Scattered across the news feeds are reports of Anglican parishes “defecting to Rome.” The request seems to have come out of Ireland, joined by others from 12 countries. From Catholic News Service:
If approved by the Vatican, the move would allow 400,000 traditional Anglicans worldwide to be admitted into the Catholic Church.
The decision to petition for the move “seeking full, corporate, sacramental union” was made during an early October plenary meeting of the Traditional Anglican Communion, the umbrella organization for traditional Anglicans, in Portsmouth, England. The move, requested in a letter to the Vatican, would see the entire parish communities received into the Catholic Church.
It is extremely rare for entire Anglican communities to seek corporate communion with the Catholic Church whereby every member of the parish becomes Catholic and the parish effectively becomes part of the Catholic Church.
At the Vatican, officials would not comment on the letter, although they confirmed the doctrinal congregation had received it.
It’s interesting to note that the breaking point for this group is over the ordination of women, not gays, as is being reported in some less reliable places.
The whole story is here.
More coverage at the Independent.