Church of England Objects to Vatican Ban on Sharing Communion
"Sharing of the Eucharist between Anglicans and Roman Catholics should not be reserved for the end point of unity between separated churches, say leaders."
The two most senior bishops of the Church of England have branded as "hurtful and unhelpful" the Vatican ban which prevents Roman Catholics from taking communion in non-Catholic churches.
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.
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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."
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