Bishop intransigent on women

by Kasia Giedroyc THE ORDINATION of women in the Church of England is a "very grave obstacle" to unity between Anglicans and Catholics, but the Catholic commitment to ecumenism remains absolute and resolute, said Bishop Cormac Murphy O'Connor last week.
The bishop, who is CoChairman of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission, admitted that he did not know how ARCIC II would tackle the problem of reconciling Anglican and Catholic ministries. "But obstacles like the ordination of Anglican women cannot stop the endeavours of the ecumenical movement," he said.
Bishop Murphy O'Connor was addressing some 200 Anglicans and Catholics from the dioceses of Chelmsford and Brentwood who had flocked to the Ursuline Convent, Brentwood, for a seminar on the background and progress of ARCIC II organised by the Brentwood Diocesan Commission for Ecumenism.
Appealing to Christians to guard against the three enemies of ecumenism — suspicion, impatience and inertia — the bishop said: "Real ecumenism needs the healing of memories, conversion of hearts, patience, thoroughness."
He added: "We cannot afford to be inert. It is not sufficient just to be 'good friends'. Christian unity is the will of Christ; it gives real witness to the world."
Bishop Murphy O'Connor (who admitted in an aside that the Pope calls him "Gatwick") told his audience, which included some 30 Catholic priests from the Brentwood diocese, that there could be no hope of the theological agreement between the Churches without joint prayer.
"When Christians gather together in prayer, unity is brought closer by the working of the Spirit. All who are baptised share the one Spirit," he said.
Bishop Thomas McMahon of Brentwood, who was present at the meeting along with two Anglican bishops, pointed out that the two dioceses took the ecumenical movement seriously. "We have four churches under joint ownership, nine local ecumenical projects and lots happening at the grassroots level," he said.
The Bishop of Arundel and Brighton concluded his remarks on the progress of ARCIC 11 by appealing for a ratification of the stage reached by ARCIC I. "People will become disheartened unless the authorities ratify the stage we have reached so far," he warned.