“Churches back plan to unite under Pope”
Radical proposals to reunite Anglicans with the Roman Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope are to be published this year, The Times has learnt.
The proposals have been agreed by senior bishops of both churches.
In a 42-page statement prepared by an international commission of both churches, Anglicans and Roman Catholics are urged to explore how they might reunite under the Pope.
The ongoing meeting of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion in Tanzania is seen as a key indicator of the future of the effort. If the Communion splits into liberal and conservative wings, it’s quite possible that the conservative wing could find itself ready to join the Catholic Church, perhaps as part of an Anglican-use rite.
The Anglicans’ loss would be our gain. I wonder how that would affect American Episcopalians who lean theologically toward the more conservative provinces.
Update: Amy has a statement from the commission correcting the Times article:
Growing Together in Unity and Mission has not yet been officially published. It is unfortunate that its contents have been prematurely reported in a way which misrepresents its intentions and sensationalises its conclusions. The first part of the document, which treats doctrinal matters, is an attempt to synthesize the work of ARCIC (the Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission) over the past 35 years. It identifies the level of agreement which has been reached by ARCIC, but is also very clear in identifying ongoing areas of disagreement, and in raising questions which still need to be addressed in dialogue. Those ongoing questions and areas of disagreement are highlighted in boxed sections interspersed throughout the text. It is a very honest document assessing the state of Anglican - Roman Catholic relations at the present moment.
Technorati Tags:Anglican, Catholic, Episcopalian, unification
By the sheer numbers of North American Anglicans entering my local Catholic parish, I’m lead to believe that the ‘conservative’ provinces would have little, relatively speaking of course, trouble returning to Catholicism.
The ‘Anglican-rite’ point is quite interesting. Funny to think that one day it would be listed beside ‘Coptic’, ‘Melkite’ or ‘Byzantine’.
I guess instead of selling our closed parishes, we could give them to the American Episcopalians who lose their buildings when they break away.
I can see this easily happening in West Newbury, MA with All Saints Episcopal, and in Hamilton, MA with Christ Chruch Espiscopal, where the conservative Episcopalians are ready to spilt.
But, Joe, aren’t the parishes being closed because the archdiocese needs to pay of debts? If we gave away parishes while closing others, many Catholics would be justifiably upset.