Archbishop Rowan Williams: Communion 'worth working for'

(London) Five Church of England bishops are to convert to Catholicism under an offer from Pope Benedict XVI to welcome Anglicans disaffected by moves to ordinate women, the Catholic Church said Monday. The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales said it welcomed the decision by the three serving Anglican bishops and two retired bishops "to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church". The bishops are Andrew Burnham, Keith Newton, John Broadhurst, Edwin Barnes, and David Silk, it said in a statement.Their conversions come less than two months after the pope visited Britain. In 2009, the Roman Catholic Church unveiled a new juridical framework that made it easier for Anglicans unhappy with the Church of England's ordination of female and homosexual clergy to join Catholic ranks.

In a statement, the five bishops said they had been "dismayed, over the last 30 years, to see Anglicans and Catholics move further apart on some of the issues of the day". "Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the leader of the world's Anglicans, said in a statement he had accepted the resignations of Burnham and Newton "with regret". "We wish them well in this next stage of their service to the Church and I am grateful to them for their faithful and devoted pastoral labours in the Church of England over many years," he said.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has insisted that the worldwide Anglican Communion has a secure future despite divisions over issues such as homosexuality and women bishops. Speaking during a question-and-answer session as part of a four-day pastoral visit to the Diocese of Lichfield, Dr Rowan Williams acknowledged that the Communion's divisions would not be "easily healed". But the Archbishop said he believed the association's role in building relationships between different churches was secure.

Addressing an audience at Telford's International Centre in Shropshire, Dr Williams replied: "I do see the Communion as worth working for because I believe that a model of real international unity by consent is a very precious gift to the Christian world at large.
"That's what I want to work for."

Rt. Rev. Andrew Burnham's Interview with the BBC