Unitas: the Catholic League for the Unity of Christians is an organisation founded in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

and dedicated to the full visible reconciliation of

Anglicans Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

and

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

as one Church. It is associated with the Anglo-Papalist wing of

Anglo-Catholicism Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...

, from which its founders were drawn. Today, and especially since the formation of

personal ordinariate A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." is a canonical structure within the Catholic Church establis ...

s, the League is ecumenical in membership.

History

The League was founded in 1913 with 97 foundation members on the initiative of Richard Langford-James and

Henry Fynes-Clinton Henry Fynes Clinton (14 January 1781 – 24 October 1852) was a 19th-century English classical scholar and chronologist, who sat as a Tory Member of Parliament. Family background He was born at Gamston, Nottinghamshire, the eldest son of ...

. Its predecessors were the Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom (established 1857) and the Guild of the Love of God (founded 1911). According to the League, "It was founded by Anglicans who believed passionately that the future of their Church lay in the reunion of all Christians in a common Catholic and Apostolic faith in restored full communion with the Successor of Peter in the see of Rome."

Activities

A member of the

Catholic Societies of the Church of England Anglo-Catholic societies, also known as Catholic societies, are associations within the Anglican Communion which follow in the tradition of Anglo-Catholicism. They may be devotional or theological in nature. Many trace their origins to the Catholic ...

, the League supports the

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an ecumenical Christian observance in the Christian calendar that is celebrated internationally. It is kept annually between Ascension Day and Pentecost in the Southern Hemisphere and between 18 January a ...

(formerly the Octave of Christian Unity), the work of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission, and in the past, its predecessor, the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission. Associated with the Catholic League is the Sodality of the Precious Blood, a confraternity of male priests in the

who pray the

Liturgy of the Hours The Liturgy of the Hours (), Divine Office (), or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the Latin Church. The Liturgy of the Hours forms the official ...

and practice celibacy.

References

* Doolan, Brian. ''The First Fifty Years: A History of the Catholic League, from 1913-1966'' (Printed for the League by Crux Press). 1913 establishments in England Anglican organizations established in the 20th century Anglo-Catholicism Catholic–Anglican ecumenism Church of England societies and organisations Christian organizations established in 1913 Christian ecumenical organizations {{RC-society-stub

History

Activities

See also

References