A joint prayer service for Christian unity will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
Bishop Richard Malone, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, and Bishop Brian Marsh, spiritual leader of the Traditional Anglican Church in America, Diocese of the Northeast, will preside at the service.
The service is an outgrowth of talks between the Vatican and the Worldwide Traditional Anglican Church.
The headline to the article could be a bit misleading to Joe Public – this sevice has nothing to do with unity between Roman Catholics and what most people understand by “Anglican”: The TAC have been separated from the Anglican Communion since the 1970s, and they have been petitioning Rome for admission as a group for years.
Admitting TAC won’t rock the Roman boat much: the article says that that there are less than 300 TAC congregants in Maine, compared to 200,000 Roman Catholics, which sounds correct.
By contrast, the TAC claim to 500,000 worldwide members seems very doubtful. Whatever their numbers, the ecumenical dialogue between the Anglican Communion and Rome will be conducted by different means.