von_Christendom
02-19-2007, 08:26 AM
<div ="message" style="overflow: auto; float: left; width: 99%;">
(This
news is key. Someone must stand for our traditional values, and aid
those Priests in their peril dealing with issues their denominations
have weaned on like Gay Marriage & Priests, and it looks like
finally one big group is helping, and that is the Catholic Chuch. These
Denominations have always considered themselves catholic, and have most
of the same practices. Those who don't know the difference would
probably confuse any Presbyterian, Anglican or Episcopalian Priest as
being a Roman Catholic. We truly are all a part of God's one holy
catholic (not Roman Catholic) Church.)</span>
From The Times
February 19, 2007
Churches back plan to unite under Pope (http://christsassembly.com/watchman_news_reporters/YaBB.pl?num=1171867543/0#0)</span>
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article140370 (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article1403702.ece) 2.ece
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.
Were this week’s discussions to lead to a split between liberals and
conservatives, many of the former objections in Rome to a reunion with
Anglican conservatives would disappear. Many of those Anglicans who
object most strongly to gay ordination also oppose the ordination of
women priests.
Rome has already shown itself willing to be
flexible on the subject of celibacywhen it received dozens of married
priests from the Church of England into the Catholic priesthood after
they left over the issue of women’s ordination.
There are
about 78 million Anglicans, compared with a billion Roman Catholics,
worldwide. In England and Wales, the Catholic Church is set to overtake
Anglicanism as the predominant Christian denomination for the first
time since the Reformation, thanks to immigration from Catholic
countries.
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.
The latest
Anglican-Catholic report could hardly come at a more sensitive time. It
has been drawn up by the International Anglican-Roman Catholic
Commission for Unity and Mission, which is chaired by the Right Rev
David Beetge, an Anglican bishop from South Africa, and the Most Rev
John Bathersby, the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, Australia.
The commission was set up in 2000 by the former Archbishop of
Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, and Cardinal Edward Cassidy, then
head of the Vatican’s Council for Christian Unity. Its aim was to find
a way of moving towards unity through “common life and mission”.
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.”
Other recommendations include
inviting lay and ordained members of both denominations to attend each
other’s synodical and collegial gatherings and conferences. Anglican
bishops could be invited to accompany Catholic ones on visits to Rome.
The report adds that special “protocols” should also be drawn up to
handle the movement of clergy from one Church to the other. Other
proposals include common teaching resources for children in Sunday
schools and attendance at each other’s services, pilgrimages and
processions.
{......}
full text found at THE TIMES Churches back plan to unite under Pope (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article1403702.ece) </span>
</div>
(This
news is key. Someone must stand for our traditional values, and aid
those Priests in their peril dealing with issues their denominations
have weaned on like Gay Marriage & Priests, and it looks like
finally one big group is helping, and that is the Catholic Chuch. These
Denominations have always considered themselves catholic, and have most
of the same practices. Those who don't know the difference would
probably confuse any Presbyterian, Anglican or Episcopalian Priest as
being a Roman Catholic. We truly are all a part of God's one holy
catholic (not Roman Catholic) Church.)</span>
From The Times
February 19, 2007
Churches back plan to unite under Pope (http://christsassembly.com/watchman_news_reporters/YaBB.pl?num=1171867543/0#0)</span>
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article140370 (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article1403702.ece) 2.ece
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.
Were this week’s discussions to lead to a split between liberals and
conservatives, many of the former objections in Rome to a reunion with
Anglican conservatives would disappear. Many of those Anglicans who
object most strongly to gay ordination also oppose the ordination of
women priests.
Rome has already shown itself willing to be
flexible on the subject of celibacywhen it received dozens of married
priests from the Church of England into the Catholic priesthood after
they left over the issue of women’s ordination.
There are
about 78 million Anglicans, compared with a billion Roman Catholics,
worldwide. In England and Wales, the Catholic Church is set to overtake
Anglicanism as the predominant Christian denomination for the first
time since the Reformation, thanks to immigration from Catholic
countries.
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.
The latest
Anglican-Catholic report could hardly come at a more sensitive time. It
has been drawn up by the International Anglican-Roman Catholic
Commission for Unity and Mission, which is chaired by the Right Rev
David Beetge, an Anglican bishop from South Africa, and the Most Rev
John Bathersby, the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, Australia.
The commission was set up in 2000 by the former Archbishop of
Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, and Cardinal Edward Cassidy, then
head of the Vatican’s Council for Christian Unity. Its aim was to find
a way of moving towards unity through “common life and mission”.
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.”
Other recommendations include
inviting lay and ordained members of both denominations to attend each
other’s synodical and collegial gatherings and conferences. Anglican
bishops could be invited to accompany Catholic ones on visits to Rome.
The report adds that special “protocols” should also be drawn up to
handle the movement of clergy from one Church to the other. Other
proposals include common teaching resources for children in Sunday
schools and attendance at each other’s services, pilgrimages and
processions.
{......}
full text found at THE TIMES Churches back plan to unite under Pope (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article1403702.ece) </span>
</div>