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 established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

and dedicated to the full visible reconciliation of

Anglicans Anglicanism is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Euro ...

and

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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

Anglo-Catholicism Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...

, 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,"...the liturgies approved for the Anglican ordinariates..." "Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." ...

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.''The Catholic League 1913-1988'', Farmer, R., p.6: London (no date) 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). The League's own website states "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 The Catholic societies of the Church of England are associations within the Church of England which follow in the tradition of Anglo-Catholicism. They may be devotional, theological or pilgrimage-focused in nature. Many trace their origins to the C ...

, 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 and ...

(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 (Latin: ''Liturgia Horarum'') or Divine Office (Latin: ''Officium Divinum'') or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic Church, Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the br ...

and practice celibacy.

Notes

Bibliography

* Doolan, Brian. ''The First Fifty Years: A History of the Catholic League, from 1913-1966'' (Printed for the League by Crux Press).

External links

1913 establishments in England Anglican organizations established in the 20th century Anglo-Catholicism Catholic–Protestant ecumenism Church of England societies and organisations Christian organizations established in 1913 Christian ecumenical organizations {{RC-society-stub

History

Activities

See also

Notes

Bibliography

External links