Traditional Anglican Communion Petitions Rome for Union

The Living Church Foundation ^ | 10/18/2007 | n/a

[GCC Catholic]

The College of Bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) recently petitioned for “full, corporate, sacramental union” with the Roman Catholic Church recently.

The appeal for union was debated during a meeting of bishops in Portsmouth, England during the first week of October. It was delivered in a letter, which was signed by all the bishops present. The letter was delivered personally to the Holy See by the Most Rev. John Hepworth, Primate of TAC, and two other bishops selected by the college.

Bishop David Moyer, Bishop of the Armed Forces for the U.S. branch of TAC and rector of Good Shepherd Church, Rosemont, Pa., said the college agreed not to discuss the appeal or the contents of the letter until after the Vatican has responded. Customarily the Roman Catholic Church does not announce ahead of time when it will make a decision public.

With approximately 100 congregations in the U.S., the Anglican Church in America (ACA) is among the largest of several “Continuing Churches” which emerged from the Affirmation of St. Louis and the 1977 gathering of former Episcopalians and other Anglicans. The ACA is the American branch of TAC, a worldwide association of orthodox Anglican churches, working to maintain the catholic faith and resist the secularization of the Church. TAC claims more than 400,000 members on six continents. Neither TAC nor the ACA are among the Common Cause Partnership of Anglicans led by Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh.

We invite your response to this article through a Letter to the Editor. Email your letter to tlc@livingchurch.org. Please include your name, city and state.

To find more news, feature articles, and commentary about the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion not available online, read The Living Church magazine each week. Call 1-800-211-2771 to start your subscription.

[GCC Catholic]

A friend pointed this out to me today. It seems this has been floated around much in the last couple years, but I had no idea that any formal steps had taken place.

[GCC Catholic]

TAC Ping

[NucSubs]

Translation?

[GCC Catholic]

Translation?

Translation of what?

[NucSubs]

I was just wondering about what this really meant. I am only peripherally knowledge about the various Anglican issues and sub-groups.

[GCC Catholic]

I was just wondering about what this really meant.

Oh. Not a problem. I'll give you the Reader's Digest version (to be corrected and/or expounded on by others if necessary):

The TAC is a group of high-church Anglicans who are very Catholic in doctrine and discipline. This, if I recall correctly, is based in the Oxford movement of the 19th Century (the same movement of Cardinal Newman). Due to the chaos in the Anglican Church, especially in the last few years, they have been considering petitioning the Holy Father for full union in the Catholic Church. This article explains that this has now taken place.

The TAC's position is in contrast to some of the other "Continuing Anglican" groups who disagree with The Episcopal Church's positions on homosexuality (and even a few still who disagree with the ordination of women, especially to the episcopacy); the other groups seem to be more Evangelical in discipline and belief, thus they haven't been leaning towards Rome.

I'll ping Sionnsar and Huber to this post. Either of them could fill you in more fully on the situation than I can.

[NucSubs]

Okay. I think I get it. Thanks.

[NYer]

With approximately 100 congregations in the U.S., the Anglican Church in America (ACA) is among the largest of several “Continuing Churches” which emerged from the Affirmation of St. Louis and the 1977 gathering of former Episcopalians and other Anglicans.

This article provides actual numbers. Thank you for posting it!

[nanetteclaret]

Praised be the Lord! With the Anglican Use already in place, it ought to be a fairly smooth transition - at least it would seem so. If they do become Anglican Use Catholic churches, that would mean many, many more opportunities (geographically speaking) for Anglican Use worship. From just a handful to over 100 throughout the country! What a blessing that would be!

[Piers-the-Ploughman]

I read elsewhere that one issue of concern is that there are lots of married priests and bishops in this group.

[GCC Catholic]

I read elsewhere that one issue of concern is that there are lots of married priests and bishops in this group.

Priests who married only once should not be much of an issue; they could be accepted under the current Pastoral Provision. Bishops who are married only once may or may not be able to function as bishops (as all bishops in the Catholic and Orthodox churches are celibate), but as priests would also fall under the same provision.

Priests and bishops who have been divorced and remarried, or who were raised in the Catholic Church, left, were ordained, and would be returning could be left with greater issues concerning their ministry.

All of those would certainly have to be taken into consideration.

[neb52]

I believe JP II’s Pastoral Provision only pertains to America and not England. The English Bishops asked for something similar as long as they controlled the procedures. So if my understanding is correct then only the ACA would fall under the Pastoral Provision. The rest of TAC would of have to approach the English Bishops unless the Vatican is taking this up as a whole. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Piers-the-Ploughman]

at angelqueen.org there is a lot of discussion on this issue.
apparently they would not use the “Anglican use”; their service appears to be very close to TLM

[Huber]

Thanks to GCC Catholic for the ping.

Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.

FReepmail Huber or sionnsar if you want on or off this moderately high-volume ping list (sometimes 3-9 pings/day).
This list is pinged by Huber and sionnsar.

Resource for Traditional Anglicans: http://trad-anglican.faithweb.com
Humor: The Anglican Blue

Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15

[sionnsar]

Thanks for pinging this.

I'd be VERY surprised if Rome agreed to union. The TAC has tried this before.

[Huber]

While the “Continuing Anglican” Churches certainly disagree with the Episcopal church over its position on homosexuality, they broke with the Episcopal Church in 1977 primarily over woman’s ordination, which was simply inconsistent with the sacramental role of the Priest as the representive of Christ the Bridegroom with the Church as the Bride, as well as proposed changes to the prayerbook. Most of the Continuing Churches are traditional, primarily Anglo-Catholic rather than evangelical, although various subdivisions of the original group as well as more recent additions of groups describing themselves as “Continuing Anglicans” have resulted in some evangelical groups as well.

[ex-Texan]

Thanks for the *Ping* ! and for posting this info about the Traditional Anglican Communion.

[GCC Catholic]

their service appears to be very close to TLM

Are they using the Knott Missal?

[GCC Catholic]

You may very well be right. I’m not really sure.

[Piers-the-Ploughman]

yes it is the Knott missal

http://www.oldcatholic.org/liturgy/knott.html

this is my understanding—but i only get this from this website (i am no expert)

http://angelqueen.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16934&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0