>Frater: I (and most of the priests I know)certainly won't be
'signing on' to this minimalist nonsense/redundancy anytime soon. Inter
alia: When they start using the Articles of Religion as normative (No one
in ECUSA was ever required to sign these) then...
Seems yet more wasted paper, wasted time and wasted
money that should be spent on theological education.Blessings. GDVW+
THEOLOGICAL STATEMENT OF THE COMMON CAUSE PARTNERSHIP
> We believe and confess Jesus Christ to be the Way, the Truth, and the
> Life: no one comes to the Father but by Him. Therefore, the Common Cause
> Partnership identifies the following seven elements as characteristic of
> the Anglican Way, and essential for membership.
>
> 1) We confess the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the
> inspired Word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation, and
> to be the final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian faith
> and life.
>
>
> 2) We confess Baptism and the Supper of the Lord to be Sacraments ordained
> by Christ Himself in the Gospel, and thus to be ministered with unfailing
> use of His words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him.
>
> 3) We confess the godly historic Episcopate as an inherent part of the
> apostolic faith and practice, and therefore as integral to the fullness
> and unity of the Body of Christ.
>
> 4) We confess as proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture the
> historic faith of the undivided church as declared in the three Catholic
> Creeds: the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian.
>
> 5) Concerning the seven Councils of the undivided Church, we affirm the
> teaching of the first four Councils, and the Christological clarifications
> of the fifth, sixth and seventh Councils in so far as they are agreeable
> to the Holy Scriptures.
>
> 6) We receive The Book of Common Prayer as set forth by the Church of
> England in 1662, together with the Ordinal attached to the same, as a
> standard for Anglican doctrine and discipline, and, with the Books which
> preceded it, as the standard for the Anglican tradition of worship.
>
> 7) We receive the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1562, taken in their
> literal and grammatical sense, as expressing the Anglican response to
> certain doctrinal issues controverted at that time, and as expressing
> fundamental principles of authentic Anglican belief.
>
> In all these things, the Common Cause Partnership is determined by the
> help of God to hold and maintain as this Way has received them the
> doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ.
>
> "The Anglican Communion", Archbp. Geoffrey Fisher wrote, "has no peculiar
> thought, practice, creed or confession of its own. It has only the
> Catholic Faith of the ancient Catholic Church, as preserved in the
> Catholic Creeds and maintained in the Catholic and Apostolic constitution
> of Christ's Church from the beginning." It may licitly teach as necessary
> for salvation nothing but what is read in the Holy Scriptures as God's
> Word written or may be proved thereby. It therefore embraces and affirms
> such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are
> agreeable to the Scriptures, and thus to be counted apostolic. The Church
> has no authority to innovate: it is obliged continually, and particularly
> in times of renewal or reformation, to return to "the faith once delivered
> to the saints".
>
> To be an Anglican, then, is not to embrace a distinct version of
> Christianity, but a distinct way of being a "Mere Christian", at the same
> time evangelical, apostolic, catholic, reformed, and Spirit-filled.
>
> Posted on 7/30/07
>
> --
> To unsubscribe, send ANY message to:
> faithandlife-unsubscribe@...
>
>
-----------------------------------------
Check out Catholic Online's NEW Catholic Encyclopedia!
http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/