An embarrassment of choice
Robin Denniston
THE ROMAN OPTION by William Oddie
HarperCollins, £16.99, pp. 256
The Roman option is, or was, one inter- esting reaction to the decision of the Church of England's General Synod on 11 November 1992 to allow women to be ordained priests. But William Oddie's sub- title makes grander claims — no less than `Crisis and Realignment of English-speak- ing Christianity', which he valiantly and eloquently outlines in his conclusion but which perhaps he knows he fails to justify.
Later in November Cardinal Basil Hume, who played a vital part in what fol- lowed, pointed out that the issue of women's ordination was not the only or the most important one, and those high Angli- can clergy and laity who knew the Synod's decision debarred them from staying in the Church of England agreed with him. The real issues were to do with the doctrine of the Church and the question of authority. This has been the subject of a recent book by the former secretary for ecumenical affairs to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dean Platt of Norwich. His book substanti- ates Dr Oddie's powerfully argued view that the liberal Anglican establishment has made a mess of things. The Anglican theol- ogy which precipitated the crisis both over authority and the ordination of women is, of course, rooted in good pastoral sense, realism and well grounded in prayer, but in giving retrospective legitimacy to such dis- parate recent developments as women priests, jacking up parochial financing in the face of financial mismanagement at the centre, dithering over queers and lesbians etc., the bishops have overlooked their own historical if not apostolic legitimacy, justify- ing Dr Oddie's strictures on them.
Oddie played an activist role in the response of the many high Anglican priests, some with 'their people'. Various alterna- tive ways of incorporating them within English Catholicism were considered and discarded. These included the Uniate and the Prelatory possibilities, leaving the Roman option itself. He does not restrict himself to the English experience but extends his range to the USA and the work of an outstanding Canadian priest, previ- ously at Pusey House, Fr Wayne Hankey, moving in a similar direction with an American bishop.
Particularly instructive was the less than enthusiastic reaction of English Catholics, clerical and lay, to the prospect of many Anglican priests, some with their congrega- tions, suddenly sharing their altars.
The older converts may still have thought Catholic worship was in its pre-Vatican II stage, and were surprised and not altogeth- er thrilled to find new vernacular liturgies, new emphasis on scripture and lay partici- pation take the place of bells and smells. (This is conjecture.) Money played a large but unexplored part in the decisions that followed. Compensation for poping spikes was set by the C of E at generous levels, so it is believed, and this would have had knock-on effects on those hitherto unable to make up their minds. Generalising from one or two parishes, dioceses or areas of the country gave no useful enlightenment in identifying trends and quantifying results, and what evidence there is is anecdotal. Oddie's own experiences were limited to London and Oxford, which are, of course, powerful centres of Anglo- Catholicism but far from typical. But he makes no claims for his argument except in his subtitle, on which he bases conclusions which are more prophetic than realistic. Partly this is because of the pace of change, new problems in both communi- ties, falling numbers, moral crises. This makes the book less focussed than the author must have originally intended. But to those as interested in the subject as I am, it is a great read, enhanced by some unexpected praise for Dr George Carey and his 'genius' for the
simplification of needless complexities which those who arc pure in heart instinctively achieve. His true vocation is to unite into one fold not only the emerging tradition of a new Anglicanism but the whole English Protes- tant tradition.
There is no trace of irony. here.
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