Less than a week ago, Pope Benedict XVI asked that a “warm and sincere welcome” be given to members of the Anglican clergy who wanted to join the Catholic Church.

This statement stems from the Pope’s October announcement that Anglicans would be welcomed back into the Catholic Church; Anglicans could keep their own rites and traditions, provided they acknowledge the Pope as their leader.

Beckoning people back into the fold, has become a recurring theme for the Catholic Church in recent years.  There is currently a campaign entitled “Catholics Come Home,” which targets college students, and those who were raised Catholic but haven’t come to mass much since childhood.

In the past few years, the Anglican Church has gained a reputation for being extremely liberal. Their ordination of female priests and bishops, and their open acceptance of homosexuality and the blessed union of same-sex couples have made conservative Christians around the world cringe. But, apart from this liberal sect of Anglicans, the Catholic and Anglican churches are actually quite similar.

There is a significant overlap in their beliefs and traditions. So, how and when did the split between these two denominations occur? About 450 years ago, King Henry VIII wished to obtain a divorce from his current wife. The Pope was unsupportive, so King Henry broke off from the Catholic Church to create his own Church, The Church of England. The Church of England is a forerunner of the Anglican Church.

So, the separation of these two denominations was not rooted in theological disagreements, making a reunion far easier than one based in the belief systems of the people.  For instance, if Lutherans, whose founder split with Catholicism on the grounds that the Catholic Church was misunderstanding the words of Christ and abusing their parishioners, sought to reunite with the Catholic Church it would be a more difficult process.
The Pope’s actions seem noble.  As the Apostle Paul says, there is only “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”

The controversy is not rooted in the Pope’s welcoming spirit, but in the reason for the split in the Anglican Church. Anglicans are not wishing to return to their Catholic brothers and sisters out of a desire for unity, but because, as Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols told the United Press International, they are “disillusioned with liberalizations such as ordination of gay priests and women bishops.”

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