5 U.K. Bishops of Church of England Resign to Enter into Full Communion

"Every division among the baptized in Jesus Christ wounds that which the Church is and that for which the Church exists; in fact, such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages that most holy cause, the preaching the Gospel to every creature. Precisely for this reason, before shedding his blood for the salvation of the world, the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father for the unity of his disciples" -- Pope Benedict XVI

LONDON, England (Catholic Online) -- On Monday, November 8, five bishops of the Church of England announced both their resignation as well as their intent to join a personal ordinariate for Anglicans who desire to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.



The apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, published November 4, 2009, is the fruit of our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI's desire that all Christians be one as our Lord himself prayed on the eve before his Passion (see Jn 17:20-23). It established personal ordinariates, a new type of canonical structure which allows Anglicans to walk forward into Holy Mother Church's arms of unity.

The very first sentence of Anglicanorum Coetibus speaks of the fact that the Holy Spirit has moved groups of Anglicans to "petition repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion . . ." It is no accident that our Holy Father made such a point at the very start of this document. It is the Holy Spirit who, by divine grace and unceasing love for unity, calls Christians into communion with the fullness of unity and truth found in the Catholic Church established by Jesus Christ. Those who experience this call toward unity need to understand it is from God himself; thus it is imperative they respond to this call with docility and a sense of urgency.

Immediately after acknowledging the call to unity as an impulse from the Holy Spirit, Pope Benedict reminded the faithful of the fact that the Catholic Church is a definite and specific Church "instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, as a sacrament -- a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all people."

Indeed, the Church is an instrument of communion with God; it is the sacrament of salvation. It is within the Church that we receive the words of truth and the sacraments of life -- sacraments that are necessary for salvation, and that are the ordinary means by which men receive sanctifying grace, which is a share in the divine life of God. As the sacraments are conferred upon the recipient, a direct encounter between God and man occurs.

Consider the Eucharist, the true body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ. Eucharist is the sacrament supreme in which Catholics directly encounter the Risen Christ. More than simply a face-to-face meeting, Eucharist is an intimate, holy and transformative embrace between Christ and the Christian lover, a forever kiss in which the soul who thirsts for God is swept up into the life of the Holy Trinity. In this wondrous and selfless act, Christ first gives of himself, and, as we walk forward in repentance, humility, hope and love, he unites himself with our own flesh and blood. In this sacred encounter, we directly receive the highest principle of life -- the Risen One. The Eucharist is, therefore, the life-blood dynamic of the Christian; it is the source and summit of all that the Church is and of all that every member of the Body of Christ is. Eucharist is life in a supreme sense: There is no greater or more effective form of divine nourishment for the thirsty soul.

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Yet, as a result of the negative consequences of the many divisions among baptized Christians, there are many millions who remain in less than full communion with the Church. Therefore they remain removed to some extent from the fullness of truth deposited in the Church by Christ, as well as the efficacious grace received in the sacraments instituted by Christ which Mother Church provides. There is real tragedy and loss in this division, as Pope Benedict pointed out: 

"Every division among the baptized in Jesus Christ wounds that which the Church is and that for which the Church exists; in fact, such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages that most holy cause, the preaching the Gospel to every creature. Precisely for this reason, before shedding his blood for the salvation of the world, the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father for the unity of his disciples."

The U.K. bishops who announced their resignations include Bishop Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet, Bishop Keith Newton of Richborough and Bishop John Broadhurst of Fulham. Two retired bishops also resigned: Bishop Edwin Barnes of Richborough, and Assistant Bishop David Silk of Exeter. 
 In a statement signed by all five bishops, they explained that for years they have followed "with prayer and longing" the process of dialogue between Anglicans and the Catholic Church. They also noted that they have been particularly "distressed by developments in Faith and Order in Anglicanism" which they believed "to be incompatible with the historic vocation of Anglicanism and the tradition of the Church for nearly two thousand years."



The resigned U.K. bishops acknowledged that the personal ordinariates allowed for under Anglicanorum Coetibus is a "generous response" by the Holy See, and a "bold, new ecumenical instrument in the search for the unity of Christians, the unity for which Christ himself prayed before his Passion and Death."


In words which could originate in nothing else but the grace of the Holy Spirit, the resigned U.K. bishops observed what true unity is, and what makes that unity possible: "It is a unity, we believe, which is possible only in Eucharistic communion with the successor of St. Peter."

When the light of truth about Eucharist, unity, and communion with the successor of Peter begins to flood into the Christian intellect and soul, a profound realization takes place: There is no alternative but to hurry ahead, embrace the fullness of truth in communion with the Catholic Church, and receive the Risen One -- the life-blood dynamic of the Christian in love with Love.

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F. K. Bartels is a Catholic writer who knows his Catholic faith is one of the greatest treasures a man could ever have. He is managing editor of catholicpathways.com, and a contributing writer for Catholic Online.

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