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 Continuing Anglican Church moves Romeward
There are now a wide number of continuing Anglican churches around the
world having separated themselves in some way from the Anglican
Communion.
Some broke away because of the growth of Roman practices in the 19th
Century, others formed as a result of the ordination of women and
consecration of women Bishops and some have been a result of the
homosexualisation of the mainline churches.
A few of these (REC in N.America, Free CofE and CofE(Continuing) in the UK) are Reformed in nature but others are more diverse and many definitely Anglo-Catholic.
One of the largest groupings, the Traditional Anglican Communion,
is now reportedlyseeking ways to build on its relationship with the
Roman Catholic Church. In a recent press statement the Archbishop of
the Communion is reported to have received approval from two member
groupings, in North and Central America to pursue unity with Rome.
The statement said of Archbishop John Hepworth that 'He has led efforts
on behalf of the Church to re-establish unity with the Roman Catholic
Church with whom he has had discussions for the last several
years. He has also made an effort to establish communion with
European Lutherans seeking similar common ground with Rome.
"We have no doctrinal differences with Rome" said the Archbishop in a
recent interview.'
In the UK two bodies are part of the TAC:
The Traditional Anglican Church and
The Church of Ireland (Traditional Rite)
The CofI (Trad Rite) has appeared to be a more reformed body and it is to be seen whether it will remain within the TAC.
The Reformed Episcopal Church in North America has also been facing a dilemma in this area in that it has sought to work much more closely with the Anglican Province of America,
which is much more Roman in focus. The willingness to walk this
path indicates that the REC is not as Reformed as its name would
suggest.
In the UK, the Free Church of England has struggled for years with
Masonic influence in a few of its churches. More recently it has
seen a growing number of its leaders willing to move from its clearly
reformed basis and attempts by them to silence the orthodox
majority. This has caused division with the establishment of the Free Church of England Evangelical Connexion.
We thank God for those faithful servants serving within some of these
groups, but it is sobering to see the troubles they are also
facing.
David Phillips
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