Vatican II and the Redefinition of Anglicanism

Chapman, Mark D.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-98581-7_16

Vatican II and the Redefinition of Anglicanism

Mark D. Chapman^6,7

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First Online: 09 January 2019

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Part of the book series: Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue ((PEID))

Abstract

This chapter explores the change of rhetoric in the Anglican churches during and after the Second Vatican Council. By exploring the contribution of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, to ecumenism the author shows how the increasing openness of the Roman Catholic Church forced the Church of England to redefine itself. Moving away from its negative anti-Roman identity, it developed a far more positive attitude to non-protestant churches. Although this approach had been adopted by Anglo-Catholic enthusiasts earlier in the century it gradually spread through other sections of the Anglican Churches. This success was mirrored by Anglo-Catholic opposition to ecumenical agreements with protestant bodies, which led to the collapse of the proposals for union with the Methodist Church in 1969.

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Notes

1.
Mark Chapman, Anglican Theology (London: T & T Clark, 2012).
2.
The Act of Succession to the Crown of 2013 now allows for a monarch to marry a Roman Catholic.
3.
See Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation 1707–1837, 3rd rev. ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009).
4.
See E. R. Norman, Anti-Catholicism in Victorian England (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1968); F. Tallett and N. Atkin, eds., Catholicism in Britain and France Since 1789 (London: Hambledon, 1996). On the American context see Philip Jenkins, The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice (Oxford: University Press, 2003).
5.
On Catholicism in the nineteenth century, see E. R. Norman, The English Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Century (Oxford: University Press, 1984); Sheridan Gilley, “The Roman Catholic Church in Britain,” in A History of Religion in Britain: Practice and Belief from Pre-Roman Times to the Present, ed. Sheridan Gilley and W. J. Sheils (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994), 346–62; and John Bossy, The English Catholic Community, 1570–1850 (Oxford: University Press, 1976).
6.
See R. W. Franklin, Nineteenth Century Churches: The History of a New Catholicism in Württemberg, England, and France (New York: Garland, 1987).
7.
See my Fantasy of Reunion: Anglicans, Catholics, and Ecumenism, 1833–1880 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), esp. Chapter 2.
8.
See esp. Mark Chapman, “Temporal and Spatial Catholicism: Tensions in Historicism in the Oxford Movement,” in The Shaping of Tradition: Context and Normativity, ed. Colby Dickinson (Leuven: Peeters, 2013), 17–26. On the branch theory see William Palmer, Treatise on the Church of Christ, 2 vols. (London: Rivington, 1838).
9.
See, for instance, Christopher Wordsworth, Union with Rome: Is Not the Church of Rome the Babylon of the Book of Revelation? (London: Rivington, 1850). See also John Wolffe, The Protestant Crusade in Great Britain 1829–1860 (Oxford: University Press, 1991); Denis G. Paz, Popular Anti-Catholicism in Mid-Victorian England (Stanford: University Press, 1992).
10.
Leo XIII, Apostolic Letter Praeclara Gratulationis Publicae, ASS 26 (1894): 705–17; English translation available at: http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13praec.htm.
11.
Leo XIII, Apostolic Bull Apostolicae Curae, ASS 29 (1896): 193–203.
12.
Conference of Bishops of the Anglican Communion Holden at Lambeth Palace in July 1897: Encyclical Letter from the Bishops with the Resolutions and Reports (London: SPCK, 1897), 106–7.
13.
Conference of Bishops of the Anglican Communion Holden at Lambeth Palace, July 6 to August 5, 1908: Encyclical Letter from the Bishops with the Resolutions and Reports (London: SPCK, 1908), 171.
14.
See Charlotte Methuen, “Lambeth 1920: The Appeal to All Christian People, an Account by G. K. A. Bell and the Redactions of the Appeal,” in From the Reformation to the Permissive Society: A Miscellany in Celebration of the 400th Anniversary of Lambeth Palace Library, ed. M. Barber, G. Sewell, and S. Taylor (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2010), 521–64.
15.
Viscount Halifax, Notes on the Conversations at Malines 1921–1925. Points of Agreement (London: Mowbray, 1928); see also R. J. Lahey. “The Origins and Approval of the Malines Conversations ,” Church History 43, no. 3 (1974): 366–84; Bernard Barlow, ‘A Brother Knocking at the Door’: The Malines Conversations 1921–1925 (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 1996); and H. R. McAdoo, “Anglican/Roman Catholic Relations 1717–1980: A Detection of Themes,” in Rome and the Anglicans: Historical and Doctrinal Aspects of Anglican-Roman Catholic Relations, ed. Wolfgang Haase (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1982), 143–289 at 195–210.
16.
Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Mortalium Animos, AAS 20 (1928): 5–16, no. 12.
17.
Peter Staples, “Archbishop Geoffrey Francis Fisher: An Appraisal,” Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift 28 (1974): 239–63 at 263. On Fisher, see also William Purcell, Fisher of Canterbury (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1969); Edward Carpenter, Archbishop Fisher: His Life and Times (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 1991); David Hein, Geoffrey Fisher : Archbishop of Canterbury (Cambridge: James Clarke, 2008); and David Hein and Andrew Chandler, Archbishop Fisher 1945–1961: Church, State and World (Farnham: Ashgate, 2012).
18.
Adrian Hastings, A History of English Christianity, 1920–1985 (London: Collins, 1986), 522.
19.
Quoted in Purcell, Fisher of Canterbury, 271; see also Andrew Chandler and Charlotte Hansen, Observing Vatican II: The Confidential Reports of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative, 1961–1964 (Cambridge: University Press for the Royal Historical Society, 2011), 1–20.
20.
John Heenan, A Crown of Thorns: An Autobiography, 1951–1963 (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1974), 262.
21.
A Step Forward in Church Relations: Being a Sermon Preached before the University of Cambridge on Sunday, November 3rd, 1946 (London: Church House, 1946); see Carpenter, Fisher, 310–13; and Hein, Fisher, 72–74.
22.
See Carpenter, Fisher, 309–70; Hein, Fisher, 74–77; and Chandler and Hein, Fisher, Chapter 6.
23.
Carpenter, Fisher, 707. This was confirmed by Sattherthwaite in a letter to Willebrands of 7 November. See William Purdy, The Search for Unity: History of Relations between the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches from the 1960s to the First ARCIC (London: Chapman, 1996).
24.
Carpenter, Fisher, 708; Staples, “Archbishop Geoffrey Francis Fisher,” 260–61.
25.
Purdy, The Search for Unity, 26.
26.
Commentary on the Church Assembly and on the Convocations of Canterbury and York, Autumn Session, 1960 (London: Church Information Office, 1960), 11.
27.
Owen Chadwick, “The Church of England and the Church of Rome, from the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day,” in Anglican Initiatives in Church Unity, ed. E. G. W. Bill (London: SPCK, 1967), 73–107 at 102.
28.
Carpenter, Fisher, 711–12.
29.
For a detailed account of the visit, see Carpenter, Fisher, Chapter 58.
30.
Purdey, The Search for Unity, 27.
31.
Purcell, Fisher, 281.
32.
SPCU archives in Purdey, The Search for Unity, 27.
33.
Purcell, Fisher, 281.
34.
See the Pathé newsreel at: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/archbishop-of-canterbury-arrives-in-rome/query/1960+Olympics (accessed 12 August 2015).
35.
Hein, Fisher, 78.
36.
Purdey, The Search for Unity, 32.
37.
Carpenter, Fisher, 731–32.
38.
Staples, “Geoffrey Francis Fisher,” 263.
39.
Cited in Frederick Bliss, Anglicans in Rome (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2006), 44.
40.
Purdy, The Search for Unity, 30–31.
41.
“Dr. Fisher Spends an Hour with The Pope,” The Times, 3 December 1960, 6.
42.
Cited in full in Carpenter, Fisher, 734–36.
43.
Ibid., 735.
44.
Ibid.
45.
Ibid., 737. An account is given in Touching on Christian Truth: The Kingdom of God, the Christian Church and the World (London: Mowbray, 1971), 187–88.
46.
Touching on Christian Truth, 187–88; the text in Carpenter is slightly different, and may be his own transcription from the tape.
47.
See The Tablet, 10 December 1960, 1141; for a brief assessment of other reports, see Purdey, The Search for Unity, 34–35.
48.
See The Tablet, 10 December 1960, 1156.
49.
Michael de-la-Noy, Mervyn Stockwood: A Lonely Life (London: Mowbray, 1996), 105–6.
50.
“Dr. Fisher Spends an Hour with The Pope,” 6.
51.
SPCU archive, in Purdy, The Search for Unity, 31. The Sunday after the meeting, Heenan engaged in a BBC discussion with Michael Ramsey , “Archbishop of York,” The Tablet, 10 December 1960, 1144–45.
52.
See Carpenter, Fisher, 739.
53.
Chadwick, “The Church of England and the Church of Rome,” 104.
54.
The Chronicle of Convocation Being a Record of the Proceedings of the Convocation of Canterbury: 17–19 January 1961 (London: SPCK, 1961), 7.
55.
Purcell, Fisher, 273.
56.
Fisher, Touching on Christian Truth, 187.
57.
Ibid., 188.
58.
“A proposito della visita di S.G. il dott. G. Fisher,” La Civiltà Cattolica 4 (1960): 561–68; see Augustin Bea, The Unity of Christians, ed. Bernard Leeming (London: Chapman, 1963), 64–72 at 70–71.
59.
Bea, The Unity of Christians, 71.
60.
Ibid., 64–65.
61.
Ibid., 71.
62.
“Diversity Without Separation,” The Tablet, 24 January 1970, 92–93 at 92; see also Documents on Anglican/Roman Catholic Relations (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference, 1972), 34.
63.
See the debate in the House of Lords, Hansard, 10 May 1961.
64.
On Pawley, see Chandler and Hansen, Observing Vatican II, 15–19.
65.
Chandler and Hein, Fisher, 108. See Bernard and Margaret Pawley, Rome and Canterbury through the Centuries (London: Mowbray, 1974), 335–36.
66.
Purdey, The Search for Unity, 37–38.
67.
For the Anglican observers, see Bliss, Anglicans in Rome, 62–63. A full list is given by Bernard Leeming, S.J., The Vatican Council and Christian Unity: A Commentary on the Decree of Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council, with a Translation of the Text (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1966), 312–17. See also Bernard Pawley, ed., Second Vatican Council: Some Anglican Views (Oxford: University Press, 1966); Peter Webster, Archbishop Ramsey: The Shape of the Church (Farnham: Ashgate, 2015), 31.
68.
David M. Paton and R. M. C. Jeffery, Christian Unity and the Anglican Communion, 2nd ed. (London: Church Information Office, 1966), 45.
69.
See Bliss, Anglicans in Rome, 63–69; Purdey, The Search for Unity, 58–61. This fullest account is given in Chandler and Hansen, Observing Vatican II, 31–404. Personal reflections were offered in The Second Vatican Council: Studies by Eight Anglican Observers, ed. Bernard C. Pawley (London: Oxford University Press, 1967).
70.
See Purdey, The Search for Unity, 71–72.
71.
John Moorman, Vatican Observed: An Anglican View of Vatican II (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1967), 98.
72.
Hans Küng , Yves Congar , O.P., and Daniel O’Hanlon, S.J., eds., Council Speeches of Vatican II (Glen Rock, NJ: Paulist Press, 1964), 115–17.
73.
Paraphrase in Chandler and Hansen, Observing Vatican II, 282.
74.
See Chandler and Hansen, Observing Vatican II, 285.
75.
A translation of the debates has been posted at: https://vaticaniiat50.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/session-nears-end-council-assured-ecumenism-chapters-still-on-agenda/ (accessed 13 August 2015).
76.
Cited in Herring, The Vatican Council, 12.
77.
See Owen Chadwick, Michael Ramsey : A Life (Oxford: University Press, 1991), 313–23.
78.
Michael Ramsey , The Gospel and the Catholic Church (London: Longmans, 1936).
79.
Webster, Archbishop Ramsey, 31.
80.
17 June 1963, in Webster, Archbishop Ramsey, 161.
81.
Chadwick, Michael Ramsey , 315.
82.
For details see Purdey, The Search for Unity, 92–93.
83.
26 January 1966, in Webster, Archbishop Ramsey, 183.
84.
See Purdey, The Search for Unity, 40–41.
85.
Note on the proposed Canonisation of the English and Welsh Martyrs of the Reformation Period, 8 November 1966, in Webster, Archbishop Ramsey, 189–90.
86.
Chadwick, Michael Ramsey , 315–17.
87.
Ibid., 319.
88.
Bliss, Anglicans in Rome, 89–96.
89.
Ramsey made extensive notes on his preparation for the conversation with the Papal Nuncio in London, Igino Eugenio Cardinale, which list the matters that were later addressed. See Purdey, The Search for Unity, 94–95.
90.
Chadwick, Michael Ramsey , 321.
91.
Paton and Jeffery, Christian Unity, 47. The official report was included in the pamphlet, The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Visit to Rome, March 1966 (London: Church Information Office, 1966).
92.
Chadwick, Michael Ramsey , 322. It is reported that Ramsey died wearing the ring. See Gordon Wakefield, “Michael Ramsey and Ecumenical Theology,” in Michael Ramsey as Theologian, ed. Robin Gill and Lorna Kendall (London: DLT, 1995), 63–81 at 63.
93.
Jan Willebrands, “The Ecumenical Significance of the Visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury,” Unitas 19 (1967): 8–17 at 14.
94.
Willebrands, “The Ecumenical Significance,” 14.
95.
Archbishop Justin Welby wore the ring for his visit to Pope Francis on 14 June 2013: see http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/5076/archbishop-justin-meets-pope-francis-in-rome (accessed 13 August 2015).
96.
See my “American Catholicity and the National Church: The Legacy of William Reed Huntington,” Sewanee Theological Review 56 (Easter 2013): 113–48.
97.
See, for example, Graham Leonard, “Foreword,” in The Panther and the Hind: A Theological History of Anglicanism, Aidan Nichols (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993), ix; see also 179.
98.
See my Anglican Theology, 199–210.

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Ripon College Cuddesdon, Cuddesdon, Oxford, UK
Mark D. Chapman
University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Mark D. Chapman

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University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Vladimir Latinovic
Department of Theology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
Gerard Mannion
Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome, Italy
Jason Welle, O.F.M.

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Chapman, M.D. (2018). Vatican II and the Redefinition of Anglicanism. In: Latinovic, V., Mannion, G., Welle, O.F.M., J. (eds) Catholicism Opening to the World and Other Confessions. Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98581-7_16

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98581-7_16
Published: 09 January 2019
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