Centennial of Cathedral Symbolizes Survival of Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church
Episcopal News Service. November 21, 1994 [94186]
As cathedrals go, the Catedral del Redentor (Redeemer) is not very old or very large but the centennial celebration October 30 in Madrid was marked by a powerful sense of survival -- and promises of an expanding role with other Anglicans on the European continent in the future.
In his sermon, Anglican Archbishop of Dublin Donald Caird pointed to the very special relationship between the Irish and Spanish churches who share some historical similarities as small churches in a sea of Roman Catholics.
"We can rejoice that old attitudes and hostilities are being replaced by more open relationships among the churches," he said in hailing the "tenacity, courage and faith" of the Spanish church. Referring to a similar period of persecution, he said that "the history of the church in Ireland made it sympathetic to the aspirations of the Spanish church."
The Irish responded to pleas for help from the Spaniards when they sought to form a church in the 1870s, defying opposition from the Church of England and from within the Irish church itself. "You have come through trials stronger in the faith... You have not merely survived but have grown and become an inspiration to other churches, especially in the Anglican Communion."
Spanish police blocked attempts to consecrate the cathedral a century ago and the service had to be postponed for two years when someone in the parliament asked whether Spanish citizens would be required to pledge allegiance to the English queen, Sanchez added.
"It is a miracle that the church is still here, after the difficulties of our history," said Bishop Arturo Sanchez Galan, who has been bishop of the Spanish church since 1981.
The roots of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church go back to attempts to reform some practices of the Spanish Catholic Church in the 1870s, taking the doctrine and discipline of Anglicanism as a model.
When the Spaniards asked the Church of England to consecrate a bishop in 1878, the Lambeth Conference suggested they turn to the Americans who had begun work in Mexico. Bishop H.C. Riley of Mexico visited Spain and Portugal and helped organize the congregations on the Iberian peninsula into two churches. When a bishop was elected in 1880 they turned to the Anglican Church of Ireland and the Irish consecrated Juan Autista Cabrera as first bishop in 1894.
After the death of Cabrera in 1916 the church entered a long period of persecution, forced to meet secretly because Ferdinand Franco was determined to wipe out all non-Catholic churches.
The links to the rest of the Anglican family were not restored until 1951 when the Irish archbishop was able to ordain new leadership and a second bishop for the church in 1954, with the assistance of two bishops from the American church. Even in the face of continued persecution, the church grew stronger and, with the death of Franco in 1975, non-Catholic churches were granted more freedom and legal status. The Spanish church was fully integrated into the Anglican Communion in 1980.
Three other Anglican bishops -- representing the Lusitanian Church of Portugal, the Church of England and the Episcopal Church in the United States -- were present for the celebration and met to lay plans for a much wider cooperation among their churches in Europe. "We are entering a period of growing collegiality and trust, looking for a new way of being together," said Bishop Jeffery Rowthorn, the new suffragan bishop for the Convocation of American Churches in Europe.
"So much is happening in the religious scene on the European continent that it is time to take a closer look at how Anglicans relate to each other -- and not just at the episcopal level, but also with local lay leaders," Rowthorn added in an interview. "The next steps are not clear yet but the bishops are planning regular meetings in the future and one way of building a new network of mutual support."
Rowthorn brought greetings from Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning who said in his letter that the presence of the other bishops for the celebration and for consultation "witnesses to a new collegiality and partnership in mission and ministry for the Anglican Communion in Europe."
"The Anglican world is not an English one any more," observed Bishop John Hind, the new Church of England bishop for Europe with congregations scattered from Russia to the Azores. What originally began as chaplaincies to English-speaking expatriates is evolving into mixed congregations drawn by the language and the liturgy. "I look forward to the day when there will be one Anglican presence in Europe," he said.
"The movement is clearly toward an emergent indigenous Anglicanism," Rowthorn added. He wouldn't be surprised if, in the next 25 years, the Anglican presence on the continent more closely resembled the indigenous churches of Spain and Portugal, ministering to disaffected Roman Catholics or anyone looking for a spiritual home.
Bishop Sergio Carranza of Mexico was also present for the celebration to celebrate the historic ties of his church with the Spanish church. Even though the relationship is largely symbolic at this point, several Mexican dioceses continue to collect a yearly offering for the church in Spain. The Mexican church is moving rapidly towards its own autonomous status as a member of the Anglican Communion, and Carranza reported that the government is openly encouraging non-Roman Catholic churches as part of its effort to build a more pluralistic nation.
Bishop Robert Witcher, the retired bishop of Long Island, was invited to the celebration since he was one of the consecrating bishops for Sanchez and the Diocese of Long Island has helped to renovate buildings now used as offices and seminary classrooms. "Our relationship actually goes back to a mission conference in 1963 when the bishop of this church approached dioceses in the United States which had a large Hispanic population and asked for help," Witcher said.
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