There was a period after the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission agreement on ministry and ordination had been published – even though the first canonical ordinations of women to the presbyterate had begun to take place – when there was optimism among many that the question of the validity of Anglican Orders could be seen in a new light.
I well remember, however, the anguished correspondence between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Coggan and the same between Pope St John Paul II and Archbishop Runcie, as well as that between the latter and Cardinal Willebrands (then head of the Council for Promoting Christian Unity at the Vatican). In the correspondence, the Popes and the Cardinal are seen as pleading with the Archbishop to prevent provinces of the Anglican Communion from taking unilateral action over the ordination of women to the presbyterate. They felt this would jeopardise the agreement on ministry, showing that the it was more apparent than real, thus making any possibility of re-evaluating Anglican Orders more difficult, if not impossible.
