THE ORDER OF MELCHISEDECH A Defence of ... - Rore Sanctifica

Worlock, the Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool, as stating that he regarded "the historical basis of
Pope Leo XIII's famous 'absolutely null and void' judgment as being no longer relevant." An
editorial in the 14 April 1989 issue of the same journal, which the hierarchy permits to be sold in
our churches, contained an explicit demand for the recognition of Anglican Orders. It claimed that:
"At grassroots level we do recognize Anglican orders." Unfortunately, this claim is probably only
too accurate where some (or many) English bishops are concerned. Cardinal Hume, for example,
not only attended the enthronement of Dr. George Carey as "Archbishop of Canterbury" in April
1991, but actually read a lesson, and behaved to all intensive purposes as if this married Protestant
layman were a Catholic bishop. This is hardly surprising in view of some alarming and astonishing
statements made by the Cardinal in an interview published in the Anglican Church Times on 28
July 1978:
I could not in practice dismiss all Anglican Orders as "null and void" because I know that a number
of Anglican Bishops have in fact had the presence at their ordination of an Old Catholic or an
Orthodox bishop, that is, somebody who, in the traditional theology of our Church, has been
ordained according to a valid rite.
One presumes that the Cardinal is claiming that these Old Catholic or Orthodox bishops acted as
co-consecrators, but what he evidently does not understand is that Pope Leo XIII ruled irrevocably
that due to a defect of form the Anglican ordinal is incapable of transmitting valid orders even if
used by a bishop whose own orders are valid (this is explained later [Chapter IV]). If Cardinal
Hume used the Anglican Ordinal himself, with the specific intention of ordaining a priest with the
power to celebrate a valid Mass and to absolve men of their sins, nothing would happen. The man
he intended to ordain would be a layman before and after the ceremony. The transmission of valid
orders requires both a validly ordained bishop and an ordination rite recognized as valid by the
Catholic Church. I have been assured by an Orthodox priest in London that, to the best of his
knowledge, no Orthodox bishop has ever or would ever act as a co-consecrator in an Anglican
ordination. Cardinal Hume continued:
As far as the Roman Catholic Church is concerned, I think it needs to look carefully again at
Apostolicae Curae and its status. We need to discover whether the historical background upon
which it was working and the argumentation upon which it was based is consonant with historical
and theological truth as theologians and historians see it today.
There is, of course, no need whatsoever to look again at Apostolicae Curae, because, as Pope Leo
XIII made clear beyond any possible doubt in his letter to Cardinal Richard of Paris, cited in full in
Appendix VI, the encyclical settled the question of Anglican Orders finally and without any
possible appeal. One wonders, too, who the theologians are whose theories have so impressed
Cardinal Hume. Is he perhaps referring to Hans Küng or to the Catholic members of the now totally
discredited ARCIC? An authoritative decision of the Magisterium does not need to be re-evaluated
each time a liberal theologian calls it into question. If this were the case there is not a truth of our
faith from the Resurrection to the Real Presence that would not need to be looked at carefully again.
One hopes that Cardinal Hume is aware of the fact that theologians do not form part of the
Magisterium. Liberal Catholics who seek to undermine the authority of Apostolicae Curae state
frequently that it is not infallible. This is untrue as is made clear in Chapter IV.
On a more encouraging note, the English bishop, whose approbation of my book I have already
cited, also remarked:
I don't think you need worry about ARCIC's request for a reconsideration of Apostolicae Curae.
Anyone who reads the Bull of Leo XIII and the letter to Cardinal Richard on the authority of the
pronouncement can be in no doubt that the matter is now beyond question. This is one of the
reasons that your book which contains these documents will do untold good. I shall recommend it
to our priests. It deserves much recognition.