Under One Head

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 20, 1908

A NOTABLE meeting was held in New York City on February 10. It was a gathering of about twenty-five members of the Anglican, or Episcopal, Church at which was formed what is known as the Anglo-Roman Union. This union was formed for the purpose of promoting the corporate union of the Anglicans with the Roman Church, and was presided over by the “Rev. Father Paul James Francis, general of the Society for the Atonement.” The chairman of the convention, after its close, made the following statement as to the purpose of the movement:—

This is not a plot to get a few Anglicans into the Roman fold, but is an organization to accomplish the union of the Anglican Church as a whole with the Church of Rome. It differs from the so-called “quadrilateral plan” offered by the Lambeth convention of 1888, in that it recognizes the primacy of the see of St. Peter. This does not mean, however, that we acknowledge the supremacy of the holy see, nor the doctrine of papal infallibility. We have no particular method by which to accomplish the union. We shall simply follow the dictates of the Holy Spirit.

The constitution adopted by this Anglo-Roman Union states the objects of the organization to be “the maintenance and defense of Catholic principles and the forwarding of corporate reunion of the Anglicans with the apostolic see, the basis being the belief in the Roman primacy.” It will be remembered that shortly before the death of Mr. Gladstone, a strong effort was made to have the Vatican recognize the legitimacy of the claims of the Anglican clergy to apostolic succession, hoping thereby to bring about a union of the two organizations. The pope refused to recognize these claims as legitimate; but there is every reason to believe that the Vatican will do all in its power to encourage the present move, as it is a long step toward complete submission to all the claims of the papacy. It is significant that the definite organization of such a movement should take place in the United States. It is what might logically be expected that a movement for the unification of Christendom under the headship of the pope should be organized by that church which stands closest to the Roman Church. We need not expect to see all Anglicans favoring this movement. Some are already speaking out strongly against it; but there has long been a silent, indefinite trend in that direction. It is crystallizing now, and it will not stop with the Anglicans. Upon this point the Word is definite.