LONDON - 18 November 2008 - 910 words
Catholic and Anglican Bishops hold bilateral meeting
The Church of England House of Bishops
and the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales gathered
together for a second bi-lateral meeting, this time at Lambeth
Palace yesterday. In 2006, they met together in Leeds for study
and worship.
The meeting was chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan
Williams and the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.
The meeting takes the form of a spiritual retreat reflecting on
the office and ministry of bishops as Christ's disciples. The
day is based on prayer, discussion and a desire for further development
of our churches' shared Christian witness. Scripture readings
and addresses by the Archbishop and the Cardinal will guide the
bishops' reflections.
Statement from Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams,
and Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.
"Following the successful meeting and joint worship in Leeds
in 2006, we have been looking forward to meeting again to reflect
and pray together. We are sure the day will help develop our common
Christian witness and the warm relations that exist between the
Anglican and Catholic Bishops in England & Wales, both locally
and on shared national projects.
"On our journey forward, though our communion remains
imperfect, our partnership in mission and service to the people
of our country is based on our Christian faith and rooted in our
common baptism. Presenting our shared Christian witness to society,
and working together to for the common good in society, continues
to be crucially important for us."
The meeting is held in line with the mandate of the International
Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (Communion
in Mission, Mississauga, May 2000: see notes to editors below).
IARCCUM is a joint commission of bishops, responsible to the Anglican
Communion and the Holy See for finding practical ways to express
the fruits of the dialogue between Anglicans and Roman Catholics.
Its mandate draws on the recommendations of the Anglican-Roman
Catholic Joint Preparatory Commission in Malta, in 1968.
Statement from Mississauga Meeting, May 2000
1. This meeting of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops from 13
countries, convened by His Eminence Edward Cardinal Cassidy and
His Grace Archbishop George Carey, gathered at Mississauga, near
Toronto, Canada, from 14-20 May 2000. Our meeting was grounded
in prayer and marked by a profound atmosphere of friendship and
spiritual communion. We began on Good Shepherd Sunday, conscious
of our common vocation as shepherds of the Good Shepherd, with
a responsibility to lead God's people forward in active hope towards
that unity in truth and holiness which our Lord wills for his
Church.
2. We came together to address the imperative for Christian reconciliation
and healing, in a broken and divided world. We were also conscious
of the fact that Christian people around the world are celebrating
two thousand years since the birth of Jesus Christ. In this year
of Great Jubilee, in which the churches are acting co-operatively
for the remission of unpayable Third World debt, we are aware
of the need to leave behind all past deficits with which our churches
have themselves been burdened, so as to enter the new millennium
renewed in deepening unity and peace.
3. At this meeting we have naturally focussed on the special relationship
between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as
expressed in the Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council.
We also recognised the progress which has been made in our relations
with other Christians and we recommit ourselves to the ecumenical
endeavour with all Christian churches.
4. As day by day we prayed together and meditated on scripture
in the chapel of Queen of Apostles Renewal Centre, we realised
afresh both the degree of spiritual communion we already share
in the richness of our common liturgical inheritance, but also
the pain of our inability to share together fully in the eucharist.
As we listened to experiences from the different regions we were
struck by the extent of interchurch collaboration, particularly
common action for social justice and joint pastoral care in which
Anglican and Roman Catholic clergy and lay people are involved.
We noted with concern some of the problems our disunity causes
to the mission of the Church, and recognised the opportunities
for shared endeavour presented to us in the service of our fragmented
world. As we reviewed the results of the Anglican-Roman Catholic
International Commission (ARCIC), we came to appreciate the very
impressive degree of agreement in faith that already exists. This
alerted us to the serious obligation to intensify the process
of reception of those agreements at the local level.
5. There is one specific point that has been driven home to us
during the meeting. Over the last thirty years we have become
familiar with the concept of 'degrees of communion'. Despite our
acknowledged differences, we have regularly affirmed that we share
in the fundamental communion of a common faith and a common baptism.
This degree of communion holds within it the promise of the full
visible communion to which God is calling us. Our experience at
Toronto encourages us to believe that we have reached a very significant
new place on our journey. We feel compelled to affirm that our
communion together is no longer to be viewed in minimal terms.
We have been able to discern that it is not just formally established
by our common baptism into Christ, but is even now a rich and
life-giving, multifaceted communion.
6. We have come to a clear sense that we have moved much closer
to the goal of full visible communion than we had at first dared
to believe. A sense of mutual interdependence in the Body of Christ
has been reached, in which the churches of the Anglican Communion
and the Roman Catholic Church are able to bring shared gifts to
their joint mission in the world.
7. We appreciate that there are as yet unresolved differences
and challenges which affect both Communions. These have to do
with such matters as: the understanding of authority in the Church,
including the way it is exercised, and the precise nature of the
future role of the universal primate; Anglican Orders; the ordination
of women; moral and ethical questions. Though interchurch families
can be signs of unity and hope, one pressing concern has to do
with addressing the need to provide joint pastoral care for them.
Sometimes those in interchurch families experience great pain
particularly in the area of eucharistic life.
8. However, we believe these challenges are not to be compared
with all that we hold in common. The communion constituted by
what we already share has within it an inner dynamic which, animated
by the Holy Spirit, impels us forward toward the overcoming of
these differences. Indeed, we have become conscious that we have
embraced what may be described, not only as a new era of friendship
and co-operation, but as a new stage of 'evangelical koinonia'.
By this we mean a communion of joint commitment to our common
mission in the world (John 17. 23).
9. The marks of this new stage of communion in mission are: our
trinitarian faith grounded in the scriptures and set forth in
the catholic creeds; the centrality of Christ, his death and resurrection,
and commitment to his mission in the Church; faith in the final
destiny of human life; common traditions in liturgy and spirituality;
the monastic life; preferential commitment to the poor and marginalised;
convergence on the eucharist, ministry, authority, salvation,
moral principles, and the Church as communion, as expressed in
agreed statements of ARCIC; episcopacy, particularly the role
of the bishop as symbol and promoter of unity; and the respective
roles of clergy and laity.
10. We believe that now is the appropriate time for the authorities
of our two Communions to recognise and endorse this new stage
through the signing of a Joint Declaration of Agreement. This
Agreement would set out: our shared goal of visible unity; an
acknowledgment of the consensus in faith that we have reached,
and a fresh commitment to share together in common life and witness.
Our two Communions would be invited to celebrate this Agreement
around the world.
11. As our meeting proceeded we became increasingly aware that
as bishops we ourselves have a responsibility to guide, promote,
and energise the ongoing work of unity in our churches. We commit
ourselves wholeheartedly to this task. Our action plan is appended
to this statement.
12. The first recommendation of our action plan is that a Joint
Unity Commission be established. This Commission will oversee
the preparation of the Joint Declaration of Agreement, and promote
and monitor the reception of ARCIC agreements, as well as facilitate
the development of strategies for translating the degree of spiritual
communion that has been achieved into visible and practical outcomes.
13. It is important to be clear that this new stage on our journey
is but a step on the way to full and visible unity. Our vision
of full and visible unity is of a eucharistic communion of churches:
confessing the one faith and demonstrating by their harmonious
diversity therichness of faith; unanimous in the application of
the principles governing moral life; served by ministries that
the grace of ordination unites together in an episcopal body,
grafted on to the company of the Apostles, and which is at the
service of the authority that Christ exercises over his Body.
The ministry of oversight has both collegial and primatial dimensions
and is open always to the community's participation in the discernment
of God's will. This eucharistic communion on earth is a participation
in the larger communion which includes the saints and martyrs,
and all those who have fallen asleep in Christ through the ages.
14. However, the shape of full visible unity is beyond our capacity
to put into words. "God will always surprise us," as
we were reminded in a meditation shared with us: "God cannot
be understood through our human system or correspond to our positive
or negative predictions for the future. ... In our ecumenical
efforts we should keep in mind that one day we will rub our eyes
and be surprised by the new things that God has achieved in his
Church."
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