It appears that the ecumenical efforts over the years are starting to make progress. It has been announced today that an agreement on the doctrines surrounding Mary has been reached and is being forwarded to the Vatican and the Anglican council.[1] Supposedly something has happened that now Anglicans can admit that the Church's teaching is compatible with Scripture (of course it is), and can be accepted by them. It remains to be seen if it will be accepted. From the fact that it needs to be forwarded to the Vatican, I take it that it also needs to be determined that those involved accurately preserved the Church's teaching. This is necessary because, despite the claims of many in the protestant world, and despite the desires of those who would change the Church, who would "modernize" it, the Church does not invent doctrine, does not change it, it only clarifies it to defend it from heresies that once did not exist, and brings it to a wording that will accurately convey the age old truth in language people today can understand. This is wonderful news, and I hope that it can be accepted by the Church (which will mean it is not a change, but simply a better understanding on the part of the Anglicans (you can see why I am not and will not likely ever be part of any ecumenical dialog here)), and is accepted by the Anglicans. I think it will mean an easier path home for those lost in the Anglican heresy/schism. I hope it will mean that more will find their way home than do currently. For while the numbers finding their way home may have increased in the time since the church in England went heretic, not all are home, and so the numbers are necessarily too few.
[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4553951.stm