Five Anglican Bishops Leave For Roman Catholic Church

By Al Webb
Religion News Service

LONDON (RNS) Five bishops have decided to leave the Church of England and join the Roman Catholic Church under the Vatican's new program to welcome disaffected Anglicans.

The decision by three active and two retired bishops was reported Monday (Nov. 8) by the British Press Association (PA) and confirmed by the Vatican's top spokesman in Rome.

Under a plan announced last year by the Vatican, Anglicans can ally with the Catholic Church while preserving aspects of their Anglican spiritual and liturgical heritage, including married clergy.

The five Anglican bishops were identified as Bishop of Ebbsfleet Andrew Burnham; Bishop of Fulham John Broadhurst; Bishop of Richborough Keith Newton; and two retirees, former bishop of Richborough Edwin Barnes, and the former bishop of Ballarat (Australia), David Silk.

Burnham described the shift to the Vatican as a "fresh, new opportunity for the churches to move close together." But he denied that the ongoing controversy over women bishops in the Anglican Church was the reason.

"Women bishops is a pressing issue," Burnham told the British Press Association, "but this is a question of whether the Anglican Church is, as it says it is, part of the universal church going back to the time of Jesus, or whether it is going off in its own way and making up its own rules, as we think it is."

"We are pioneers," Burnham said, but he also predicted that "there will be priests and parishes who will follow in due course." Burnham said he had "made this decision in neither sadness nor anger."

Broadhurst said he is "excited but nervous about entering into full communion with the Catholic Church."

He conceded that "I don't know what the future holds," but that "it will either be a huge success or a huge flop."

The head of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, said in a statement, "We wish them well in this next stage of their service to the church and I am grateful to them for their faithful and devoted pastoral labors in the Church of England over many years."

Comments

[BlackYowe]

12:11 AM on 11/12/2010

Well I can only hope that a few married bishops in the mix might be good for the Roman church.

[bryanzth]

04:10 PM on 11/11/2010

Yes, yes, yes... Now, what about married bishops? I dunno if any of those were. And also, what about gay bishops? Dunno also if any of those were (DADT? - ;0) ). Finally, what about women bishops? Or even lesbian bishops, eh? Dunno. None of them were.

There are two issues here. First is the laying on of the hands. Regardless of whether one believes this legacy is important or not, it has a kind of thrilling history. All -- repeat ALL -- of us had relatives that were living at the time of Jesus, and many of us are more closely related to those people than we could believe. If indeed the Anglican Church does preserve that legacy, then it's pretty cool. It doesn't mean anything to me spiritually, but culturally, what an amazing thing.

Second thing is the that the laying on of the hands is what counts, rather than the person receiving of that tradition. Likewise in the Anglican Church, the Lutheran Church, the Orthodox Churches and other Churches that reject Papal authority. There may be some other traditions that have maintained an unbroken laying on of hands. I welcome replies. The Donatists were wrong, therefore, that the tradition is what counts, so even bishops who did bad things are still "OK" in this respect.

What is the rate of transfers from the Catholic to the Anglican or Lutheran or Orthodox Churches?

BZ.

[DevonTexas]

01:22 PM on 11/11/2010

"We are pioneers"

More like Panic-ers! Run away! Run away! The girls are coming!

[missdboat]

07:56 AM on 11/11/2010

As an Episcopalian, which is part of the Anglican Communion, I am sorry to see people leave this church that I love so much. On the other hand I want to say "good riddance."

[TeeSC]

01:29 PM on 11/11/2010

Gee thanks... just send the rejects to us... thanks a bunch!  :-)))))

[bryanzth]

04:13 PM on 11/11/2010

Catholics have crumbs and also accept them. It's the same for every congregation. I suppose that is what makes this a non-story. Really.

BZ.

[HeevenSteven]

07:45 AM on 11/11/2010

Catholic priests get more action.

[kadene]

07:43 AM on 11/11/2010

Both denominations sprang from the same poisoned fount. One is just a watered down version of the other. Many of those stubbornly adhering to these faiths seek solace in the hope of an afterlife and to them this is more important than seeking truth. The others are just plain deluded. The job of the prelates in the caps and frocks is to keep the flock as far as possible away from the truth, and in so doing, maintain the wealth and power of the church. Simple..

[bryanzth]

04:16 PM on 11/11/2010

Yep. The Sermon on the Mount is so far from what preachers, missionaries, vicars, pastors and parish priests seem to focus on: Belief, belief, belief.... good golly. So you believe? So what? How does that inform your actions as a Christian in the community?

Further, sin? What clerics and churches teach as sin (not believing!) and what is really sin according to my buddy Jesus, I dunno, if you don't know that, then YOU are the problem! ;0)

BZ.

[kadene]

05:17 PM on 11/11/2010

"Sin" is a religious concept as far as I am concerned, since some of what Moses declared sinful in the OT was magically disqualified in the New. And some OT values and attitudes were simply discredited when the Messiah came on the scene.
One of the ten commandments was "thou shalt not covet..." I covet many things, can I be jailed because of that? And what about the graven image, working on the Shabbat and having other Gods before Yahweh? Who will arrest me since I am guilty of disobeying these commands? If I don't believe in Jesus I am condemned to an eternity of torture. Well I don't, and we shall both of us die and never know what lies beyond until we get there. But I wouldn't want to spend eternity in the company of a bunch of judgmental, whiny, genuflecting christians anyway.
We do not live in a theocracy, so keep the concept of sin within the fantasy kingdom. In a dmocracy, you obey the laws.

[Carroll27]

06:24 PM on 11/10/2010

I love the Catholic Church and I really like this pope, if only because he annoys the heck out of Episcopalians and other secularists.

Still, it's hard not to think of him as Emporer Palpatine, telling these bishops, "I will now complete your training. In time, you will call ME master."

Mwah ha ha ha ha!

[TxBluesGuy]

12:16 AM on 11/11/2010

Sorry to disappoint you, but he really doesn't annoy me at all.

[Carroll27]

09:55 AM on 11/11/2010

Awesome!

[bryanzth]

04:20 PM on 11/11/2010

Heck, the real Church came back to life for a brief couple of decades after Vatican II. And then we had to think what being a follower of Jesus really meant. Now, it's easy again according to the current Papst.

I almost became a cleric. But the hypocracy of it all stopped me in my tracks. I only found the truth again in the study of Liberation Theology. A little of Gutierrez, Sobrino, Carera, and others should set you straight. ;0)

BZ.

[Carroll27]

06:22 PM on 11/10/2010

Gene Robinson was on NPR today, and he was asked about this. He said that if God was calling them here, then God bless them.

Then he said something about spending more time with his husband, which sorta was an unwelcome image.

[DevonTexas]

01:24 PM on 11/11/2010

to you perhaps. it's unsettling to most homophobes.

[bryanzth]

04:21 PM on 11/11/2010

Well, you never really listened to Jesus, it seems.

BZ.

[Vern58]

10:39 AM on 11/10/2010

This defection has been coming for years. No secret here. Papal dispensation for married clergy was all that was lacking. These 5 Bishops have been waiting for years. All radical Anglo Papalists (especially Ebstreet)and all praying for "reunification with the Holy See"- for years. The rest of us "Heathen Protestants" of the AC bid you a fond but heartfelt adieu.

[Vern58]

10:48 AM on 11/10/2010

That corrected is Ebbsfleet.

[Carroll27]

06:20 PM on 11/10/2010

Huh. Do Anglicans even consider themselves "Protestant"? I don't think they do, and I've spoken to some who work at St. Bart's near the Tower of London.

[bryanzth]

04:25 PM on 11/11/2010

Well, as a cultural Catholic, I consider Anglicans, Lutherans, Orthodox, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. to be of one fold. I am not a trinitarian, but culturally, they don't seem so different. Now, Fundies and some restorationist sects are way out.

I wonder if all can pray the Lord's Prayer together, and if they know the implications of the Beatitudes, the Parables and some other of Jesus's "red" words? That is, to do service for our fellow man...? ;0)

BZ.

[brokerthanu]

03:04 AM on 11/10/2010

The fact that religions are interchangeable only proves how fake they are.

[SayBlade]

04:53 PM on 11/10/2010

Same religion. Different denomination.

[Hysterian68]

12:46 AM on 11/12/2010

and their belief in the Atonement for the sins of Adam and Eve is even more absurd. God gives you the nature to obey or disobey; you're still blamed anyway, then to remove the "stain of Adam" God commits suicide by sending Himself in the form of Jesus to suffer death and "atone" for a sin YOU never committed??

ALL Christians need to go back, start all over at their starting gate and rework their silly, childish doctrine.

[been2there]

10:38 PM on 11/09/2010

The Vatican is welcome to them. While they hide behind the pope's skirts, the rest of us can work on building a better, freer, more equal, and more Christlike world.

[lahip]

10:25 PM on 11/09/2010

God bless you, bishops. And welcome home!

[Vern58]

10:42 AM on 11/10/2010

That is one way of looking at it. There are other equally valid ways of looking at it also. And you are welcomr to them.

[Carroll27]

06:20 PM on 11/10/2010

Hurray!

[genrel1248]

09:46 PM on 11/09/2010

That's where the boys are.

[bryanzth]

04:26 PM on 11/11/2010

Nasty, you!!! ;)

BZ.

[savvy7]

07:57 PM on 11/09/2010

Guess the boys are younger and "fresher" in the R.C. church.

[punctum]

04:04 PM on 11/10/2010

I knew I wouldn't have to scroll far to find one of these comments. :D

[savvy7]

04:45 PM on 11/10/2010

"I knew I wouldn't have to scroll far to find one of these comments. :D "

Glad I save you the energy. :)

[SayBlade]

04:52 PM on 11/10/2010

It amazes me how the vast majority of sexual abuse victims by clergy including the RC church are girls and women and no one seems to notice. Then a relatively small number of boys are sexually abused and everyone explodes. What does it take to get people's attention?

http://www.now.org/issues/violence/clergyabuse_girls.html

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/800312--church-scandal-s-next-wave-abused-girls?bn=1

http://www.adultsabusedbyclergy.org/UnsafeInAnyDenomination.html

[ruffmama]

10:23 PM on 11/10/2010

I have often wondered that too...I am sure there are vast numbers of girls who have been abused in the RC...

[oldfuzz]

05:56 PM on 11/09/2010

Since it's okay if they're married I suggest that all Catholic priests who want to marry:
1. become Anglicans
2. marry
3. apply for reinstatement.

If you are denied and don't like the Anglicans, become Episcopalians.

[greg pinyard]

07:52 PM on 11/09/2010

Sorry, what you state will not work.Those who have fallen to apostasy will not be allowed to become priests.

Greg

[savvy7]

07:59 PM on 11/09/2010

"If you are denied and don't like the Anglicans, become Episcopalians."

I thought Anglicans and Episcopalians were one and the same. What's the difference?.

[puzzled500]

09:33 PM on 11/09/2010

You're right. Episcopalians are part of the Anglican Communion.

[Hysterian68]

12:49 AM on 11/12/2010

They are one and the same.