Ut Unum Sint

There is quite a bit of speculation in the Catholic blogosphere at the moment over the prospect of the (Anglo-Catholic) Traditional Anglican Communion uniting with the See of Peter. If it does come about, it will probably be as a worldwide apostolic administration, or a number of them. We may even see ordinary Anglican dioceses such as The Murray in Australia and San Joaquin in California come along at the same time. Such an arrangement may also help pave the way for the Society of Saint Pius X to reconcile. Perhaps more importantly, the creation of such apostolic administration is likely to contribute to a decentralization of the Western Church. We are already told that Pope Benedict XVI is not a friend to the Curial bureaucracy, and the creation of multiple quasi-independent rites within the Western Church will only contribute to a lessening of Roman control. Hopefully, individual bishops will take up the initiative, rather than bureaucracy-ridden national episcopal bodies.