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The Anglican Use Blog has news of two new AU groups forming in the state of Pennsylvania. For those in the Lehigh Valley comes this piece from the newsletter of the St. Thomas More Society in Scranton, PA: Just last evening I received a telephone call from Msgr. Francis Nave, Pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Bath, Northampton County, in the Diocese of Allentown. Msgr. Nave was appointed by Bishop John Barres, Bishop of Allentown, as his liaison to the group of Anglicans from the Lehigh Valley that the St. Thomas More Society has been aiding in their...

Vatican City, Oct 19, 2009 / 06:41 pm (CNA).- Several Italian newspapers speculated today that the Vatican may possibly welcome a large number of members from the Traditional Anglican Communion into the Catholic Church on Tuesday. The group previously separated from the Anglican Communion due to issues such as the ordinations of both women and sexually active homosexuals. According to Giacomo Galeazzi from the Italian daily La Stampa, the press conference to be held tomorrow at the Vatican press office by Cardinal William Joseph Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and Archbishop Augustine DiNoia, Secretary...

Roman Catholic liberals and their Anglican allies are directing a campaign of propaganda at Anglo-Catholics, telling them that "Rome" does not want them to convert en masse following the vote for women bishops. This is a lie. According to Ruth Gledhill, "an extremely well-connected Roman Catholic friend" reckons that former Anglicans are "the last thing we need" and that the Vatican will not upset liberal Catholic parishes or its relations with Rowan Williams by making special arrangements for them. Alas, Ruth seems to have been taken in by this untruth. In fact, her friend - whom I do not doubt...

Real Presence or Substantial Transformation? An Anglican Reflection on Eucharistic Theology:or The Anglican Reformers on the Eucharist chalice The starting point for this reflection on eucharistic theology is a helpful article by the late Roman Catholic theologian Edward J. Kilmartin, S.J., “The Active Role of Christ and the Holy Spirit in the Sanctification of the Eucharistic Elements,“ Theological Studies 45 (1984): 225-253.(1) Kilmartin’s article begins by examining numerous ecumenical agreed statements on eucharistic theology prepared by Roman Catholics and Lutherans, Roman Catholics and Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Reformed, Roman Catholics and Orthodox. Kilmartin notes that although all of the statements...

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...

It was an historic occasion a week ago in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. For the first time a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Catholic Church chanted Solemn Evensong in a Papal Basilica. What a beautiful and moving time of prayer it was. His Eminence, Bernard Cardinal Law presided and preached a marvelous sermon. We have visited him with groups of our students before, and he is always tremendously gracious. In addition to over a hundred pilgrims, Archbishop Myers of Newark and Bishop Vann of Fort Worth were in attendance. It was a very interesting experience to hear our...

On Ascension Day, May 17, 2007, The Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) and the United Episcopal Church (UECNA) entered into a communion agreement. Archbishop Stephen Reber of the UECNA and Archbishop Mark Haverland of the ACC signed the agreement at Saint Stephen's Pro-cathedral, Athens, Georgia to restore or reaffirm the state of communio in sacris between the churches. This agreement came into immediate effect, though it still needs to be ratified by the ACC Provincial Synod and the UECNA Convention. "This comes at a time when Anglicanism in the USA is at a crossroads, when people are looking for firm ground...

PHILADELPHIA, PA (1/1/2006)--The Anglo-Catholic parish of St. James the Less, located in north Philadelphia, lost its appeal in a property case opinion by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court this week. The Orphans Court and the Commonwealth Court had ruled for the Diocese of Pennsylvania, concluding that the property of St. James the Less was owned by the diocese. The Pa Supreme Court reversed the holding of the Commonwealth Court that the Diocese owned the property. The Pa Supreme Court said that St. James owned the property but held it in trust for the Diocese. Earlier, the Commonwealth Court found that four...

‘I AM’ has certain remarkable precedence in the Old Testament. It is not a credal statement, but rather is an ontological one. When certain descriptive words follow this statement of being, however, we are faced with not only a diversity of definition, but also an identity which may be subject to change by an institution or by the person who is claiming the word as descriptive of who or what that person is.In the late 1800s to say that one was an Anglo-Catholic was to make a claim that was subject to near prosecution or persecution or ridicule depending upon...

Anglicanism sometimes seems like a country with a proportional representation system of government that is doomed, Groundhog Day-style, to be forever in an election year. For the last 150 years or more, Anglicans have subdivided into three basic groups. Labels have varied based on time period and nuance, but, for convenience, let's use Anglo-Catholic, Evangelical, and Modernist. As any student of politics knows, three parties means coalitions. As there is no election day, however, Anglican party strength is perpetually being tested—every decision and every appointment can be read as a triumph for one faction or another. Related to this is...

INFANT SALVATION: Most Calvinistic theologians have held that those who die in infancy are saved. The Scriptures seem to teach plainly enough that the children of believers are saved; but they are silent or practically so in regard to those of the heathens. The Westminster Confession does not pass judgment on the children of heathens who die before coming to years of accountability. Where the Scriptures are silent, the Confession, too, preserves silence. Our outstanding theologians, however, mindful of the fact that God's "tender mercies are over all His works," and depending on His mercy *widened as broadly as possible*...