Looking Towards a Church Fully Reconciled
The Final Report of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission 1983-2005 (ARCIC II) Denaux, Adelbert; Nicholas Sagovsky; and Charles Sherlock, eds., SPCK, 2016. ISBN: 978-0-2810-7779-3
The island of Malta located in the Mediterranean Sea between Italy and the shores of Tunisia and Libya was the setting for the last plenary meeting of the Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) before the forthcoming WCC assembly in 2013 in Busan (Korea). Malta has been at the crossroads of Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East throughout its history. According to Acts 28, the Apostle Paul stayed three months on the island following his shipwreck on the way to Rome. While a prisoner, he established the Church in Malta that remains faithful to its apostolic origins until today. Meeting in Rome and Damascus before, the members of the JWG were again reminded of the breadth of St. Paul’s missionary vision of the church and community in Christ. Our deliberations were guided by the words of St. Paul to “receive one another just as Christ has received you, for the glory of God” (Rom 15:7). … Read more »… lire la suite »
A top Vatican ecumenist said different types of divisions affect Catholic relations with the Orthodox churches and with those that were born from the Protestant Reformation, but both can be resolved with dialogue.
He also criticized the “anti-Catholic attitude” displayed by some Pentecostals and said Catholics must resist a temptation to adopt the “sometimes problematic evangelical methods” of those churches.
Cardinal Kurt Koch, the Swiss-born president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, spoke at The Catholic University of America Nov. 3. The title of his talk was “Fundamental Aspects of Ecumenism and Future Perspectives.” … Read more »… lire la suite »
Jewish and Catholic leaders agree that much work lies ahead in accurately presenting the religious identity and practices of each other’s communities in their respective religious education textbooks. … Read more »… lire la suite »
by Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, The Tablet Lutheran Bishop Johannes Friedrich has said that the Pope’s visit to the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt on his visit to Germany last year “cannot be rated highly enough”. The former Bishop of Bavaria was writing in the German Protestant monthly Chrismon about the papal visit to Germany’s Protestant heartland last … Read more »… lire la suite »
CHICAGO (ELCA) – In gratitude for the “unity in Christ” between the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson shared with Pope Benedict XVI a sense of urgency between Lutherans and Catholics in responding to the “great needs of poverty and human care” in the world. … Read more »… lire la suite »
Remembering the common roots of the Christianity they share, Roman Catholics and Anglicans should renew their commitments to praying and working for Christian unity, Pope Benedict XVI said.
The Pope and Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, held an evening prayer service March 10 at Rome’s Church of St. Gregory on the Caelian Hill, the church from which Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow monks to evangelize England in 597.
The service was part of celebrations marking the 1,000th anniversary of the founding of the Camaldolese branch of the Benedictine order. Camaldoli monks and nuns live and pray at the Church of St. Gregory and have an active program of ecumenical contacts. … Read more »… lire la suite »
On Friday, March 16th, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a communiqué regarding the current status of relations with the traditionalist Catholic organization Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), founded by the late Archbishop Lefebvre. For some years now the CDF has been engaged in a consultation with the SSPX regarding a number of matters of dispute. The letter states that the position [the SSPX] expressed is not sufficient to overcome the doctrinal problems which lie at the foundation of the rift between the Holy See and the SSPX. … Read more »… lire la suite »
The Archbishop of Birmingham has said he understands those frustrated with ecumenical dialogue but stressed the long term aim is “full visible unity”. Archbishop Bernard Longley was speaking to The Tablet days before members of Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) gathered for their latest round of meetings in Hong Kong, which was due to start on Friday. … Read more »… lire la suite »
The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission has completed the second meeting of its new phase (ARCIC III), at the Mission to Seafarers in Kowloon, Hong Kong (3-10 May 2012).
The Commission, chaired by the Most Revd David Moxon (Anglican Archbishop of the New Zealand Dioceses) and the Most Revd Bernard Longley (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham) comprises nineteen theologians from a wide range of backgrounds across the world. According to the mandate given to it by the two Communions, the Commission is addressing interrelated issues: the Church as Communion, local and universal, and how in communion the local and universal Church come to discern right ethical teaching. The Commission has also been mandated to present the documents of ARCIC II for reception by the relevant authorities of both communions. Accordingly, the Commission is reviewing responses already received in order to prepare some elucidations, together with commentaries, which will enable the material of ARCIC II to be studied at all levels of the churches’ life.
Hong Kong – As the 4 to 10 May meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) drew to a close, participants emphasized the importance of social witness and openness in ecumenical dialogue.
“There seem to be many obstacles from a human point of view, and it does not seem likely to have fully visible unity in the near future,” New Zealand Anglican Archbishop David Moxon, the co-chairperson of the meeting, said on May 8. “We can, however, do a lot of things together during this slow process,” he added.
“As we discussed in the meeting, there can be more collaborations between us, such as (humanitarian agencies) Caritas International and the Global Anglican Relief and Development Alliance,” he said.
The Hong Kong ecumenical gathering is the second meeting for the third phase of ARCIC, which is focused on the examining the question of moral decision-making within the local and universal church. … Read more »… lire la suite »