The publication of the Anglican ? Roman Catholic International Commission (Arcic) statement in Seattle this week on teachings about the Virgin Mary has raised hopes of a new rapprochement between Catholicism and Anglicanism.

Important areas of agreement in the document ?Mary Grace and Hope in Christ? ?significantly advance consensus? between Anglicans and Catholics, the commission claims. These areas include the acceptance that ?the teaching that God has taken the Blessed Virgin Mary in the fullness of her person into his glory [is] consonant with Scripture, and only to be understood in the light of Scripture?; that the teaching about Mary in the two definitions of the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception . . . can be said to be consonant with the teaching of the Scriptures and the ancient common traditions?; and that ?Mary has a continuing ministry which serves the ministry of Christ, our unique mediator ... and that the practice of asking Mary and the saints to pray for us is not communion-dividing?.

The report was released at a press conference presided over by Arcic?s co-chairmen, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Seattle, Alex Burnett, and the recently retired Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Dr Peter Carnley. In the past the infallible dogmas of the Immaculate conception (1854) and the Assumption (1950) have been stumbling blocks to convergence. On Monday, however, Archbishop Carnley insisted that ?for Anglicans, that old complaint that these [Marian] dogmas were not provable by Scripture will disappear?.

Canon James Rosenthal, spokesman for the Anglican Communion in London, welcomed the report as a theological advance, and as ?a vivid symbol of the commitment of both the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church to continue their dialogue for the sake of Christian unity?.

That as not a view shared by the evangelical wing of the Communion. The Revd Rod Thomas, spokesman for the conservative Reform group, said the document attempted to ?shoehorn? the dogmas into Scripture. He said Catholics and Anglicans were only managing to find common ground by ?theological fudge? which ?can never be a basis for moving forward in unity?. In fact, ?Mary Grace and Hope in Christ? would appear to avoid ?fudge?, since on the Catholic side it is only conceded that ?some excesses in late medieval devotion, and reactions against them by the Reformers, contributed to the breach of communion between us?. But it is insisted robustly that ?It is impossible to be faithful to Scripture without giving due attention to the person of Mary?.

The change of tone is striking since Arcic last touched on Mariology, in its 1981 statement ?Authority in the Church II?. Then its stress was on Marian doctrines as an impediment to unity ?The dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption raise a special problem for those Anglicans who do not consider that the precise definitions given by these dogmas are sufficiently supported by Scripture.?

Relations between the Catholic Church and the Anglicans cooled dramatically over the Anglican ordination of women priests and then the consecration in 2003 of the openly gay Gene Robinson as the Episcopal Church?s (Ecusa) Bishop of New Hampshire. Bishop Frank Griswold, Ecusa?s Presiding Bishop, resigned as co-chairman of Arcic after the consecration, but is believed to have made a substantial contribution to the text of ?Mary Grace and Hope in Christ?.

The warm response of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, to the events surrounding the death of John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI, marked a distinct change in the quality of the Catholic-Anglican relationship, and the document on Mary reinforces that trend. While it is a basis for discussion rather than an authoritative pronouncement, its authors express the hope that Catholics and Anglicans will recognise a ?common faith? concerning Mary.
Richard Major, New York

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