ARCIC meeting in Brazil makes progress on joint statement
(Vatican Radio) Catholic and Anglican ecumenical experts meeting in Rio de Janeiro
have made progress towards their goal of a common statement on relations between the
local and universal Church. This third meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International
Commission (ARCIC III) has also been exploring the ways in which both communities
make decisions regarding moral and ethical issues. During the week-long meeting
which concluded on Monday, participants met with local Anglican and Catholic leaders
to find out about local ecumenical initiatives. They spent a day in the ‘Cidade de
Deus’ or City of God, one of the many slum areas around Rio de Janeiro, where the
churches are working closely with police and other civic authorities to provide services
and support community development. Members of the Commission described the meeting
as a hope filled encounter and plan to hold the next ARCIC III session from May 12th
to 20th 2014
Below please find the full text of the ARCIC III
statement:
The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, the official
body appointed by the two Communions to engage in theological dialogue, has held the
third meeting of its new phase (ARCIC III), at the Mosteiro de Sao Bento, Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, (29 April – 7 May 2013). This is the first time in its forty year history
that ARCIC has met in Latin America, and, indeed, in the southern hemisphere.
Members
of the Commission are grateful to Dom Filipe da Silva OSB, the Abbot, to his community
for their gracious hospitality, and to the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro. The Commission
participated in daily Vespers and in the Sunday Eucharist at the monastery church,
and were held in prayer throughout by the monastic community.
A wide range
of papers was prepared for the meeting and discussed, taking the Commission further
towards its goal of producing an agreed statement. The mandate for this third phase
of ARCIC is to explore: the Church as Communion, local and universal, and how in communion
the local and universal Church come to discern right ethical teaching. In exploring
this mandate, the members of the Commission engaged in theological analysis and shared
reflection on the nature of the Church and those structures which contribute to discernment
and decision-making. A day was spent considering some case studies of ethical issues
which members had prepared, and analysing the ways in which the two Communions have
come to their present teaching on these matters.
Over the forty years of its
work, ARCIC has produced a number of Agreed Statements. The work of ARCIC I received
official responses from the two Communions. The Commission continued its task of preparing
the documents of ARCIC II for presentation to the respective Communions to assist
with their reception. Members reviewed responses already given to each of the five
agreed statements and will prepare introductions for them that place each of these
documents within the current ecumenical situation.
The Commission welcomed
at a meal leaders of the local Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, including Anglican
Bishop Filadelfo Oliveira and Roman Catholic Bishop Francisco Biasin, and members
of the local Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue of Brazil. ARCIC is keen to deepen its
relationship with such local and regional ARCs and rejoices both Communions are exploring
concrete ways of sharing documents and discussion about ARCIC’s work.
Members
of the Commission spent most of a day in the City of God, one of the many favelas
(neighbourhoods housing large numbers of the poor and displaced) that surround Rio
de Janeiro. They were warmly welcomed by the Roman Catholic parish and their priest
Fr Marcio Jose’. Fr Nicholas Wheeler, the Anglican parish priest, arranged for the
Commission to visit three projects in the community (a day centre for seniors, a community
development centre, and a mural project that portrays the community’s history and
provides a vision of the City of God from Revelation), and to learn from the local
police how officers engage positively with the community. The evening concluded with
ecumenical vespers. As one member of the Commission wrote in reflection, ‘In offering
thanks, one of our bishops said he was trying to think of a word to sum up our visit,
and could only think of 'hope'. Hope sprang from real ecumenical activity (unashamedly
from a Christian base but working to support any community good), and the sheer hard
work and organising by local people.’
The Commission will prepare further
papers, expand the case studies, and continue its work in preparation for its next
meeting 12-20 May 2014.
APPENDIX
MEMBERS OF ARCIC III present at the
meeting
Co-Chairs The Most Revd Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham,
England The Rt Revd Christopher Hill, Bishop of Guildford, Acting Co-Chair
Roman
Catholics The Revd Robert Christian OP, Angelicum University, Rome The Revd
Adelbert Denaux, Dean, Tilburg School of Catholic Theology, Utrecht, The Netherlands The
Most Revd Arthur Kennedy, auxiliary bishop, Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts,
USA Professor Paul D. Murray, Durham University, England Revd Sister Teresa
Okure SHCJ, Catholic Institute of West Africa, Port Harcourt, Nigeria Professor
Janet E. Smith, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, Michigan, USA The Revd Professor
Vimal Tirimanna CSsR, Alphonsianum University, Rome The Very Revd Dom Henry Wansbrough
OSB, Ampleforth Abbey, England
Anglicans Canon Dr Paula Gooder, Birmingham,
England / The Church of England The Rt Revd Christopher Hill, Bishop of Guildford,
England / The Church of England The Rt Revd Nkosinathi Ndwandwe, Bishop Suffragan
of Natal, Southern Area, Southern Africa The Rt Revd Linda Nicholls, Area Bishop
for Trent-Durham, Diocese of Toronto, Canada The Revd Canon Michael Nai-Chiu Poon,
Trinity Theological College, Singapore / Province of South East Asia The Revd Peter
Sedgwick, St Michael’s College, Llandaff, Wales / Church in Wales The Revd Dr Charles
Sherlock, Anglican Diocese of Bendigo, Australia The Revd Canon Jonathan Goodall,
Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative
Consultants The Revd Odair Pedroso
Mateus, Faith and Order Secretariat, World Council of Churches
The work of
the Commission is supported by the Co-Secretaries, Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan (Anglican
Communion Office), Monsignor Mark Langham (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian
Unity) and Mr Neil Vigers (Administrative Assistant, Anglican Communion Office).