Ecumenism: Anglican split widens.

Vancouver--The Anglican bishop of Vancouver, Michael Ingham, has blocked a visit to his diocese of his colleague from Singapore, Archbishop Moses Tay, because he wants no interference in discussions about blessing "same-sex" marriages. Tay, together with the bulk of Asian and African Anglican bishops, outvoted the bishops from Western countries at the 1998 Lambeth Conference in London, England, 526 to 70 in their opposition to the homosexual lifestyle. Despite this, the Western minority announced that it would ignore the vote and continue on its path of making "gays" and lesbians part of Church life.

Archbishop Tay, on his side, had announced earlier in September that he would boycott the Anglican Council meeting in Scotland on the grounds that the primate of Scotland, Archbishop Richard Holloway, is an outright heretic. (Holloway shares the views of Vancouver's Bishop Ingham not only on homosexual activity, but also on Ingham's belief that Christ is not the only name by which we can be saved. Acts 4:12 says, "There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.")

Further rumblings come from the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, Njongonkulu Ndungane, successor to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who insists that the Anglican "communion" must be distinct from the Church of England. The latter, he says is only one of the (30 or so) autonomous churches in the communion. The head of the communion should be chosen from among the primates or even all the bishops, rather than automatically be the Archbishop of Canterbury, he says (Anglican Journal, Oct. 1999).

In England, the rift between the main church and the "Forward in Faith" (FE) umbrella group of opponents to women's ordination is growing. Women's ordination was introduced into the Church of England on November 11, 1992, after being accepted earlier in Canada (1975), the United States (1974), and Hong Kong (1940). This was the last straw in a series of differences which were temporarily settled by allowing FE to become "a church within a church." FE is said to have at least one thousand clergy among its members.

In October, 1999, FF adopted a document entitled The Case for a Free Province of the Church of England, based on the idea that while the Church waits to see whether recent changes such as women's ordination are being truly "received" (called, Period of reception), opponents of the changes ought to have their own bishops and priests who continue in the old way. FE in England is now linking up with other traditional continuing groups such as the Anglican Catholic Church in Canada and others, which earlier (i.e., before 1992) felt compelled to break their bonds with the Archbishop of Canterbury because of the ensnaring "modernism" of the prevailing Anglican leadership (The Rock, Dec. 15, 1999).

As for women's ordination, it is obviously not "being received" by the universal Church, whether in the Latin or Eastern rite communities. This strengthens the resisting minority. But it also increases tension, especially over the February 2000 General Synod debate whether or not to have female bishops. Unlike Canada and the USA, the English Church has not approved as yet.

Meanwhile, in all three countries, the United States, England, and Canada, the Anglican churches are declining rapidly. In each they number fewer than one million. This decline is due in part to a loss of religious faith in general, but it is particularly visible in Anglicanism. For example, the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) registered 31,215 baptisms in 1967 but only 13,493 in 1995, a drop of 57 per cent. ACC confirmations went down from 26,676 in 1967 to 7,183 in 1994, a drop of 73 per cent.

Similar declines have taken place in marriages, memberships in women's and men's groups, youth ministry (a loss of almost 80 per cent), and Sunday schools. The number of financial contributors has declined as well. In the years 1992 to 1994, the ACC was closing five churches a week. (See Rev. Marney Patterson's Suicide: the decline and fall of the Anglican Church in Canada, Cambridge Publishing House.)

The above details make it difficult to accept Anglican Bishop John Baycroft when he says that Catholic and Anglican churches are growing closer all the time (National Post, Dec. 28, '99). Baycroft, formerly of Ottawa, is rector of the Anglican Centre in Rome. His installation in November, 1999, was held in a Catholic church in Rome attended by various officials including Cardinal Edward Cassidy and Bishop Walter Kasper, respectively the President and Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Unity.

The Holy Father and the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, are both committed to unity among Christians. But the theological turmoil of the last 30 years, which is splintering Anglicans rather than uniting them, counters the idea of a community-wide union with Rome.

Efforts to reach out towards each other, however, continue, including a top-level meeting in Toronto, ON, in May. It will evaluate the ecumenical dialogue to date. But it may soon be difficultfor Catholics to know with what Anglican group to continue discussions.