roman Eucharist.
At a press conference to launch the report on March 21, John Hind, the Anglican Bishop of Europe, made clear his view that Roman Catholics were welcome to receive Anglican communion if their consciences permitted it. The Vatican, however, is not willing to allow sharing of communion with Anglican churches, mainly because it does not recognize Anglican ordinations, and is unlikely to do so. The ordination of women priests in most Anglican provinces has also complicated the question of intercommunion.
“In my diocese we welcome all baptized Christians who are in regular standing with their own churches and who are not prevented by their consciences from taking part [in Anglican Eucharist],” said Hind, who is chairman of the group that produced the document.
A Church of England spokesman later confirmed that a similar practice applied in many dioceses although it had not been determined centrally.
The document also echoes the policy of the Anglican Church in Ireland which prompted Cardinal Desmond Connell, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, to complain recently that Roman Catholics were being encouraged to break church rules by receiving Anglican communion.
“We do not entice others to break the rules,” Hind said, “but it is not for us to police internal discipline [of another church].”
Asked whether the Anglican document, which was described by the Church of England as “courteous yet robust,” would harden differences with Roman Catholics, Bishop Hind said: “Fifty years ago it probably would have. Today there is a totally different climate. We can approach these issues with a fair degree of honesty.”
The Eucharist: Sacrament of Unity stresses the central place of the Eucharist in the life of the church: “It unites Creation and Redemption, life and liturgy, porch and altar. It galvanizes Christians for witness and service in the world. … There is real empowering in the Eucharist for all who are brought into communion with Christ and his people here.”
The document reiterates that the Church of England is a catholic and apostolic church, and points out that much of its theology of the Eucharist is the same as that of the Roman Catholic Church. This includes a belief in the real presence of Christ—although not in transubstantiation.
The report states: ” … we do not believe that Eucharistic communion should be reserved for the end point of unity already achieved between separated churches. … Anglicans have come to accept that shared eucharistic communion [in various degrees] may be an appropriate anticipation of full visible unity.”
The Eucharist: Sacrament of Unity is partly a teaching document for Anglicans and partly a response to One Bread One Body, issued in 1998 by the Roman Catholic bishops of Britain and Ireland which restated the Roman Catholic ban on Eucharistic sharing—ruling out the possibility of Roman Catholics receiving non-Catholic Eucharist, and of non-Catholic Christians, except in grave or life-threatening circumstances, receiving Roman Catholic communion. One Bread One Body invited responses from other churches.
Anglican discontent over One Bread One Body was compounded by the Vatican’s document Dominus Iesus, published last September, which denies that the churches of the Reformation are churches “in the proper sense.” The Eucharist: Sacrament of Unity, however, seeks to correct what it describes as “erroneous assumptions” about the Church of England in One Bread, One Body. The Anglican document says that the Church of England is not correctly described as “rooted in the Reformation.” The church sees itself, the document states, not as a Reformation church, but as the continuing, although reformed, church of the English as established by Augustine of Canterbury.
A high-profile casualty of the renewed prominence given to intercommunion in recent years is the British prime minister, Tony Blair, an Anglican married to a Roman Catholic, Cherie. Early in his premiership the British press reported that he had been taking Roman Catholic communion. Apparently he still attends Roman Catholic services, but no longer takes communion.
Commenting on the Anglican document, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, said Wednesday: “While it highlights the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the Church, it also underlines disagreements yet to be resolved.
“These include Church membership, ecclesial authority, Anglican orders and the different disciplines governing sacramental sharing which broadly speaking distinguish Anglican and Protestant from Orthodox and Catholic.
“It is a sign of our maturing friendship that with candor and honesty we are able to reflect on disagreements knowing that they are part of the process which will eventually lead us to full communion.”
Copyright © 2001 ENI.
Related Elsewhere
The Church of England is selling copies of The Eucharist: Sacrament of Unity for £3.95 (about $7), but does offer a press release summarizing it.One Bread One Body, however, is are available online for free.
Christianity Today’s earlier coverage of inter-communion and other Catholic-Protestant tensions includes:
Catholics Not to Receive Anglican Eucharist | Dublin archbishop says Catholic policy doesn’t allow intercommunion. (Feb. 26, 2001)
Vatican’s New Ecumenical Officer May Smooth Relations with Protestants | Walter Kasper has criticized Dominus Iesus for treating Protestant denominations as “not churches in the proper sense.” (Mar. 12, 2001)
Catholics and Protestants Discuss Indulgences | Groups dialogue for further understanding of differences, not to reach a theological consensus. (Mar. 1, 2001)
Polish Lutheran Leader Wants Ecumenism | New leader aims to bridge the religious divide between Poland’s Catholics and Protestants. (Feb. 19, 2001)
Leveling the Playing Field | A new law in Bolivia puts Protestants on equal footing with Roman Catholics. (Dec. 7, 2000)
Fellowship Without Borders | In Northern Ireland, a Catholic monk and a Presbyterian pastor learn to work together for peace. (Dec. 1, 2000)
Canada Meeting Gives New Hope for Unity Between Anglicans and Catholics | Churches come closer together, but not close enough to share Eucharist. (May 26, 2000)
Honest Ecumenism | The Vatican’s recent statement on the nature of the church is a step forward, not backward, for Christian unity. (Oct. 23, 2000)
Poland’s Catholic Bishops Reject Criticism of DominusIesus | Ratzinger’s declaration that Protestant denominations are not proper churches is making waves in pope’s birthplace. (Sept. 20, 2000)
DominusIesus a ‘Public Relations Disaster’ for Ecumenism, Say Critics | Vatican’s statement reasserting itself as the one true church lamented inside and outside Catholicism. (Sept. 13, 2000)
Not All in the Family | Vatican official proclaims Protestant churches not “sister churches” to the Roman Catholic faith. (Sept. 6, 2000)
More articles are available in our Catholicism and Ecumenism areas.
Other media coverage of the intercommunion controversy in the U.K. and Ireland includes:
Bishops furious as Catholics stall on Communion — The Times (Mar. 22, 2001)
C of E may urge Catholics to end communion ban — The Sunday Times (Mar. 18, 2001)
Cardinal promises to work for unity — The Irish Times (Mar. 5, 2001)
Priests urged to speak out on cardinal’s view — The Irish Times (Feb. 26, 2001)
Church to blame for the corruption of Catholicism — David Quinn, The Sunday Times (Feb. 25, 2001)
Why cardinal cannot win in communion row — Breda O’Brien, The Irish Times (Feb. 24, 2001)
Archbishop fuels row over Irish Communion — The Daily Telegraph (Feb. 20, 2001)
Dr Connell insists he stands over comments — The Irish Times (Feb. 20, 2001)
Connell intended ‘no offence’ in communion comment — The Irish Times (Feb. 19, 2001)
Church of Ireland’s Archbishop of Dublin says archbishop’s remarks cause ‘acrimony’ — The Irish Times (Feb. 19, 2001)
New cardinal in communion row — BBC (Feb. 19, 2001)
Archbishop Connell in fresh controversy — The Irish Times (Feb. 18, 2001)
