quote: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 statement, leaked to The Times, is being considered by the Vatican, where Catholic bishops are preparing a formal response.
It comes as the archbishops who lead the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion meet in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in an attempt to avoid schism over gay ordination and other liberal doctrines that have taken hold in parts of the Western Church.
The 36 primates at the gathering will be aware that the Pope, while still a cardinal, sent a message of support to the orthodox wing of the Episcopal Church of the US as it struggled to cope with the fallout after the ordination of the gay bishop Gene Robinson.
...
As the Anglicans’ squabbles over the fundamentals of Christian doctrine continue — with seven of the conservative primates twice refusing to share Communion with the other Anglican leaders at their meeting in Tanzania — the Church’s credibility is being increasingly undermined in a world that is looking for strong witness from its international religious leaders.
The Anglicans will attempt to resolve their differences today by publishing a new Anglican Covenant, an attempt to provide a doctrinal statement under which they can unite.
But many fear that the divisions have gone too far to be bridged and that, if they cannot even share Communion with each other, there is little hope that they will agree on a statement of common doctrine.
posted
The document doesn't sound much different than agreements that many different denominations have with one another around issues of shared ministry. The United Methodists and ELCA Lutherans just signed one last year. It doesn't mean a merger is in the near future.
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Thanks, dkw. I was thinking it must be something like that. My cousin's husband (Lutheran minister) was telling me about that last year and explaining it, so I figured it might be such. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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(I think the ELCA also has one with one of the Episcopal churches that is part of the Anglican something-or-other.)
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Me: Did you hear, the church of England and the Catholic church might reunite. Wife: What?! Me: Yup, the Anglicans might come back and start worshipping the pope again. Wife: <disbelief> Why?? Me: He has a cool car? Wife: He does have a cool car.
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I had that thought, too.
