Call to revise orders ban

Continued-from page I agreement bctween the two churches at present and suggests ways in which relations can be further improved.
"Are all the major denominations equally part of the one Church as most Anglicans would say, or does the one Church of Christ subsist in one communion, as Catholics maintain, without thereby denying a churchly reality in other Churches and communities'?" he asked.
Canon Stewart emphasised however that despite the differences there are many things that Catholic and Anglicans can and should be doing together. These include praying together and talking together about those things which unite and divide the Churches.
The sharing of churches and schools are possible fields of joint action he said as is joint pastoral care by the clergy and laity for example in greeting new arrivals to the area, he running of courses for engaged couples and the pastoral care of those involved in mixed marriages and newly weds. The 'churches could also ccoperate more closely in social action, in forming groups for development, justice and peace and in plugging the gaps in the welfare state he said.
In another CTS pamphlet issued this week, Fr Edward Yarnold Si says that the Catholic Church has a duty to explore ways of reconciliation with the Anglican Church on the issue of the validity of Anglican orders.
The pamphlet entitled 'Anglican Orders — a way forward?' says that the Bull of Pope Leo XIII, Apostolicae Curae, of 1896 which condemned Anglican orders as null and void, though not an infallible statement, cannot be repealed. Fr Yarnold says that the Bull was correct in its teaching on the nature of the priesthood and in its interpretation of the historical split with the Anglican Church. But, he asks if it is possible that the Church might revise the Bull's conclusion that Anglican orders, "have been and are completely null and void"? "Dare we conclude", Fr Yarnold asks, "that since the case for invalidity is not proved, validity should be presumed?"
Anglicans and Roman Catholics by Canon Richard Stewart (200 and Anglican Orders — a way forward by Edward Yarnold SJ (lip) available from the Catholic Truth Society, 38-40 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1PD.