Opinion: Christian unity, starting with Anglicans

Bryan Kerns in the Villanovan:

"I am sorry that there has been no opportunity to alert you earlier to this; I was informed of the planned announcement at a very late stage." Those words begin the second paragraph of a letter that Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, sent to all the bishops of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion. The letter was transmitted shortly after Williams appeared at a press conference with Vincent Nichols, the Catholic archbishop of Westminster, where they announced to a stunned Christendom that Pope Benedict XVI would provide a canonical structure for traditional Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church.

Provision will be made to accept already-married Anglican priests into the Catholic priesthood as well as establish leadership of these traditional Anglican communities outside of the standard Catholic diocesan structure. For a pontiff such as Benedict, whose stated goals include encouraging union with various portions of Christianity that have fallen away since the East-West Schism of 1054, this is a massively important ecumenical step, perhaps the most important since the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.

On past occasions, provisions have been made for very specific instances involving very specific problems. Here, however, the pope has created an open-ended process at the request of leadership of the traditional Anglican communion.

Simultaneous to the press conference in London with Williams and Nichols, an availability was held in Rome with William Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – Rome’s chief doctrinal officer and Archbishop Augustine DiNoia, O.P., a scholarly Dominican and Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments – the No. 2 official responsible for all liturgical matters. Levada and DiNoia explained the process, years in the making, and how "intake" would occur.
Necessarily, the Anglicans who decide to join the Catholic Church will have to recognize the primacy of the pope, as opposed to the archbishop of Canterbury, whose leadership over the worldwide Anglican Communion has been tenuous at best over the past few years.

Fissures have been developing within this loose confederation of churches over issues such as homosexuality among clergy and the ordination of women. These defections by and large involve disputes over the failure of Anglican leadership to take strong stands on any side of these controversial topics.

KERNS: Christian unity, starting with Anglicans – Opinion

Anglicans, beware! – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Donald Collins, in a letter to the Editor of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Having been married by an Anglican bishop, I could not but be surprised by the apparent claim of superior morality, under the rubric of greater unity with Anglicans, in the surprise attack by the Vatican welcoming disaffected Anglicans. Doubtless the Vatican plans to use its usual recruitment tools: gay marriage, abortion and the appointment in the U.S. of an openly gay Episcopal bishop.

Hey, be gone if you wish, Anglicans, but remember this is the same outfit whose priests widely abused its choirboys and other young men with great public remorse and far less internal action, a morality exemplified by Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles, who flouts the rule of law by welcoming and sequestering illegal aliens to expand his flagging Caucasian membership.

Of course, family planning is a no-no. And women priests? Never!

If you like a hard-core, dictatorial, pyramidal hierarchy, this new destination will be right up your alley.

Donald A. Collins

Washington, D.C.

Anglicans, beware! – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

A Bridge Too Far Across the Tiber: Pope Benedict XVI’s Anglican Move May Backfire

Almost all media coverage and many blogs — we might call this the public discourse — has focused on the most visible issues: issues that are more social than theological, more political than fundamental.

Rowan Williams on an essay “Theological Integrity, ” defined integrity as it applied to discourse as to “whether such a discourse is really talking about what it says it is talking about.” But discourse that avoids the genuine issues lacks such integrity. It invalidates the value of any response.

In effect, we are in the short term reacting to irritants and not their underlying cause. Consider this from the New York Times:

In an extraordinary bid to lure traditionalist Anglicans en masse, the Vatican said Tuesday that it would make it easier for Anglicans uncomfortable with their church’s acceptance of female priests and openly gay bishops to join the Roman Catholic Church while retaining many of their traditions.

Anglicans would be able "to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony," Cardinal William J. Levada, the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said at a news conference here.

It was unclear why the Vatican made the announcement now. But it seemed a rare opportunity, audaciously executed, to capitalize on deep divisions within the Anglican Church to attract new members at a time when the Catholic Church has been trying to reinvigorate itself in Europe.
The issue has long been close to the heart of Pope Benedict XVI, who for years has worked to build ties to those Anglicans who, like conservative Catholics, spurn the idea of female and gay priests.

…In the United States, traditionalist leaders said they would be less inclined than their British counterparts to join the Catholic Church, because they have already broken away from the Episcopal Church and formed their own conservative Anglican structures (though some do allow women to be priests).

Walk across the bridge over the Tiber, the pope seems to be saying. We will let you maintain the nature of your liturgy, your priests, your hymns and all of your conservative views (which the pope shares) about gay and women bishops.

Don’t bring along your theology, your salvation by grace, your intellectual freedom to question infallibility. You won’t need those here. As soon as you are across, and we have blown up the bridge . . .

What may happen, and liberal Catholics will notice this, the real issues will be magnified. The public discourse will gain integrity.

Cross posted from http://www.one-episcopalian-on-faith.com/

Roundup of reactions to the Anglican provision

From: HeadlineBistro: Roundup of reactions to the Anglican provision

Then from New York, Father George Rutler – who also came to the Church from the Anglican tradition – discussed the document in even blunter terms than Father Longenecker.

“It is a dramatic slap-down of liberal Anglicanism and a total repudiation of the ordination of women, homosexual marriage and the general neglect of doctrine in Anglicanism,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Father Rutler zeroed in on the announcement’s implications for ecumenism, saying that the Vatican’s emphasis on the “spiritual patrimony” of Anglicanism, rather than its doctrine, is telling.

“Indeed, it is a final rejection of Anglicanism,” he said. “(It) makes clear that it is not a historic “church” but rather an “ecclesial community” that strayed and now is invited to return to communion with the Pope as Successor of Peter.”

Read the full article.

 

The Ugley Vicar: The Papal Bull in the Anglican China Shop

 

The headline Ruth Gledhill chose to describe yesterday’s breaking news was ‘Rome parks tanks on Rowan’s lawn’.

The Ugley Vicar: The Papal Bull in the Anglican China Shop

Anglican Network in Canada on Vatican Announcement

Bishop Harvey, of the Anglican Network in Canada wants to know:

1. Will the Roman Catholic Church require Anglican priests who choose this option to be re-ordained?

2. Will people who accept this invitation have to subscribe to Roman Catholic dogmas to which the Anglican Formularies are diametrically opposed – such as “Papal Infallibility”, the “Immaculate Conception” and Transubstantiation?

3. “Will Anglican priests – especially married ones – choosing to accept the Roman Catholic Church’s invitation have equal status with existing Roman Catholic clergy and will their ministry be interchangeable and welcomed in Roman Catholic parishes?

Then he adds:

As for me and my house, we will remain ever faithful to the authority and primacy of the Holy Scriptures and the Faith and Order of the undivided Catholic Church. I need not become a Roman Catholic to be a Catholic Christian. As an Anglican, I am a Catholic Christian.

Source: Stand Firm

Caitlin Kelly – Broadside – No Novenas, Thanks — I’m Staying Anglican

Good article: 

The Catholic church has sent shock waves throughout the Anglican communion by creating a way to ease Anglican conversion to Catholicism. Those horrified by homosexual priests and bishops, same-sex blessings and women priests are hungry for a spiritual home that ratifies their prejudices.

Not me.

The Anglican faith is premised on what’s called the three stools; faith, tradition and reason. Reason. I can’t attend any church or listen to any preacher who doesn’t explicitly, as this church does, welcome my questions, my intelligence, my doubts and challenges. . . .

Read on: Caitlin Kelly – Broadside – No Novenas, Thanks — I’m Staying Anglican – True/Slant

Politics Daily: The Pope’s Anglican Plan: Welcome Mat or Hostile Takeover?

Comprehensive wrap up of several view points:

If you are going to pick a fight with anyone, it’s not a bad move to choose an opponent who is already weakened. And, for good measure, make him an Anglican whose sense of Christian charity and British manners will make him reluctant to counterpunch, at least in public.

From that point of view, then, Pope Benedict XVI and the Roman Curia did well by choosing Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the 77 million-strong Anglican Communion, as the man to tweak with a provocative initiative to lure away a good chunk of Williams’ flock.

The plan, unveiled Tuesday at the Vatican, would allow Anglicans to join the Catholic Church without renouncing their Anglican traditions and beliefs. It would offer a tempting sanctuary to traditionalist Anglicans who have been upset with the acceptance of women bishops by the Church of England and openly gay clergy by the Episcopal Church, which is the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion.

The plan represents an extraordinary concession by Rome. Even married clergy could bring their wives along and remain priests (though married bishops could not be Catholic bishops, just ordinary clerics). Those are perks Rome has never made for other groups, and does not seem inclined to provide for members of its own flock who would like to adopt traditions like a married clergy.
In common parlance many would call such a move "sheep-stealing." The Times of London was even more direct:

Read on: The Pope’s Anglican Plan: Welcome Mat or Hostile Takeover? — Politics Daily

TIME Story: Pope Benedict XVI to Welcome Anglicans to Catholicism

Precise, first paragraph:

At first glance, the surprising news on Tuesday that Pope Benedict XVI has created a new structure to welcome some disenchanted Anglicans into the Roman Catholic fold — it was accompanied by a joint statement from his counterpart, the Archbishop of Canterbury — might look like a happy reunion. But the Vatican’s establishment of new "Personal Ordinariates," in which Anglicans, including married priests, can practice Catholicism while maintaining much of their own identity and liturgy, reveals more about the growing internal rifts within each of the two churches than any sign of real hope for reuniting the fractured Christian communion.

The rest of the article: Pope Benedict XVI to Welcome Anglicans to Catholicism – TIME

Perspective on the Rome Deal

Good posting over at O God, come to my assistance. Read the full posting:

Believe it or not, there are some of us Anglo-Catholics who are Anglican on purpose – even Episcopalian.  I am an Anglican because of the historic appeal to Scripture, reason, and canon law.*  I am an Anglican because of our venerable liturgical tradition.  I am an Anglican because of the via media.**  I’m an Anglican because I hold Anglicanism to be one part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church but cannot stomach any claim by any ecclesial body to be the only part of it.  I am an Anglican because I believe that all the baptized are welcome to receive communion.  I am an Anglican because though I have a strong Marian devotion, pray for the dead daily as part of the Guild of All Souls, and find benediction of the blessed sacrament a powerful devotional experience I do not demand everyone do so.  I am Anglican because I place much value in living a life of common prayer, but do not equate common with sameness.

Well put!

End of Anglican Communion? Not! But, oh, what a mess!

This is quite an article on the the pope’s intention to create “Personal Ordinariates” for Anglicans who wish to come home to Rome at the Rev. Bosco Peters (New Zealand) blog. Long, multifaceted, thought provoking and sharp, it should be read. It leads to this quote and is followed by some revealing comments:

In North America some Anglicans formed a new denomination The Anglican Church of North America (ACNA). This brings together two extremes of the Anglican spectrum – Rome-facing and Geneva-facing. This marriage of convenience, like the 1977 followers of the Affirmation of St. Louis, cannot last, as, at its heart it is united around being against one thing. Rome’s declaration cannot but affect it. If the Rome-facing ACNA (married) bishops can stomach losing their purple, pectoral crosses, honorary doctoral gowns, and complex titles, they may yet lead their groups home to Rome. This will impact the attempt of some Anglicans to produce a “covenant”. Nigerian “Anglicans” have already formally removed the Archbishop of Canterbury from their constitution. Sydney Anglicans, leaders in GAFON/FOCA/Mainstream, are now not only struggling with theology, church history, and liturgical practice, but have recently realised they haven’t been that good at investments either (their $265 million assets are now worth $105 million). This Geneva-facing, congregationalist end of the Anglican spectrum does not need a Communion in the way that others see it. Rome’s announcement may help towards trimming off the extremes leaving an Anglican Communion that is certainly leaner but hopefully spending far less energy on peripherals and with a stronger focus on the end of the Communion, in the sense of the purpose of the church.

End of Anglican Communion? | Liturgy

Anglican-Catholic confusion – Crunchy Con

Fed-up Anglicans? That’s how the New York Times puts it. But the comments on Rod Dreher’s Beliefnet blog are choicet:

 

News from the Vatican today makes it easier for fed-up Anglicans to convert to Catholicism without leaving everything behind. Excerpt:

The comments on his blog are interesting:

 

Simon / October 20, 2009 12:45 PM

Rod,

The Anglican Use has been a North American experiment. It provides for Episcopal/Anglican parishes to come into the Roman Catholic Church with their existing priests under the local Catholic bishop.

What Rome has announced today is much broader. It would create separate ecclesiastical jurisdictions for the Anglican converts under separate bishops (probably Anglican converts themselves, provided that they are unmarried). It will apply worldwide.

This is a fairly radical move by Pope Benedict, a move long sought by Anglicans who were interested in Catholicism but wary of the liturgical deviations and doctrinal softness they might find on the ground in the UK and elsewhere. Because the Church of England isn’t a Church of independent apostolic origin (like the Eastern Catholic Churches) but historically an offshoot of the Roman Church, it had been widely speculated that the move announced today would never happen. Benedict continues to surprise.

Chris Jones / October 20, 2009 12:55 PM

How does this differ from "Anglican Use"?

In two ways: it is world-wide, rather than peculiar to the United States; and the new Anglicans-become-Catholics will have their own ecclesiastical authority from among their own previously-Anglican ranks. They will not be under the jurisdiction of the local Latin-rite Catholic bishop.

The "ecclesiastical authority" will be either a bishop (if the previously-Anglican bishop is unmarried) or a senior priest (if married). Married priests becoming Catholic under this provision may be ordained as Catholic priests while remaining married, but married bishops will not be ordained as bishops (I presume that married bishops may receive priests’ orders under the provision, but I don’t know that). This grants an exception to the general rule of celibacy for Latin-rite priests, but maintains the Church’s custom (which (as you know) exists in both East and West) that bishops are to be celibate.

lancelot lamar / October 20, 2009 1:17 PM

Once again, Rowan Williams proves he was a most unfortunate choice to be AB of C. He is dilatory when decisiveness is needed, waffling when firmness is needed, and conciliatory when confrontation is needed. Benedict is cannily eating his lunch here, and all Williams can do is thank him. This kind of pathetic leadership is why the Anglican communion is on the rocks.

Boz / October 20, 2009 2:23 PM

Interesting news. I attended an Anglican Use parish in Houston for many years and have mixed feelings about this–more to do with the culture that seems to exist in these places than with the Anglican inheritance in Christianity.

What is the future of these priests and their ordinariate? What will the next generation of priests look like? Will they be married? Where will their children worship? How does one (lay Catholics, seminarians) "enter" this diocese? This was my big question when I attended the AU place in Houston and they were raising money for a Church building–what’s the future here? Has Rome created a diocese within the Roman Rite with married priests in perpetuity?

Appalachian Profs / October 20, 2009 2:35 PM

"…the new Anglicans-become-Catholics will have their own ecclesiastical authority from among their own previously-Anglican ranks. They will not be under the jurisdiction of the local Latin-rite Catholic bishop."

Translation: By episcopal fiat, they are safeguarded from lousy music. Direct me to the nearest branch.

James / October 20, 2009 2:59 PM

If this thing gets off the ground, Roman-rite bishops will be under tremendous pressure to speed up the ongoing process of liturgical re-sacralization in their dioceses.

Why sing "Gather Us In" when you can sing "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" down the street?

Davis / October 20, 2009 3:04 PM

Seems like a win-win for Canterbury. Send the dissidents packing and let the Anglicans get on with the business of being Anglicans instead of faux-Catholics or faux-Evangelicals. If you want to exclude women and gays from the priesthood and the bishops, scamper off to the Vatican and let us move ahead with the business of being Anglicans.

Anglican-Catholic confusion – Crunchy Con

Blindsided by the Vatican?

The New York Times story is a must, lengthy read:

VATICAN CITY — In an extraordinary bid to lure traditionalist Anglicans en masse, the Vatican on Tuesday announced that it would make it easier for Anglicans who are uncomfortable with their church’s acceptance of women priests and openly gay bishops to join the Roman Catholic Church.

Full story: Vatican Plan to Oversee Conversion of Anglicans – NYTimes.com

YouTube of Rowan Williams on Apostolic Constitution for deserting Anglicans

The Mad Priest Wonders

 

So if you’re Roman Catholic and you want to be a priest and get married, do you leave, join the local Anglicans, get hitched and ordained, and then claim to be Roman Catholic again?

of course, I could be wrong…

George Pitcher’s Take

George Pitcher is Religion Editor of Telegraph Media. He is an Anglican priest and serves his ministry at St Bride’s, Fleet Street, in London – the "journalists’ church".

Pope throws a lifeline to the Church of England for women bishops

By George Pitcher UK Last updated: October 20th, 2009

8 Comments Comment on this article

I have little to add to my colleague Damian Thompson’s analysis of Pope Benedict XVI’s bold initiative to offer Anglo-Catholics a home under Roman Catholic jurisdiction, without losing their Anglican liturgical identity.

All I would add is that this is marvellous news for the Church of England’s prospects for making up women priests to bishops, without creating an Anglican schismatic bloodbath. Traditional Anglo-Catholics, many of whom do not want to relinquish their Anglican identity, have had nowhere to go on this issue, other than conversion to Rome with a complete abandonment of Anglicanism.

Pope Benedict has thrown them a timely lifeline. He has also thrown one to Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. . . .

Read full article: Pope throws a lifeline to the Church of England for women bishops – Telegraph Blogs

Swimming pool being built across the Tiber

Great post from Anglican Down Under:

There will be no need to swim across the Tiber for Anglicans unhappy with current controversies. Instead the Pope is offering to build a swimming pool at the side of the river for Anglicans to be in communion with Rome while using (approved) Anglican liturgies, remaining married, etc.

Ruth Gledhill writes here, with links, and includes ++Rowan’s hasty response, having been caught in the headlights of Benedict’s speeding Mercedes.

Anglican Down Under: Swimming pool being built across the Tiber

Letter from Archbishop John Hepworth of the Traditional Anglican Communion

Letter from Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion:

I have spent this evening speaking to bishops, priests and lay people of the Traditional Anglican Communion in England, Africa, Australia, India, Canada, the United States and South America.
We are profoundly moved by the generosity of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. He offers in this Apostolic Constitution the means for "former Anglicans to enter into the fullness of communion with the Catholic Church". He hopes that we can "find in this canonical structure the opportunity to preserve those Anglican traditions precious to us and consistent with the Catholic faith". He then warmly states "we are happy that these men and women bring with them their particular contributions to our common life of faith".

May I firstly state that this is an act of great goodness on the part of the Holy Father. He has dedicated his pontificate to the cause of unity. It more than matches the dreams we dared to include in our petition of two years ago. It more than matches our prayers. In those two years, we have become very conscious of the prayers of our friends in the Catholic Church. Perhaps their prayers dared to ask even more than ours.

While we await the full text of the Apostolic Constitution, we are also moved by the pastoral nature of the Notes issued today by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. My fellow bishops have indeed signed the Catechism of the Catholic Church and made a statement about the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, reflecting the words of Pope John Paul II in his letter "Ut Unum Sint".
Other Anglican groups have indicated to the Holy See a similar desire and a similar acceptance of Catholic faith. As Cardinal Levada has indicated, this response to Anglican petitions is to be of a global character. It will now be for these groups to forge a close cooperation, even where they transcend the existing boundaries of the Anglican Communion.

Fortunately, the Statement issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury reflects the understanding that we have gained from him that he does not stand in our way, and understands the decisions that we have reached. Both his reaction and our petition are fruits of a century of prayer for Christian unity, a cause that many times must have seemed forlorn. We now express our gratitude to Archbishop Williams, and have regularly assured him of our prayers. The See of Augustine remains a focus of our pilgrim way, as it was in ages of faith in the past.

I have made a commitment to the Traditional Anglican Communion that the response of the Holy See will be taken to each of our National Synods. They have already endorsed our pathway. Now the Holy See challenges us to seek in the specific structures that are now available the "full, visible unity, especially Eucharistic communion", for which we have long prayed and about which we have long dreamed. That process will begin at once.

In the Anglican Office of Morning Prayer, the great Hymn of Thanksgiving, the Te Deum, is part of the daily Order. It is with heartfelt thanks to Almighty God, the Lord and Source of all peace and unity, that the hymn is on our lips today. This is a moment of grace, perhaps even a moment of history, not because the past is undone, but because the past is transformed.

—-Archbishop John Hepworth

"Fishing in the Anglican lake"

Here is one take from Progressive Involvement:

This is obviously a reflection of Pope Benedict continuing to try to re-invigorate the Catholic Church’s position in Europe by rallying conservatives–nothing new there.  The Pope appears to be handling the secularization of Europe by ever more strongly asserting an ideology that has already been rejected.  Instead, he seems to think that the best way forward for the Roman Catholic Church is to hunker down with conservatives and ride out the modernist storm.

The move will make it easier for the Anglican Church to ordain woman bishops.  Revanchist elements in the Anglican Church continue to oppose even women priests, let alone gay priests (of which the Anglican church has many).  If they go to Rome, then those who favor reform in the Anglican Church will, proportionately, gain in influence.

progressive involvement: "Fishing in the Anglican lake"

U.S. Catholic and Episcopalian leaders respond to Vatican’s new Anglican provision

Episcopal Bishop Christopher Epting, the Church’s Deputy for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations, issued a Tuesday afternoon statement concerning the provision. Speaking on behalf of the Episcopal Church, he said the Church is “in dialogue” with the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury and will continue to “explore the full implications” the action will have upon ecumenical relations.

Catholic News Agency is reporting: 

Washington D.C., Oct 20, 2009 / 03:31 pm (CNA).- Responding to the announcement of a new apostolic constitution to assist Anglicans in entering the Catholic Church, Cardinal Francis George has said the provision will serve the unity of the Church. An Episcopalian spokesman said the full implications of the action are still being studied and ecumenical dialogue will continue.

On Tuesday Cardinal William Levada announced that an apostolic constitution had been prepared to respond to the “many requests” from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful who wanted to enter full communion with the Catholic Church. The ecclesiastical structure will preserve elements of Anglican traditions and could help hundreds of thousands of Anglicans become Catholics.

“The USCCB stands ready to collaborate in the implementation of that Provision in our country,” Cardinal George, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said in a Tuesday statement.

Echoing Cardinal Levada, he explained that the new Anglican provision responds to a number of requests from groups of Anglicans seeking “corporate reunion.” He said the provision also recognizes the desire of some Anglicans and Episcopalians to live the Catholic Faith “in full, visible communion with the See of Peter” while also retaining some elements of their liturgical, spiritual and ecclesial traditions which are “consistent with the Catholic faith.”

Cardinal George described the provision as being “at the service of the unity of the Church.” He said it calls the faithful to join in Jesus’ prayer that “all may be one” (Jn 17:21) in the quest for “greater communion” with all baptized Christians.

“For forty-five years, our Episcopal Conference has engaged in ecumenical dialogue with The Episcopal Church, which is the historic Province of the Anglican Communion in North America,” the cardinal’s statement concluded. “The Catholic Bishops of the United States remain committed to seeking deeper unity with the members of The Episcopal Church by means of theological dialogue and collaboration in activities that advance the mission of Christ and the welfare of society.”

Episcopal Bishop Christopher Epting, the Church’s Deputy for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations, issued a Tuesday afternoon statement concerning the provision. Speaking on behalf of the Episcopal Church, he said the Church is “in dialogue” with the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury and will continue to “explore the full implications” the action will have upon ecumenical relations.

“The announcement reflects what the Roman Catholic Church, through its acceptance of Anglican rite parishes, has been doing for some years more informally,” Bishop Epting’s statement said. “We in the Episcopal Church continue to look to the Holy Spirit, who guides us in understanding of what it means to be the Church in the Anglican Tradition.”

The bishop said the Episcopal Church continues to remain in dialogue with the Catholic Church through the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Consultation (ARCIC) and the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the USA (ARC-USA).

His statement closed by describing the Episcopal Church as working with other Anglican provinces and with ecumenical and interfaith partners to “promote God’s reign on earth.”

U.S. Catholic and Episcopalian leaders respond to Vatican’s new Anglican provision