"In the Holy Catholic Church, although the Eastern branch still stands aside, although the Roman Communion has added to the Faith, although the Anglican body often speaks with hesitating voice, and all are hampered by party differences, they are nevertheless one in Christ. These three Communions, the Anglican, the Eastern and the Roman, all trace their descent through the Undivided Church, to the Apostles. When in God’s Providence reunion or intercommunion comes, it will have to be brought about by the drawing together of these three branches of the Ancient Church, numbering four hundred million souls, who agree in the essentials of Doctrine, Discipline and Worship."
--- Rev. Archibald Campbell Knowles, The Practice of Religion
This reminds me of what Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council of Christian Unity, said recently:
Ultimately, it is a question of the identity of the Anglican Church. Where does it belong? Does it belong more to the churches of the first millennium -Catholic and Orthodox - or does it belong more to the Protestant churches of the 16th century? At the moment it is somewhere in between, but it must clarify its identity now and that will not be possible without certain difficult decisions.
I think Anglicans tend to hear the contrast between Catholic and Protestant and respond based on our own internal vocabulary. But I suspect Cardinal Kasper meant something on the lines of Rev. Knowles because they both linked in Orthodox churches. The question is whether Anglicanism will adhere to the historic Christian "doctrine, discipline and worship" or follow a "New Revelation".
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