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I don't think the whole Anglican church could possibly reunite with Rome, certainly not with the way one branch has gone off the rails on moral issues. But the more I thought about it, the more I could see the logic of at least some of them wanting to get back to Rome.

These churches must currently be feeling very alone in the world. The African ones must be particularly distressed, because they are under attack from outside forces - ranging from the Muslims to anti-religious, socialist governments - and from forces in their own church, that is, the liberals of ECUSA and whatever its Brit equivalent is. So it would benefit them enormously to tie into the larger Church and would probably provide them with at least somewhat better protection for their flocks.

And of course, for the Catholic Church, it would be great. It would consolidate African Christians, thus making it possible to present a more unified response to challenges.

It sounds as if they do not want to be part of a special "rite" or jurisdiction, but simply to come in, keeping what they have, but with their bishops being responsible to Rome. I wonder what the administrative aspect of that would be.

BTW, I met some of these African Anglican bishops recently, and they were scholarly and impressive people. Of course, they also had those wonderful African accents and that incredibly charming manner Africans have, so they'd be a social plus to us all!

I think you've nailed it. Many Anglicans are not all that comfortable thinking of themselves as an invisible body of believers not attached or in communion with anyone else. When you have a "high" ecclesiology, you definitely don't want to be off in la-la land as a Pope/church of one. Here's an interesting excerpt from a statement written by Hepworth of the TAC in January 06:

Having had our communion with the Anglican Communion shattered, we cannot remain "a church on the loose". To hold the catholic faith requires that faith be exercised in communion. Bishops cannot exist cut off from the mainstream of the church's life. Unity is not an option. Jesus commanded it.

More here:

http://www.thetraditionalanglicanchurch.org.uk/hepworthjan06.html

And the truly beautiful liturgical praxis that Anglo-Catholics have...that old '28 Prayer Book spirit that is now--sadly--that's almost totally missing in the English speaking Roman Catholic Church. So I wonder myself how this will shake out. It is hard to imagine an Anglican "Rite" that can rise to the level of the 5 traditional Patriarchates, but some sort of preservation of the best of Anglo-Catholicism is absolutely vital to Roman Catholicism today.

Speaking of African accents, is there ANY accent in the English world that is more melodious and beautiful than an African one? LOL