THE ANGLICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA

I wrote this as Chapter 7 of the Submission to the Archbishop of Canterbury's Panel of Reference made jointly by Forward in Faith Australia, All Saints' Wickham Terrace Brisbane, the Bishop of The Murray, and Archbishop Hepworth of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia. It has not been re-edited in any way, except that the endnotes have been placed in the text in red type. Reference is made in the text as well as in the notes to the Submission and its Appendixes, which can be found on the Forward in Faith website.

As has been observed already, (see pages 1-4 of the Submission to the Panel of Reference) for many evangelicals and catholics, the 1985 Appellate Tribunal decision [i.e. that the Fundamental Declarations in the Constution did not stand in the way of the purported ordination of women] had the effect of changing the nature of the Anglican Church of Australia. This resulted in the further distancing of the Diocese of Sydney from the rest of the Australian Church, as well as the gradual haemorrhaging of orthodox catholics, clergy and laity alike, from the Anglican Church of Australia, mainly to the Roman Catholic Church, but also to various Orthodox Churches.

Since the Congress of St. Louis - an international gathering of nearly 2,000 Anglican bishops, clergy and lay people in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, in 1977, which prepared the ground for an orthodox "continuing" Anglicanism following the decision to allow women priests in the USA and Canada - not a few catholic Anglicans in Australia had ongoing sympathy for and fellowship with the mainstream "Continuing Anglican" churches of the United States of America and Canada. In spite of the variety of people present at the Congress, and notwithstanding the subsequent problems of internal division among the USA Continuing churches (a situation which now seems to be undergoing a genuine healing), the real achievement of the Congress was the "Affirmation of St Louis" which many believe deserves to stand alongside classical Anglican formularies as a defining document of authentic Anglicanism. The Affirmation states a resolve

"to continue in the Catholic Faith, Apostolic Order, Orthodox Worship and Evangelical Witness of the traditional Anglican Church, doing all things necessary for the continuance of the same." (The Affirmation of St Louis is Appendix 11 of the Submission) 

The Rt Rev'd. William Rutherford was the first Continuing bishop to visit Australia. He ministered in Ballarat, having been welcomed by Bishop John Hazlewood; he was also hosted by the Rev'd. Bill Weston in Sydney. Then, in early 1986 Bishop Hazlewood, along with the Bishop of London, Dr. Graham Leonard, participated in a national gathering of Continuing Church leaders in the USA.

By 1987 the alliance of the Anglican Church of Australia's liberal bishops and the most aggressive elements of the feminist movement seemed determined to achieve the ordination of women, whatever the cost, and regardless of the pain and hurt dealt to many faithful Anglican women and men. That was the year of the General Synod in which members were entertained by the

"psychobabble of Archbishop Peter Carnley of Perth who tried to persuade us that we were not really opposed to the ordination of women on theological grounds, but as a result of poor 'psycho-spiritual development.' We had a deep fear of women getting the upper hand. This, he said, could well be related to the absence of fathers during the war years, and the exclusive bathing of children by mothers at that time. (Yes, he really did say that!)" (Chislett, D. in A Commentary on the Ordination of Women Debate, Ballarat Church Chronicle, September 1987)

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald of that General Synod, liberal scholar and theologian, Dr. Barbara Theiring said that all religions are patriarchal, oppress women and are one of the main social agencies for reinforcing women's unequal status. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald she said:

". . . the Scriptures are so conditioned by the patriarchal nature of society at the time they were written that their language and underlying assumptions about society are irredeemably sexist . . . I suppose the Bible is going to have to be phased out; it's a past cultural language." (See Chislett, D. ibid)

In June of 1987, Bishop Hazlewood had welcomed to Ballarat the Most Rev'd. Louis Falk, then Metropolitan of the Anglican Catholic Church in the U.S.A. The Diocesan Liturgical Reception took place on Tuesday 9th June, 1987, in St. John's, Horsham. As is clear from the title page in the order of service booklet, Falk was received publicly "as a Bishop in full communion with the Bishop of Ballarat" and concelebrated a Solemn Mass with Ballarat's Assistant Bishop, (the Rt. Rev'd. Graham Walden, and many of the diocesan clergy. (Bishop Hazlewood was ill that night). Then on 25th June Bishop Hazlewood issued the following statement under his episcopal seal:

"We John, by God's grace, Lord Bishop of Ballarat in the Province of Victoria and the Anglican Church of Australia do hereby declare to all the Faithful in Christ Jesus that: the Bishop of Ballarat seeks to be in Full Communion with the Archbishop, Bishops, Priests, Deacons and Laity of the Anglican Catholic Church in the United States of America."

Bishop Hazlewood appended the following message to the official declaration:

"This declaration is made in fraternal love in Christ and does not seek any incorporation one with another, uniting the two bodies or renouncing Ballarat's communion with the Anglican Church of Australia and thereby with Canterbury.

"This declaration fully recognises the validity of Holy Orders in the ACC and accepts the Creeds and the Holy Scriptures as the formulation and foundation of our commonly accepted Faith and Order. Further, we shall pray here for the ACC, and the Bishop wishes it known that he is available to help in any way he may be invited to do in caring for the interests of the ACC, should they extend to these regions."

The Most Rev'd Louis W. Falk, responded, declaring his desire to be in full communion with the Bishop of Ballarat in the Province of Victoria of the Anglican Church of Australia, and with all of the clergy and laity committed to his cure and charge.

On Archbishop Falk's final day in Ballarat, Bishop Hazlewood said to him and his party:

"Watch and pray. I am conscious of the price you've paid for conscience' sake, and I must suggest that those who have been in from the beginning not feel superior to those who have just come. I think, increasingly, the Anglican Catholic Church will grow from those who have not had an ecclesiastical connection.

"It is very refreshing, with the Falk visit, to meet a group of Anglicans who are really keen on being Anglican. Anglicans are often lackadaisical, respectable, comfortable, with very little spiritual depth and little concern for this tradition Anglicanism enshrines. This problem in Australia robs the Church of its enthusiasm and drive. The Anglican Catholic Church must contain people who are keen or they would not make the sacrifices they have made.

"I am going to be infinite trouble for the Anglican Church for the rest of my term. I can be a bishop until 1994, and I may have to be. We have, of course, a very strong and remarkable ally in Sydney, Archbishop Robinson. This has its problems because the Anglicanism of Sydney is very different from Ballarat.

"I think it is most exciting to see the Anglican Catholic Church extending into countries like Guatemala and India, because it is extremely tempting to put one's own hurt and dismay at the centre of one's religion and then have no energy to bring all people to Christ.

"There are many parallels between the American and Australian scene, but if there is a feminist revolution in the Australian Church, it would seem, at this stage, that the dioceses are free to accept that revolution or not. The independence of our individual dioceses is the most significant difference." (Bishop Hazlewood Declares Communion With the ACC in The Trinitarian, July 1987, Anglican Catholic Church, Denver, USA)

A number of clergy and laypeople did, in fact, regroup at this time, forming The Anglican Catholic Church in Australia ("ACCA"). According to its Constitution, that church

"being derived from the Church of England and the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, retains and approves the doctrine and principles of the Church of England as found in Australia on the thirty-first day of December, 1961, embodied in the Book of common Prayer together with the Form and Manner of Making Ordaining and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests and Deacons and in the Articles of Religion sometimes called the Thirty-nine Articles as well as in the Declaration made by loyal Anglicans gathered in the congress of Saint Louis in the year 1977 generally known as the Affirmation of Saints Louis." (Section 3.1 of the Constitution of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia)

At its beginning the ACCA was an association of clergy and lay Anglicans under the protective jurisdiction of the Rt. Rev'd. Alfred Woolcock, Bishop of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada. (This is the same Bishop Woolcock to whom the Most Rev'd. Rowan Williams wrote on 2nd May, 2003 "Should you be asked to preach or share in ministry in Cornwall, and should you feel able to do so in a parish in communion with Canterbury, you must regard yourself for that purpose as in communion with this See." See Appendix 8 of the Submission.) On 9th June, 1988, the Diocese of Australia was promulgated, with the recently retired Rector of All Saints' Wickham Terrace, the Rt. Rev'd. Albert Naunton Haley being consecrated Bishop on 8th October of that year, and enthroned as Bishop Ordinary on 4th November.

Bishop John Hazlewood was invited to participate in Albert Haley's consecration in Ottawa. On 14th September, 1988 he wrote to the Registrar of the ACCA, Father James Bromley:

"Thank you for your telephone calls and letters official and unofficial concerning the consecration of my old friend Albert Haley.

"I congratulate him and your congregations for choosing him. I was further honoured when you, as registrar, invited me to go to Ottawa in order to participate in his consecration. This is an act of 'being in Communion with the Anglican Catholic Church' that I should appreciate. Alas, it is not to be, as I am in the middle of my own Synod then. Synod dates have been settled for some time and my mandates are out and hall booked. I regret that it is impossible to change, and so we shall all pray for Albert on the Feast of St. Luke." (Letter from Bishop John Hazlewood to Father James Bromley dated 14th September, 1988.)

Right up to his retirement in 1993, Bishop Hazlewood gave warm support and personal ministry to the small but growing Anglican Catholic Church in Australia. Then, as a retired bishop, he made himself available for Melbourne confirmations; in addition he worshipped monthly at the Melbourne Anglican Catholic Parish of St. Mary the Virgin, and in 1996 was pleased to be one of Bishop John Hepworth's consecrators in Brisbane. None of this happened in secret, as can be seen in church newspapers of the period.

The existence of the ACCA is an important aspect of the disintegration of Australian Anglicanism, especially as faithful church people felt squeezed out of the "official" Church during the debates of the late 1980s, the events of 1992 and the subsequent failure of pastoral care for orthodox minorities which could be said to have ranged from benign neglect to vicious bullying. For a significant number of Anglican catholics, the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia came to be seen as the only available provider of alternative episcopal oversight.

Far from being "schismatic" (the charge consistently made by liberal Anglicans), the ACCA has always sought to explain its loyalty to catholic faith and order to the leaders of other parts of catholic Christendom. Writing to the Registrar of the ACCA in October 1988 on behalf of Archbishop Stylianos, the Very Rev'd. Miltiades Chryssavgis, Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, conveyed cautious support:

"His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos has received and carefully read your letter of September 8th and has directed me to reply on his behalf.

"His Eminence wishes to express his thanks for your informative letter on the current situation and recent developments for the "Anglican Communion" throughout the world and particularly in Australia. I can well assure you that our Archbishop has been following very closely the recent events locally and worldwide and fully shares your great grief as well as your spiritual agony and pain resulting from the kind of canonical disorder and dissention that further divides Christendom.

"His Eminence has repeatedly expressed his views reflecting the teaching of the traditional, Apostolic and Catholic Church of Christ on the Apostolic succession and the sacrament of Orders. His prayer and his earnest wish is that you remain faithful to the canonical tradition of the Church of Christ and is willing to offer all the moral support for the substantiation of such endeavour." (Letter from the Very Rev'd. Militiades Chryssavgis, Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, on behalf of Archbishop Stylianos, dated 24th October, 1988.)

The relationship of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia with the "official" Anglican Church in Australia is more complicated than relationships involving "continuing Anglican churches" in other parts of the world. Because the Anglican Church of Australia is constituted, not as a union of dioceses into a single Church, but as a federation (reflecting the 1901 political model) of sovereign and ultimately autonomous dioceses, dioceses and bishops of the Anglican Church of Australia are free to respond differently to the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia, and it is impossible to affirm or deny at the national level the existence of any degree of communion. (For Australian Anglicans this is no new thing: for many years the Diocese of Sydney has behaved as if it were in "full communion" with the technically non-Anglican-Communion "Church of England in South Africa".) (An example of the debate on what "being in communion" means in the context of the arguments of this era is the Report of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Sydney on Communion with Other Dioceses of Australia and Overseas 1989. See Appendix 12 of the Submission.)

In an interview he gave in 2004, Father Chislett addressed this matter:

"There have been dreadful things said about the ACCA by bishops of the "official" Anglican Church of Australia. I have to say that it is highly offensive to many of us that the ACCA is regarded by some of them as a heretical sect. A few years ago when FiF made it clear that we regarded ourselves as "in communion" with them... well, from the reaction in some quarters you'd think we had entered into a communion relationship with the Jehovah's Witnesses!

"To put things in perspective it is important to realize that in the 1980's what we might call the "non-Sydney" opposition to the ordination of women constituted ONE community. Towards the end of the 1980's there was a difference of opinion in that community as to the best way forward. In desperation some went "just outside" official Anglican structures and formed the ACCA, while others managed to remain "just inside" - those who eventually constituted FiF. But in reality both groups together have ALWAYS been ONE community of Anglicans . . . colleagues, relatives and close friends.

"What's more, the ACCA people never said they were out of communion with ALL dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia . . . just those who had departed from the Bible and Catholic order . . .

"The TAC has formal Communion Concordats with FiF in the USA, in Australia and in the UK. Furthermore, the TAC has provided lifelines of support to persecuted and marginalized Anglicans in Australia and other places where the liberals rule supreme." (The entire interview is Appendix 6 of the Submission.)

In contrast to the constant repetitions of Dr. Carnley (Primate) and Dr. Aspinall (Archbishop of Brisbane), the contention of this paper is that it cannot be said with any certainty that the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia is not in communion with the Anglican Church of Australia.

The explicit communion relationship between the Bishop of Ballarat and the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia existed from that body's inception. The fact that the present Bishop of Ballarat seems to have terminated the relationship following the Rosemont consecrations does not make Bishop Hazlewood's declaration and subsequent actions any less cogent. (See Bishop Michael Hough's statement on the Diocese of Ballarat website: www.ballaratanglican.org.au)

In 1989, Wangaratta Diocesan Synod passed a motion expressing "sympathy, support and understanding" to members of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia, assuring them that "they are welcome to receive the sacraments in the Diocese of Wangaratta." (Minutes of the Wangaratta Synod)

More recently, a majority of Anglicans in the Torres Strait formed the "Church of Torres Strait", as a sister church of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia and member of the worldwide body, the Traditional Anglican Communion ("TAC"). A high point of the consecration of their first bishops in April 1999 was the reading of a letter written by the Rt. Rev'd. Graham Walden, Bishop of The Murray, one-time missionary in the Torres Strait, giving his "formal consent" to the Consecrations. This received a standing ovation from the crowd of three thousand people. Later in the year the Synod of the Diocese of The Murray passed a motion supporting Bishop Walden's action.

In addition to these notable expressions of communion, many Anglican Church of Australia priests of good standing in their dioceses routinely worship, when away from home, with ACCA congregations. The same is true of lay people.

The boundaries of communion are blurred from the other side, too. It is common for clergy and lay people of the ACCA to receive Holy Communion in some parts of the Anglican Church of Australia. As we have previously noted, they believe themselves to be no longer in full communion, not with the "official" church as a whole, but with those bishops who purport to have ordained women to the priesthood. This communion relationship has deepened since the 2001 Communion Concordat between Forward in Faith Australia and the Traditional Anglican Communion. Forward in Faith in England established communion with the TAC in 1994; FiF North America did so in 2002. The TAC College of Bishops formally ratified these Concordats at St Louis in August 2002.)

In recent years a number of ACCA funerals have occurred for which unusual hospitality has been offered by the Anglican Church of Australia in consideration of the standing the deceased previously had in the "official" Anglican community. Although enormously hostile to Bishop Albert Haley, Archbishop Peter Hollingworth actually initiated the idea that All Saints' Wickham Terrace - where Haley had been Rector between 1975 and 1985 - be used for Bishop Haley's requiem. Anglican Church of Australia priests (and even Bishops) have concelebrated requiem masses with ACCA priests for clergy and lay people who had belonged to both churches.

"Interchangeability of ministries" is a sign of being "in communion," and this sign demonstrably exists in the case of the Anglican Church of Australia and the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia.

Another conspicuous example of sacramental sharing is the participation of Anglican Church of Australia priests in the laying on of hands at ordinations in the ACCA. Indeed, at one such ordination in Sydney, the then Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Reverend Donald Robinson, participated in the laying on of hands and in receiving Holy Communion.

Less visible are the Anglican Church of Australia priests who have received a licence from the present Bishop of Australia, Archbishop Hepworth. For most of these men that licence is the only quasi-sacramental link they have with an orthodox bishop, and, in the absence of alternative episcopal oversight, it is all that enables them to stay where they are with clear consciences.

There are other priests who do not feel able to accept an actual licence from Archbishop Hepworth (largely because of what would happen if their diocesan bishop found out), but who belong to the growing close-knit fellowship of priests for whom he pastorally cares.

Those responsible for the crisis initiated by the "ordination" of women are, by and large, merciless towards the ACCA. In spite of the blurred boundaries just described, they continue to assert that the ACCA is "not in any way in communion with the Anglican Church of Australia." They speak freely of ACCA members having gone "into schism".

But is it that simple? There are still many who believe that C.B. Moss, that most Anglican of textbook writers, has the best working definition of "schism". He says that "schism" is the departure of a group, large or small, from the Faith and or Order of the Catholic Church. According to this mainstream definition, the schismatics are the liberal bishops who have purported to ordain women to the priesthood. (See pages 19 - 20 of the Submission) From an orthodox catholic point of view the real schism is not between the "official" church and the ACCA; it zig-zags right through the "official" church, while the ACCA, far from being schismatic, is, in fact a catholic body.

At the 1998 General Synod in Adelaide, Bishop David Silk spoke to a motion calling for dialogue between the "official" Anglican Church and the ACCA. He noted the historic Anglican eagerness for talks with people from a wide range of Christian and other traditions, and then listed at length the things shared by all Anglicans, whether inside the "official" church or just outside it. The Primate, Archbishop Keith Rayner, left the chair and participated in the debate. He was angry at the very thought of a formal dialogue, and seemed to say that the quarrels between the "official" Anglican Church and the ACCA had not been going long enough for a more positive working relationship to be established. The motion was lost.

Many thought that the generous and widely supported Resolution IV.II of the 1998 Lambeth Conference might have some effect. The resolution recognised that "important questions" are posed by the emergence of the various continuing Anglican bodies. It also asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to consider "how best to initiate and maintain dialogue with such groups with a view to the reconciliation of all who own the Anglican tradition."

With the rapid growth of continuing churches in Africa, India, Japan and other places, the "Traditional Anglican Communion" ("TAC") has become a truly international fellowship, and overwhelmingly non-white. It is governed by a "College of Bishops" presided over by a Primate. There are Anglican Communion bishops who are also members of it. Archbishop Hepworth was elected to the primacy last year upon the retirement of Archbishop Falk of the USA.

It is difficult to deny that the present disintegration of Australian Anglicanism over the ordination of women question, and now the sexuality issues - both being manifestations of liberal Anglican difficulties with scriptural and ecclesial authority - and the "sleeping" possibility of Sydney going ahead with lay presidency will result in "re-clusterings" of Australian Anglicans. Evangelicals, liberals and orthodox Anglo-Catholics will all be affected differently.

Is it inconceivable there could be a gradual convergence of the remaining orthodox Anglo-Catholic diocese(s), the handful of Forward in Faith parishes and the ACCA?

It is not difficult to see that such an Anglican "fellowship," "network" or "cluster" could evolve into a distinct ecclesial reality, a kind of Australian version of the "Free Province" for which Forward in Faith England is working.

One could go further. Until recently, those responsible for ecumenism in the Roman Catholic Church have been extremely reluctant to upset the "official" Anglican Communion by having serious talks with groups of Anglicans smaller than the Communion as a whole. However, now that three new obstacles - all created by the Anglican Communion - have been placed in the way of the "full ecclesial reunion" between Rome and Canterbury envisaged as the goal of the ARCIC process (that is, the ordination of women, the communion relationship that some provinces have with churches lacking the apostolic succession as Anglican and Roman Catholic churches have traditionally understood it, and the more recent sexuality issues) some very significant Roman Catholic authorities are beginning to feel less uncomfortable with exploratory ecumenical discussion involving "groups" of orthodox Anglicans. Even Cardinal Kasper has said that their evolution into an "Anglican Rite" within the wider Catholic Church could well be a possibility "if enough Anglicans want it." The disintegration of world Anglicanism and the regrouping of which the Australian experience is part might well facilitate this development, thus creating a community in full communion with the Holy See which also has the capacity to be a powerful ecumenical link, culturally and theologically, between Rome and the Anglican Communion itself both in its "liberal" and its "evangelical" manifestations.