An ecumenical perspective on the relationship between Eucharist and ecclesial communion
– that’s the focus of reflections from the head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch on Friday, at a symposium preceding the International
Eucharistic Congress taking place in Dublin, Ireland from June 10th to
17th. The Swiss cardinal’s trip to Dublin marks the first stop on a four
day tour which will take him onto Canterbury and London for an in-depth encounter
with the different Churches in the United Kingdom.
Travelling with the cardinal
is the official in charge of Anglican and Methodist relations at the Council for Christian
Unity, Msgr Mark Langham, who talked with Philippa Hitchen about the aims of this
journey to rediscover the roots of a common Christian heritage…
Listen:
"The Cardinal
is interested in the way the Eucharist can help us reach out to other communities
and really be at the heart of our ecumenical life.......
The image of Archbishop
Robert Runcie and Pope John Paul II praying at the tomb of St Thomas of Canterbuy
has been an inspiring image for generations of ecumenists.....
There will also
be a service and an ecumenical pilgrimage to the tomb of St Alphege who was already
a great martyr at the time of St Thomas à Becket.....so this takes us back to the
venerable history of Canterbury Cathedral and the common martyrs that we both share.....
We're
going to meet some Anglican religious sisters......with members of the Alpha course...and
we'll be visiting St Martin-in-the-Fields with its magnificant outreach to the homeless
and those on the margins in central London....."