THE QUEST for reunification of the Catholic and Anglican churches will remain only a quest while the latter is embroiled in its own torment over the place of women and homosexual people in its leadership.Even without this agonising, there has been no serious consideration by the leadership of either Church that the two might completely overcome the schism that split them asunder in the 16th century, primarily over the refusal of Anglicans to accept the authority of the Pope.
Though many other differences have been resolved, particularly over the past 40 or 50 years, the vast majority of Anglicans are no more likely to accept papal authority now than they were when the separation occurred.
This seemed to be overlooked last week when some Church observers, who should have known better, worked themselves into quite a lather over the publication of a report by the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission for Unity and Mission.
Perhaps the report's title, "Growing Together in Unity and Mission", gave some observers the impression that togetherness was imminent. If so, it is not, and almost certainly was not, the intention of the report's authors.
Certainly, the Anglican and Catholic bishops who co-chair the commission wasted no time dispelling any thought of imminent reunification. Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane John Bathersby said the paper was meant only to feed into an internal discussion but both churches had come a long way in moving closer together.
South African Anglican Bishop David Beetge seemed surprised that the report had been interpreted in such a narrow time frame. He said unity was desired by both churches but was a long-term vision, and "I would be surprised if I saw anything in my lifetime".
He acknowledged the difficulties both churches faced in seeking to be universal. Those difficulties were amplified for Anglicans last week as its primates (the heads of its constituent provinces) sought to avoid a formal schism over the consecration of a homosexual bishop in the United States in 2003.
As diplomatically as possible, the primates said past statements by the Episcopal Church in the US about same-sex unions and consecrations had been so vague that they had failed to heal the "broken relationships" with the wider communion.
The US Church was given until September 30 to clarify its position. Failure to give adequate reassurances ran the risk that its relationship with the worldwide communion would at best be damaged. The primates even hinted that the US Church might even be expelled from the communion.
Discussion, and even threats of splits within the Anglican Church, have been quite frequent in recent years. Splits within the Australian Church were widely mooted from 1985 when its general synod first formally debated legislation providing for the ordination of women.
Indeed, there was a relatively minor split about eight years later with the establishment of the Anglican Catholic Church after the general synod passed legislation allowing women to be priests.
Tensions between the Catholic and Anglican churches were heightened when, despite its general bar on married priests, the Catholic Church accepted several married Anglican clergy who refused to remain in a Church with female clergy. These were at the Catholic end of the Anglican spectrum, not from the strongly evangelical wing, most strongly represented in the Diocese of Sydney.
The acceptance of the Anglican clergy caused embarrassment, even anger, to some Catholic priests. Some felt their relationships with Anglican friends had been compromised and others felt betrayed by the Catholic Church showing the door to its priests who marry.
The difference between the churches over married clergy is not a major stumbling block to closer unity, but the ordination of female clergy is. Though women are largely accepted in many countries, including Australia, as Anglican priests, the Catholic Church, and most evangelical Anglicans, believe this is theologically invalid.
It probably did not help relations with Rome either, but the main division within the Anglican Communion, as between it and Rome, is over the place of homosexual clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions. The Australian Church has not resolved its position on this latter point.
Despite official Catholic Church teaching, it is not immune from internal pressure to accept female clergy and recognise same-sex unions.
But, unlike the Anglican communion, the Catholic Church is a single Church with adherence to a disciplined codex of canon law.
The 38 Anglican provinces do not sing from the same hymn sheet and have no formal legal system for dealing with what any province might see as a breach by another. Its boast is that this allows for unity with diversity.
But it makes dealing with differences very difficult and the likelihood of reunification with Rome almost impossible.
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