Open to communion offer

 

 

— Leading member of Scottish Episcopal Church looks forward to Pope Benedict’s Scottish visit

 

March 5 2010

By Ian Dunn

 

A LEADING member of a traditionalist group within the Scottish Episcopal Church has said that the Pope’s offer to welcome Traditional Anglicans into the Catholic Church is ‘most generous’ and his group of Traditionalists is ‘eagerly’ awaiting the Pope’s visit to Scotland.

Canon Len Black, the regional dean of Forward in Faith Scotland, said his group ‘warmly welcomes’ Pope Benedict XVI’s efforts ‘to respond to groups of Anglicans, including members of Forward in Faith, seeking to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.’

 

Call to Anglicans

The Episcopal Church is the Scottish branch of the Anglican Communion and Forward in Faith is a worldwide association of Anglicans who are unable in conscience to accept the ordination of women as priests or as bishops.

In October the Holy Father announced a plan for a special ordinate that would allow traditional Anglicans to convert to the Church of Rome en masse.

“The generosity of this offer is something which demands much further consideration,” Canon Black, of St Michael and All Angels, Inverness, said. “The offer to maintain the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church, which the Holy See has described as ‘a precious gift nourishing the Faith’ and as ‘a treasure to be shared, is most generous.’”

 

Pope in Scotland

In addition Canon Black said Forward in Faith, was ‘delighted’ the Pope was coming to Scotland this September.

“Over the years, continuing the work which Pope John Paul II began in becoming the great modern ambassador of the Christian Faith, Pope Benedict has worked tirelessly to become the ‘symbol’ of the Christian Church throughout the world,” Canon Black said. “This is something that has been recognised by Christians and non-Christians alike, as well as by the leaders of other Christian denominations. It is a great delight that during his visit to the UK, Pope Benedict will come north to Scotland, and we in Forward in Faith in Scotland eagerly look forward to his visit.” 

The Papal visit is especially timely, said Canon Black, given the Pope’s role as an inspiration to all Christians.

“The lead given by Pope Benedict in upholding Christian moral values, when all around us persist in pushing society in the opposite direction, is most commendable,” he said. “We should all be grateful for his leadership in these matters, from every Christian in Scotland, from politicians in government, national and local, and from the leaders of all the Churches.”

 

Growing harmony

Although Forward in Faith Scotland represents a minority of the Episcopalian Church recent months have seen growing harmony of purpose between the Catholic and Episcopalian denominations in Scotland.

Last week the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church made a rare political intervention to back Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s attack on Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy for suggesting Labour was the natural home of faith voters.

The Right Rev David Chillingworth accused Mr Murphy of doing a ‘grave disservice’ to religion by suggesting it could be ‘shrink-wrapped’ to fit the manifesto of a political party.

“I have to confess that I was simply astonished by the principles which Jim Murphy identified,” he said. “They express the flat-footed values of fairness. They are the politics of the supermarket check-out. They are regressive, inviting us to revisit outdated nationalisms, to pursue those whom we deem to be work-shy, to close our borders to the poor of the world on the basis of a ‘firm and fair’ immigration policy.

“What about the bigger visions—a new vision of how peace can be built, how creation can be honoured, how the poor can be fed, how the weak can be protected, how an inclusive and tolerant society can be built?”

Cardinal O’Brien, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, last week accused Labour of pursuing ‘a systematic and unrelenting attack on family values’ during its time in power. In a later interview the cardinal recalled speaking to Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray about his displeasure at the way Church leaders’ views had been ‘ignored.’

“I said to Iain Gray ‘I hope when the Pope does come he’ll be very strong in what he says to you,’” the cardinal said. “In fact the words I used were ‘I hope he gives you hell for what has happened over the past ten years.’”

 

Hand of friendship

Last December Cardinal O’Brien extended the hand of friendship to the Scottish Traditional Anglican community by allowing them to worship at St Catherine’s chapel in Edinburgh.

At the time Canon Black said they had approached the cardinal because of the ‘rapid drift’ of the Scottish Episcopal Church away from Catholicism.

“We are most grateful to Cardinal Keith O’Brien for the generosity he has shown us in making a place of worship available, not just for Christmas but in the months ahead, as we seek to serve those Episcopalians who look to us for spiritual and sacramental support,” he said.

Cardinal O’Brien said at the time he was ‘delighted’ to be able to help the Traditional Anglican community in Scotland.

 

— www.forwardinfaith.info/scotland

— www.friendsoftheordinariate.com

— Inverness-based journalist Bob King, who died on February 25, contributed to this report

 

— ian@scottishcatholicobserver.org.uk