Unsolicited opinions and advice from outside observers is not always welcome, particularly if it seems to call for change. On the other hand, some outside observers are harder to ignore than others. This particular opinion is being noticed, because Archbishop Rowan Williams has invited him to speak at the Lambeth Conference.

From the Catholic Herald in England:

The Vatican has said that the time has come for the Anglican Church to choose between Protestantism and the ancient churches of Rome and Orthodoxy.

Speaking on the day that the Archbishop of Canterbury met Benedict XVI in Rome, Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council of Christian Unity, said it was time for Anglicanism to "clarify its identity".

He told the Catholic Herald: "Ultimately, it is a question of the identity of the Anglican Church. Where does it belong?

"Does it belong more to the churches of the first millennium -Catholic and Orthodox - or does it belong more to the Protestant churches of the 16th century? At the moment it is somewhere in between, but it must clarify its identity now and that will not be possible without certain difficult decisions."

Anglicanism takes pride in accommodating nearly everyone along the theological and spiritual continuum. It's seen as a strength. The Cardinal (and other observers, some even inside Anglicanism) think this lack of boundaries is a problem.

Anglicanism being what it is today, having grown so broad, agreement on a response to the Cardinal doesn't seem likely.

Ruth Gledhill has also commented on the story.