Roman option hopes renewed

BY ANGUS MACDONALD IT WAS CONFIRMED this week that Cardinal Basil Hun-ie is to fly to Rome in December to discuss with the Pope details of the "Realms option" the terms under which AngloCatholics opposed to the vote for women priests may become Catholics.
And there was mounting speculation that the Catholic bishops may be prepared to offer some form of associate "pastoral provision" for disaffected Anglicans which goes beyond the relatively uncompromising terms they laid down earlier this year.
Reports that the idea of a "personal prelarure" similar to Opus Dei was likely to be revived arc being discounted by Church sources, but it is thought that the cardinal may propose some form of canonically-based, group "association".
Key differences from earlier proposals would be the direct involvement of Cardinal Hume, and a mechanism for the involvement of local bishops.
The cardinal was this week in Lourdes, and unavailable for comment, but a spokesman said the Anglican situation would "no doubt be discussed" during the cardinal's next Vatican visit. He said it was "premature to speculate" on what might emerge from the discussion, but sources indicated that a jurisdiction similar to the Anglican Rite, alrsadyiii operation in the USA, could still be on the cards.
Another source suggested that a "pious association of the faithful" similar to the Focolare movement could provide the model.
Rome is said to he receptive to such ideas, with any proposals agreed by the Bishops' Conference at their November meeting likely to receive the backing of key Cardinals Cassidy and Ratzinger.
The proposal for a personal prelature, suggested by Bishop Graham Leonard, the former Anglican Bishop of London., in an article in the Catholic Herald last year, would have allowed disaffected Anglicans to join the Catholic Church, as a group, under the jurisdiction of the Pope, whilst retaining elements of their own u:adition.
But the idea appeared to be ruled out by Cardinal Hume in April when he made clear that there would be "no special treatment" for Anglicans coming to Rome.
The terms were disappointing to many Ango-Catholics and so far only about 60 Angli can clergymen have announced their intention to
seek full communion with the Holy See far fewer than the 1,000 plus anticipated following the November vote.
Others have been awaiting developments in their own Church. A draft Act of Synod
likely to be approved by the General Synod next week will reassure some traditionalists of their continuing influence within the Church of England, but many may still be looking to Rome.
The speculation comes in the wake of this week's challenge in
the High Court over the legality of the General Synod's decision to ordain women priests.
The Church Society, the Church of England's most influential evangelical body, argued that the Synod had no right to vote to ordain women,
as the change was a matter of "fundamental doctrine" requiring a full Act of Parliament.
The final judgement was handed down after the Catholic Herald went to press, but it was thought unlikely that the challenge would succeed.