Pope Benedict XVI’s recent invitation to disaffected Anglicans to join in union with the Roman Catholic Church has been criticized as “fishing.” Of course it is. The Church (the ekklhsia, not just the Roman Catholic Church) should always seek to include those who wish to remain loyal to the truth while others drift away.
The invitation by the pope is nothing new. Anglicans would be able to establish communion with Rome while retaining their own traditions. The one absolute requirement would be recognition of the primacy of the pope.
Other churches, such as the Maronites, have done it. They do not consider themselves to be Roman Catholic (in many ways they more resemble Eastern Orthodoxy) but they accept the pope as the head of the church.
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