Anglican Orders: Essays on the Centenary of Apostolicae Curae, 1896-1996

Anglican Theological Review, Summer 1998 by Kriss, Gary W

Anglican Orders: Essays on the Centenary of Apostolicae Curae, 1896-1996. Edited and with an Introduction by R. William Franklin. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 1996. 149 pp. $17.'95 (paper).

There is a certain irony in the filet that, for Anglicans, a century which has seen a vast amount of ecumenical activity has been bracketed by two startlingly sharp rejections-and both over the same issue, though from virt tiallyantithetical positions. In 1896, Pope Leo XIII issued the apostolic letter Apostolic;ae curae, declaring Anglican orders "absolutely null and utterly void," and this judgment, despite immense progress in mutual understanding and respect, has hung as a black cloud over the relationship between Anglicans and Roman Catholics ever since.

In 1997, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America rejected the "Concord lt of Agreement" with the Episcopal Church in the United States. Without oversimplify.ing the debate, it is nonetheless clear that many of the Lutherans who opposed the Concord;at did so because of its expressed intenti.on to bring the ministry of the EL(-A into the apostolic ministry-specifically the apostolic succession transmitted through the historic episcopateof the catholic church. In short, in one case (Rome), the Anglican claim of continuity with the ministry of the apostolic church was rejected as fundamentally flawed. In the other case (the ELCA), that very ministry was rejected as, shall sve say, undesirable. That the Lutheran rejection turned, to a large degre(!, on this particular issue says as much about the focus of Anglican participation in ecumenical dialogue in this century as it does about Lutheran concerns, for the question of valid orders has played a central role in most of the efforts of Anglicans to enter into fuller communion with other churches.

The volume under review is a collection of essays first presented at a conference held under the sponsorship of ARC,--USA it The General Theological Seminary in ew York. The volume includes a careful historical overview by the conference chairman, Dr. Franklin, of the matter at hand. Also included are English translations of the texts of Apostolicae crime and the response of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, Saepius officio (though this latter, unfortunately, is not given in full). Essays by Roman Catholic an Il Anglican scholars then identify antI analyze some of the principal issues and their theological, liturgical, and ecumenical consequences over the past one hundred years.

Each essay is compelling in itself. George Tavard's discussion of tradition catches Leo XIII in the snare of his own historical mind-set. Stephen Sykes delves into the Anglican theology of holy orders , With particular reference to the Preface to the Prefaee to the Ordinal of the English Book of Common Prayer. Edward Yarnold develops the idea that the question of Anglican orders can now be understood in a "new context," given the substantial agreement of ARCIC-I on ministny and ordination. Paul Bradshaw's essay on liturgical issues raises questions about the prevailing scholastic approach to holy orders and provokes a detailed challenge from J. Robert Wright. Sara Butler provides an objective and balanced account of the new issues raised by the ordination of women.

Recognizing, as I Hugh Montefiore does in his Foreword, that it would be impossible for such a collection of essays to provide a comprehensive examination of the many issues involved, it must nevertheless be said that there are some notable deficiencies in this book. The Roman Catholic respondent Jon Nilson notes (p. 123) that "None of these papers has defended the contemporary adequacy of Apostolicae eurae's historical reasoning or theological arguments." That, one might suggest, is a rather large omission. Indeed, one has the impression, at times, that the purpose of the book is not simply to examine the possibilities inherent in the new context but to insist on a reversal of the judgment of Leo XIII. If the other side were represented, Sll a demand could be taken in context, but we have instead a book which has moved beyond dialogue to advocacy.

The profound mpact Apostolicae curae has had on Anglicans is particularly evident in the fact that several of the contributors clearly accept Rome's rejection of Anglican orders as the dragon which mustbeslain. Although several acknowledge that Anglicans have always firmly maintained the integrity of their orders, nevertheless, it is accepted that Rome sets the -erms of the debate. Thus, relatively little attention is given to Saepius offi:io,whichis, in fact, a strong statement of the Anglican position. As Bishop Sykes no,res (p. 63), it is in need of further elucidation, but that elucidation is missing from this book. Professor Bradshaw does suggest a different approach to the problem, calling into play the principle of lex orandi lex cre(lendi. Fr. Wright raises significant issues in his response and these need to be addressed, but that line of inquiry should still prove fruitful.