Will the Episcopal Church and the R. Catholic ever join?

Question

The Episcopal split might bring some great changes for the good.......

Answer 1

Only a miracle will allow this to happen.

Luckily both Catholics and Episcopalians believe in miracles.

"The Catholic Church embraces with hope the commitment to ecumenism as a duty of the Christian conscience enlightened by faith and guided by love…Jesus himself, at the hour of his Passion, prayed 'that they may all be one' (John 17:21)." -- Pope John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint, May 25, 1995.

The Catholic Church in the United States already has the following open dialogs with her sister Churches:

- The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation
- The Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops
- The Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic Consultation
- The Polish National Catholic-Roman Catholic Dialogue
- The Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation USA
- The Lutheran-Catholic Dialogue
- Roman Catholic-Reformed Consultation
- The United Methodist-Catholic Dialogue
- Southern Baptist Convention-Catholic Dialogue
- The Evangelical-Catholic Dialogue
- Faith and Order Commission, National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA
- Consultation with the National Council of Synagogues
- Consultation with the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America
- Midwest Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims
- Mid-Atlantic Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims
- West Coast Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims

Here is the joint declaration of justification by Catholics (1999), Lutherans (1999), and Methodists (2006):

By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping us and calling us to good works.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_31101999_cath-luth-joint-declaration_en.html

http://www.usccb.org/seia/officialdialogues.shtml

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

You heard wrong. Or maybe you heard only part of the story. First of all, the "Anglican Church" worldwide is a totally fragmented entity to begin with. The Anglican Church in each country is its own organization, with no formal bureaucratic times to other Anglican Churches in other countries. So, in theory, one Church, like the Anglican Church Of Canada or the Episcopal Church in the USA could join the Roman Catholic Church. But this is NOT happening. What IS happening is that there are thousands of individual Anglican Church members - even many Priests and some Bishops - who are joining the RC Church. There have also been numerous parish Churches that have joined Rome. And I think there have actually been a whole Diocese or two that have left the Anglican Church and certainly considered Rome. The main reasons for this split is an ever increasing liberal theology, ordination of women, and the marriage homosexual persons as well as the ordination of openly homosexual persons. The Pope has also devised some sort of formal arrangement whereby an Anglican individual or an Anglican group can join the RC Church and keep many aspects of their Anglican heritage. I don't know how many people have gone this way, but I would be curious to know.

Answer 3

I wouldn't call it "joining" but if the Episcopal Church wanted to become part of the Roman Catholic Church...they'd be welcome...but they'd be Catholic and not Episcopal.

I do not see that happening. I know they are splitting within, but even the conservative Episcopals have a long way to go if they were to truly understand Catholicism.

I am a convert to Catholicism. I was Methodist but use to attend an Episcopal Church on Tuesday nights. They have a lot of the same appearances of Catholicism but not the truth of Catholicism.

Answer 4

They will never join, because they are two completely different religions, although they are united in their belief in Jesus... this is the same as saying Jews, Christians and Muslims are the same because they are united in their belief in God and common ancestry of Abraham.

You might argue that the Episcopal Church is Christian, so there is less of a divide... Somewhat true, however the Catholic Church has many doctrines that no other Christian denomination agrees with... most obviously that they consider themselves to be EXCLUSIVELY the true Church of Jesus

The Catholics believe Christ blessed the Church with infallibility in terms of doctrine and morals... whereas all other Christian denominations make no claim to infallibility and are, in the Catholic Church's point of view, IN ERROR in too many ways to begin to explain.

They will never join together. The Catholic Church doesn't compromise.

Answer 5

Currently the Episcopal Church is moving farther and farther away from truth, becoming increasingly liberal and unorthodox every year. So, union with the Catholic Church seems unlikely any time in the foreseeable future. At this point in time, Lutheranism is theologically closer to Catholicism than Episcopalianism is to either one of them.

Answer 6

I'm Roman Catholic. If you have a valid Apostolic Succession, then YES, that would be awesome!