Anglican-Catholic talks make progress in South Africa
(Vatican Radio) Catholic and Anglican ecumenical experts have concluded a 10 day meeting
in Durban, South Africa, making "a great deal of progress" towards an agreed statement
on authority in the Church and the ethical decision-making process. The 18 members
of the group, known as ARCIC III, also agreed to hold next year’s meeting at a Catholic
seminary close to Rome.
For the fourth session of their talks, which concluded
on May 20th, the group focused on the Church as Communion at local, regional
and universal levels, reflecting on the impact of culture and the role of lay people
in decision making. The group, hosted by the Anglican bishop of Natal, also visited
local ecumenical initiatives, including an AIDS centre and a project working for justice
and development amongst the poorest and most vulnerable.
To find out more about
the talks, Philippa Hitchen spoke to the two co-chairs, Archbishop David Moxon, director
of Rome’s Anglican Centre and the Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham Bernard Longley….
Listen:
"We feel we've
made a great deal of progress...we're about half way through our work and we feel
we've now got a clear view of the outcomes....."
Please see below the full
statement from the ARCIC III meeting in Durban, South Africa:
The Anglican-Roman
Catholic International Commission is the official body appointed by the two Communions
to engage in theological dialogue in order that they may come into full communion.
It held the fourth meeting of its current phase (ARCIC III), at the Vuleka Centre,
Botha’s Hill, Durban (12–20 May 2014). This is the first time in its more than forty
year history that ARCIC has met in Africa.
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.
At this meeting, ARCIC III
discussed its method and agreed that it would build on that of ARCIC I and II, integrated
with the method of receptive ecumenism. In the light of this work, the Schema prepared
at the first meeting of ARCIC III in 2011 was revised. Discussions concentrated on
the first part of the mandate, the Church as Communion, local and universal. Members
reviewed texts from ARCIC II, national Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogues (ARCs), and
other ecumenical material on the subject. ARCIC III decided to examine the regional
level of the Church in addition to the local and universal. It considered, through
papers presented, the impact of culture on the thinking of Christians and the role
of the baptized in ecclesial decision-making. The ecclesiological work will be advanced
by a drafting team which will bring a preliminary text back to the next meeting.
ARCIC
III was also mandated to prepare a book presenting the five Agreed Statements of ARCIC
II so that they can be received by the respective Communions. The Statements will
be accompanied by articles on the method of ARCIC II, its use of Scripture, and major
theological themes which emerged in its work, together with introductory material
and commentaries. It is planned that the book will be ready for publication following
the next meeting.
Members of the Commission are grateful to The Rt Revd Rubin
Phillip, Anglican Bishop of Natal, for the generous welcome extended to them by him
and his Diocese. Particular thanks are due to Mrs Mary Robinson of the Vuleka Trust,
and her colleagues at the Centre, whose mission is to equip young people for leadership
in South Africa.
Bishop Rubin visited the Commission at Vuleka and participated
in a discussion of local ecumenism. He and his wife Rose welcomed ARCIC members to
their home to meet leaders of the local Anglican, Roman Catholic and Methodist Churches.
On the Sunday the bishop presided, together with Archbishop Moxon and Bishop Nicholls,
at the Eucharist at the 160 year old St Augustine’s, Umlazi, where ARCIC joined in
the vibrant worship of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.
Members of the
Commission visited the Hillcrest Aids Centre, and a project in Nazareth, Pinetown,
run by the Diakonia Council of Churches, which works for social justice and community
development with the poorest people.
The next meeting will take place near
Rome at the end of April 2015, when the Commission will intensify its focus on the
second part of its mandate by studying ethical discernment in the Scriptures and by
further developing its case study on slavery.
As the Commission welcomed the
Revd Antony Currer as the new co-secretary, replacing Msgr Mark Langham, it was also
conscious that this was the last ARCIC of Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan. Alyson has served
the Commission with great efficiency and grace, and members gave thanks for her five
years of service.
APPENDIX: MEMBERS OF ARCIC III present at the meeting
Co-Chairs The
Most Revd Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham, England The Most Revd Sir
David Moxon, Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See
Roman
Catholics The Revd Robert Christian OP, Angelicum University, Rome The Revd
Adelbert Denaux, Professor Emeritus, Brugge, Belgium Professor Paul D. Murray,
Durham University, England Professor 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 The
Rt Revd Christopher Hill, The Church of England Canon Dr Paula Gooder, The Church
of England The Rt Revd Nkosinathi Ndwandwe, Anglican Church of Southern Africa The
Rt Revd Linda Nicholls, The Anglican Church of Canada The Revd Canon Peter Sedgwick,
The Church in Wales The Revd Canon Nicholas Sagovsky, The Church of England The
Revd Dr Charles Sherlock, The Anglican Church of Australia
Consultant The
Revd Odair Pedroso Mateus, Faith and Order Secretariat, World Council of Churches
Staff The
work of the Commission is supported by the Co-Secretaries, Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan
(Anglican Communion Office), The Revd Antony Currer (Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity) and Mr Neil Vigers (Administrator, Anglican Communion Office).