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