ARCIC: Old and new friendships

Building trust and friendship to tackle hard questions together is at the heart of successful ecumenical encounters. That's why the Anglican and Catholic co-chairs of an ARCIC meeting taking place at the monastery of Bose in Northern Italy were delighted to rediscover an old friendship dating back many years. Anglican Archbishop David Moxon of New Zealand and Catholic Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham are leading the 10 day inaugural session of ARCIC III, the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, which is due to conclude next Friday May 27^th. Their full programme includes plenty of prayer and worship with the Bose monastic community, lots of looking back at past ecumenical achievements, plus a focus on the crucial contemporary issues of authority, local and universal, within both churches and how they make decisions on the vital ethical dilemmas of our day.

Listen to Philippa Hitchen's interviews with Bernard Longley and David Moxon:

Archbishop David:

Tell us about the ecumenical picture in your part of the world?

Leading these ARCIC talks would seem to some to be an unenviable task – that prospects for any breakthroughs towards unity have never looked so bleak since the dialogue started in the 60s – what are your views on that?

What kind of goals are you setting for this first meeting of ARCIC III?

Many Catholics find difficulty with the great variety of Anglican views on these important issues – how will you try and overcome these difficulties during your meeting?

In his message to the meeting, Cardinal Kurt Koch of the Pontifical council for Christian Unity, speaks of the need for “scholarly commitment but also humility” – that’s sometimes the biggest challenge for both churches, isn’t it?


Archbishop Bernard:

Archbishop David tells me you once gave him directions many years ago when you were students together at Oxford University - will you be hoping to 'show him the way' during these talks?

One of the issues on your agenda has been the question of the Ordinariate – what came up at those discussions, because it is seen by some as a hindrance to the dialogue and by others as the direction that ecumenism should be taking?

You’ve been setting the direction of the ARCIC III process - but can you give us any more details of what you hope to achieve by the end of this meeting?

You are exploring the positive side of Anglican-Catholic relations which are normally portrayed in the media as an all-out conflict, or at best cold war entrenchment. What can you do to change this public perception?

You have long experience of Anglican Catholic dialogue in the UK – what is the secret or the must successful tools for making progress in ecumenical relations?