Historic Anglican - Vatican Announcement Coming?

Is the official Press Conference in Rome scheduled for Tuesday morning an announcement of historic implications concerning traditional Anglicans?

ROME (Catholic Online) - The Official Bulletin from the Vatican Press officially announced this evening that a Press Conference is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, 20 October 2009, in the John Paul II Hall of the Vatican Press Office. Here is the translation of the official announcement issued early this evening:

"We inform accredited journalists that tomorrow, Tuesday, 20 October 2009, at 11 a.m., in the John Paul II Hall of the Press Office of the Holy See, a briefing will be held on a theme pertaining to the relationship with the Anglicans, at which His Eminence Cardinal William Joseph Levada, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and His Excellency Msgr. Joseph Augustine Di Noia OP, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments will take part".

Father John Zuhlsdorf, whose ever informative, theologically solid, and usually very accurate blog entitled "What Does the Prayer Really Say", offered the following insightful thoughts:

"The main speakers will be the Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, His Eminence Card. Levada and the fomer Sotto-Segretario of the same CDF, now Secretary of the Cong. for Divine Worship H.E. Augustine DiNoia, OP.

"This all makes sense if...if... this is to announce that there will be a reunion of Traditional Anglicans with the Catholic Church. This would be in the bailiwick of the CDF. And Archbp. DiNoia would have been involved when he was at the CDF.

"However, a group of Traditional Anglicans would also no doubt have the Anglican Use for their liturgy, and therefore having the English speaking Secretary who had been at the CDF, rather than the Spanish speaking Prefect of the CDW makes perfect sense. So... I suspect this is about the reunion of the so-called Traditional Anglicans."

Damien Thompson, whose reporting for both the London Telegraph and the UK Catholic Herald is also usually very accurate and reliable ties in a Press Conference to be held tomorrow in London where both Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster and Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury will appear together, at 10 a.m., Tuesday, 20 October, at 39 Eccleston Square, London.

He writes "I cannot believe that the two press conferences are not directly related....
Something big seems to be brewing in Rome and London".

For many years I have been covering the stories of members of the Anglican Clergy who have been so deeply disappointed with the move away from orthodoxy within their own community. Among them are many who are being drawn by the beauty of the Catholic Church into full communion. I am particularly happy to cover their journey because I understand it so well.

I am a "revert" myself, having wandered my way back into the fullness of Catholic faith as a young man in search of truth. Though I was baptized as a Catholic, I wandered, as do so many young people and had to find my way home. When I did, I found the One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, Jesus Christ, waiting with outstretched arms.

As I followed Him, I discovered the simple but profound truth of the words first spoken by Cyprian and repeated for over two millennia: "Whoever has God for his Father has the Church for his mother". The Church is the Body of Christ and discovering that truth - and then finding one's place within her loving, sacramental communion - is that treasure in the field.

In a world filled with instability, the solid rock of Peter is a true anchor. In an age given over to the emptiness of relativism the compass of the Magisterium, the teaching office of the Catholic Church, points true north. She invites all who seek to find their way into the clarity of communion with what St. Augustine called "the whole Christ", the Catholic Church, to come home.

I have written numerous articles concerning the efforts by the "Traditional Anglican Communion" to find a vehicle by which they can enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church. So has my colleague, Randy Sly, the Associate Editor of Catholic Online who was baptized in the Episcopal church and was an Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church before laying aside that ministry to come into that "safe harbor" of full communion.

We will be watching the unfolding events tomorrow and keeping you informed. PRAY and STAY TUNED.... Ut Unum Sint!

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