APA Statement on the Vatican Announcement of October 20, 2009
From the Office of the Presiding Bishop,
The Most Rev. Walter H. Grundorf, D.D.
October 26, 2009
The Anglican Province of America (APA) welcomes with hopeful interest the Note of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church. It has opened a way for persons who are currently Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church while retaining elements of Anglican liturgy, spirituality, theology, discipline and ethos. This remarkable decision demonstrates on the part of the Roman Communion a recognition of the integral virtues of historic Anglicanism. These characteristics can serve to be a gift to the wider Catholic and Apostolic Church. The new structure proposed by the Roman Communion is a fruit of the prayer and labor of faithful souls who for over a century have devoted themselves to such a form of reconciliation. While many in the Continuing Anglican movement may not avail themselves of this new ecclesiastical structure, the APA awaits with anticipation more information, which will give it a greater opportunity for consideration and reflection.
Our Province remains grateful to Almighty God for the positive relationships which have existed and continue to exist between the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions. Traditional Anglicans possess in common with the Roman Communion the essentials of the Catholic Faith, including the canonical Scriptures, the universal Creeds, the Seven Sacraments, the male character of the Apostolic Ministry of bishops, priests and deacons, and traditional Christian teaching and doctrine concerning Holy Matrimony. We share what Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey called in 1966 a Faith “founded on the Gospel and on the ancient common Tradition.”
Our differences over the role and authority of the papal office, the infallibility and universal jurisdiction of the Pope as defined in the decrees of the I Vatican Council of 1870, the 1854 and 1950 dogmas regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary, the validity of Anglican Orders and Apostolicae Curae will require further intensive and deliberate dialogue. Nevertheless, we anticipate a deepening relationship and collaboration with the Roman Catholic Church as a result of the new Apostolic Constitution about to be promulgated, a Constitution we are eager to read, evaluate and prayerfully consider.
We commit ourselves to fervent prayer for all those who will follow the path now created by the See of Rome, as we pledge to continue our prayer and work with Roman Catholics everywhere for the visible unity of Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
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5 comments:
That is one of the best responces I have read yet!
The APA doesn't seem to get it. We (the Orthodox) and Rome don't claim to be communions but rather THE church. Rome doesn't view Anglicans as a church or communion, the won't even refer to Anglican lay people as lay people but rather as "the faithful". Anglicans wanting to become Roman Catholic will have to accept the branding of Roman Catholic. This isn't like the inclusion of Eastern Catholics in the past. I love Anglicanism but I wonder often if Anglicans are playing with a full deck. Do you lie to yourselves or just close your ears when we (the Roman Catholics and Orthodox) say you are not equal to us? I would think it should upset you that you are considered second class Christians. Personally I don't think it is fair for either church to look at the Anglican in such a broad way. I have found a small segment of the Continuing Churches that are every bit as Orthodox as my own parish.
I think Fr.Jones gets it.My two cents worth;the two one true Churches continue to confuse us (the Continuers) with the impaired Church and/or don't think we are big enough to bother with.It is worth recalling that there was progress in oecumenical talks until The Anglican Communion's wheels off.Father Jones I commend you and thank you for the good work you here.
We Anglicans should not overlook the Romish doctrinal complex of merits, works, purgation, and indulgences as a significant ground of division, which is also shared by the Orthodox.
I would also point out that the APA statement is simply in error when it states, "Traditional Anglicans possess in common with the Roman Communion . . . traditional Christian teaching and doctrine concerning Holy Matrimony."
To the contrary, the Western or Latin doctrines regarding matrimony contain certain novelties not held by the primitive and ancient Church. Indeed, the Orthodox approach better accords with St. Vincent's aphorism of continuity, consent, and universality.
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