SCHISM
IN THE centuries of Christendom there can have been few words more terrible for the Church than 'schism'. Yet that is what is staring squarely at the Archbishop of Canterbury. His attempt to reconcile irre- concilable differences within his church is failing. This much is quite clear from the meeting of Primates of the Anglican Com- munion last week in Larnaca. The Rt Revd Robin Eames was charged with trying to paper over the schismatic cracks following the consecration of a woman bishop in America. His attempted compromise on the joint ordination of priests by a man as well as a woman bishop failed, his form of double episcopal jurisdiction for congrega- tions who will not recognise a woman bishop was agreed although it is as ludic- rous as the joint ordination idea. From behind, Archbishop Runcie sees — as his recently released correspondence of late last year with Pope John Paul II makes clear — the attempts to repair the schism with Rome and help the Western Churches join fully again with the Eastern about to founder. The Archbishop's first historic duty is to the Church of England itself and he must not allow it, through indecisive- ness, to be a loser both ways. He should now press ahead with the bold policy of seeking to repair the much greater and more significant rift in the Church — that between the English Church and that of Rome — and leave the Lambeth system (rightly characterised by its detractors as a vestige of Empire) to bury itself.
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