The TAC has 44 national churches?????

A bit of hyperbole it would seem.

Erich+

Quoting Father Chandler Holder Jones <fatherchad@...>:

> PORTLAND, MAINE: TAC seeking unity with Rome
> 
> By ANN S. KIM
> Portland Press Herald Writer
> 
> PORTLAND (Sept. 24, 2005)--The Traditional Anglican Communion is a small step
> closer to reestablishing unity with the Roman Catholic Church after a
> separation of five centuries.
> 
> Leaders of the Anglican Church in America, one of the 44 national churches in
> the conservative body, were in Portland this week considering a plan to begin
> formal conversations with the Roman Catholic Church about establishing
> intercommunion.
> 
> "It is a quest of being a single Eucharistic community," said Archbishop John
> Hepworth, the spiritual head of the Traditional Anglican Communion. "It would
> mean Roman Catholic people could receive communion in our churches and we
> could receive it in theirs."
> 
> Portland was chosen as the site for the meeting of the House of Bishops,
> which brings together bishops from national churches from North and South
> America and the Caribbean every three years. That meeting preceded others,
> including one for leaders of the American church and church leaders from New
> England and New York.
> 
> Portland is also home to St. Paul's, the cathedral for the Anglican Church in
> America's Northeast region. St. Paul's had been an Episcopal parish but broke
> away in 1989 over the consecration of a female bishop.
> 
> The Traditional Anglican Communion - which has members in Africa, the
> Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe and New Zealand - is part of the
> "continuing church" movement that split from the Anglican Communion. The
> continuing churches felt the Anglican Communion, to which the Episcopal
> Church USA belongs, was straying from Scripture with practices such as the
> ordination of women and changes to the Book of Common Prayer.
> 
> If the Traditional Anglican Communion achieves intercommunion with Roman
> Catholics, Hepworth said, he envisioned an arrangement in which the Anglican
> way of practicing Christianity would be recognized as special and would
> continue.
> 
> The Anglican Church in America this week endorsed a plan to begin formal
> conversations with the Vatican. With the endorsement of all of the national
> churches in place, the Traditional Anglican Communion can put together a
> proposal that would be presented to the papal headquarters in Rome, said Jeff
> Monroe, a deacon at St. Paul's Cathedral.
> 
> "In essence, what happens is the Traditional Anglican Communion is going to
> Rome and saying, 'We have reviewed our doctrines, your doctrines, and here's
> how we think this should and could work,' " Monroe said.
> 
> Plans from both sides would be exchanged. If the Vatican endorses the plan,
> it would be brought back to the national churches of the Traditional Anglican
> Communion, which would be asked for their endorsement as well.
> 
> The exact steps are unclear because the process is new, Hepworth said.
> 
> "No Anglican church has come into communion with Rome before," Hepworth said.
> "There's no road map."
> 
> ABOUT THE CHURCH
> 
> THE TRADITIONAL Anglican Communion bases its theology and practice on Holy
> Scripture and the general councils of the undivided Christian Church of the
> first centuries after Christ.
> 
> THE EARLY Anglo-Christian Church eventually became part of the Roman Church
> in the 5th century but separated from Rome during the 16th century
> Reformation.
> 
> TODAY, the church still follows many of the same liturgical practices from
> before the Reformation, but its beliefs reflect post Reformation theologies.
> Throughout the World, it is considered an orthodox and evangelical Church.
> 
> Copyright 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
> 
> END
> 
> Anglican Church in America
> Diocese of the Northeast United States
> Cathedral of St. Paul
> 279 Congress Street
> Portland, Maine 04101
> (207)828-2012
> 
> Press Release
> September 26, 2005
> Contact: Office of the Bishop 
> 845-753-6407 and 845-753-8424(fax).
> 
> Rt. Rev. George D. Langberg, Bishop
> 
> TRADITIONAL ANGLICAN CHURCH BISHOPS ENDORSE EFFORTS TO SEEK INTER-COMMUNION
> WITH ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
> 
> Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, the
> world's largest body of conservative Anglican churches, received an
> endorsement from the U.S. and Central American members of that Anglican body
> to pursue intercommunion with the Roman Catholic Church. Archbishop Hepworth
> traveled from Australia to attend the triennial meeting of the General Synod
> of the Anglican Church in America, held September 20-24 in Portland, Maine.
> At that meeting, the American church voted to endorse his efforts to
> re-establish communion with the Holy See in Rome.
> 
> The Archbishop has led a dialogue between the worldwide Traditional Anglican
> Communion and the Vatican 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 which would
> prevent us from being in full communion with one another," he said in a
> recent interview. 
> 
> "The climate is brewing for the Traditional Anglican Communion to be the 27th
> ecclesial group accepted into communion with Rome, and the first church
> touched by the Reformation to do so. "My broad vision is to see the end of
> the Reformation of the 16th century." Archbishop Hepworth said if Christians
> truly believe in the notion of an undivided Church, they ought to discover
> what it takes to find unity with both East and West and "be liberated from
> everything that stops it."
> 
> Due to the timing of its National Synod, the American church was the last of
> the jurisdictions to endorse the efforts of the Primate, but it did so in
> resounding fashion with a unanimous vote of support. The Traditional Anglican
> Communion will now prepare a formal unity plan to present to the Vatican next
> year, outlining how intercommunion could be accomplished, recognizing that
> the two churches have similar theological beliefs. The Traditional Anglican
> Communion has members in 44 countries around the world.
> 
> END
> 
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-- 
The Very Rev'd Erich A. Zwingert, SSC, Rector
St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church
101 Homewood Blvd., Delray Beach, FL 33445
561.265.1960