Report: "Radical proposals to reunite Anglicans with the Roman Catholic Church"

Breaking news from the February 19th edition of the Times:

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.

And:

The document leaked to The Times is the commission’s first statement, Growing Together in Unity and Mission. The report acknowledges the “imperfect communion” between the two churches but says that there is enough common ground to make its “call for action” about the Pope and other issues.

In one significant passage the report notes: “The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the ministry of the Bishop of Rome [the Pope] as universal primate is in accordance with Christ’s will for the Church and an essential element of maintaining it in unity and truth.” Anglicans rejected the Bishop of Rome as universal primate in the 16th century. Today, however, some Anglicans are beginning to see the potential value of a ministry of universal primacy, which would be exercised by the Bishop of Rome, as a sign and focus of unity within a reunited Church.

In another paragraph the report goes even further: “We urge Anglicans and Roman Catholics to explore together how the ministry of the Bishop of Rome might be offered and received in order to assist our Communions to grow towards full, ecclesial communion.”

Does the Times overstate the possibility of the Anglican Communion coming back into full union with Rome? My guess is "Yes." But this will be interesting to follow.

Meanwhile, over at GetReligion.org, Terry Mattingly comments upon the messy, confusing nature of things Anglican, as highlighted by the ongoing meeting of Anglican primates in Tanzania.

Comments

[Ed Peters]

Interesting, yes. ....Still, they've always been welcomed back, so where's the "news"? The A.C. has so little authority left, that I can't imgine a reconciliation agreement signed by 40 Anglicans actually affecting even 41, let alone it bringing anyone Home. Still, interesting. I've long thought the Anglican Schism would not end with a (happy) bang, but the proverbial whisper.

[Kevin Cary]

I remember hearing (and I don't know if this is true or not) that at one point, the Archbishop of Canterbury offered to sell some of the Anglican churches back to the Catholic Church and a bishop in England responded with something to this effect: "The Church is not in the business of buying back stolen property." This situation is not much different... if they would like to come home to Rome, they will be welcomed with open arms (and many pastoral exceptions, I'd wager), but it won't be on their terms. As Ed says, they have always been welcomed back.

St. Thomas More, pray for us

[Fabio P.Barbieri]

This is part of the inter-Anglican infighting that is taking place around the Dar Es Salaam meeting of Anglican heads. Against all opening forecasts, the conservatives have been thoroughly and humiliatingly defeated, and their leader Peter Akinola has absented himself from the most recent Eucharist, while Rowan Williams and Katharine Jefferts Schori stood side by side. This is a despairing last shot on the conservative side, threatening by implication the defection of whole provinces to Rome; but nobody takes it seriously. For one thing, even many conservative provinces now have women priests, who would have to be dismissed en masse to bring about unity with Rome; for another, nobody seriously imagines that Akinola, who is at present still a big fish in a rather small pond, should be eager to enter the much larger (and more disciplined) Catholic community. Besides, he and his Nigerian province are decidedly Evangelical.

[Ed Peters]

Kevin, historical quibble for your unnamed bishop. The Church has often bought back stolen beings. We've ransomed Christian captives from Moslem forces many times. We could both think of other examples. I still say, don't buy 'em back now (the churches, that is); at the rate things are going, we'll get them at clearance prices soon enough.

[Rick]

Or, the Anglicans will turn them into psuedo-churches/museums/mausoleums as they have done with Westminster Abbey? After all, the likes of John Shelby Spong and Richard Dawkins have to be buried somewhere?