Posted on 11/22/2009 5:43:48 AM PST by NYer
VATICAN CITY - THE archbishop of Canterbury held his first talks on Saturday with Pope Benedict XVI since the Roman Catholic church's unprecedented invitation to disaffected Anglicans, with the Vatican saying the two sides still want to press ahead for closer relations.
Archbishop Rowan Williams and Pope Benedict met privately for 20 minutes in what the Vatican called 'cordial discussions', as part of what has clearly been a difficult visit by the Anglican leader.
The Vatican said in a brief statement that the two leaders 'turned to the challenges facing all Christian communities' and the need 'to promote forms of collaboration and shared witness in facing these challenges'.
Referring to the recent overture for traditional Anglicans upset over the ordination of women and gay bishops to become Catholics, it said the talks reiterated 'the shared will to continue and to consolidate the ecumenical relationship between Catholics and Anglicans'. The Vatican said the pope presented the archbishop with a gold bishop's cross as a gift.
There was no immediate comment from the Anglican side and the Vatican declined to elaborate.
Since coming to Rome on Thursday, Williams has sought to downplay the implications of the Vatican's unprecedented invitation. The Vatican says it was merely responding to the many Anglican requests to join the Catholic Church and has denied it was poaching converts in the Anglican pond. -- AP
What are the beliefs of the Anglicans? I don’t know much about them, but this is very interesting.
Why do they want to be a part of the Catholic Church?
I doubt the UK Anglicans under Rowan Williams could answer that. They can barely define (as an organisation) what they do and don't believe, except that whatever they believe must be inclusive.
So they have ended up with a "spectrum of belief". And that spectrum is so ill-defined that it includes pantheism, and doesn't necesarily include the divinity of Christ.
Many Anglicans (especially non-UK Anglicans) believe in God, Christ, the sacraments. Others don't know if God exists or not - and some also believe that whether He exists or not doesn't matter. I have met these wierd beings: they were studying Theology.
The current state of the Anglican 'Church' is about as big a tent as you can possibly imagine, as it will not exclude anything as non-Anglican. Including, in William's own words, Shariah law.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.
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Humor: The Anglican Blue
Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15
Rowan wanted some more frequest flyer miles before he retires
I think San Fran Gran Nan got more than 20 minutes.
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