If you have been following events in the Anglican communion as I have you would know that as western branches of the church have embraced non-biblical teachings. (Hello bishop Gene Robinson) or deferring to Islam (hi Rowan Williams) have shrunk while African churches that have held to scripture have thrived.
Well the successor’s of Henry VIII have created an opening and Pope Benedict is driving a truck right through it:
The Pope is preparing to offer the Traditonal Anglican Communion, a group of half a million dissident Anglicans, its own personal prelature by Rome, according to reports this morning.
“History may be in the making”, reports The Record. “It appears Rome is on the brink of welcoming close to half a million members of the Traditional Anglican Communion into membership of the Roman Catholic Church. Such a move would be the most historic development in Anglican-Catholic relations in the last 500 years. But it may also be a prelude to a much greater influx of Anglicans waiting on the sidelines, pushed too far by the controversy surrounding the consecration of practising homosexual bishops, women clergy and a host of other issues.”
Would they keep their structures? Yes:
If the Pope agrees, the TAC, which has a large number of married bishops and priests, would answer to the Pope but keep their existing structure, clergy and some elements of Anglican identity.
This has been in the works for some time. Damian Thompson makes a prediction:
My guess is that, if this happens, Anglo-Catholics in the C of E will move to Rome in unprecedented numbers under a similar arrangement.
I guess all those who said the Catholic Church was doomed because they didn’t change like protestants had it backwards. A society that expects instant gratification not a place to go for advice when you are a church that takes a view over centuries. That’s why Christ built it on a rock that still stands strong.
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