Arcic III agrees next steps towards closer unity

Germany

Arcic III agrees next steps towards closer unity

Anglicans and Roman Catholics have made “considerable” progress in their dialogue aimed at ever closer unity, writes James Roberts. The Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (Arcic) held the seventh meeting of its current phase, Arcic III, in Erfurt, Germany, from 14 to 20 May.

A joint communiqué after the meeting said: “The Erfurt meeting marks a considerable step forward. In response to the first part of its mandate, to examine ‘the Church as Communion, local and universal’, the Commission completed an agreed statement, the first of its current phase, entitled Walking Together on the Way: Learning to be Church – Local, Regional, Universal. The text underwent an extensive process of redrafting over 12 months.

The communiqué said Walking Together on the Way, which will be released next year, “examines common theological principles that Anglicans and Catholics share, and the differentiated structures, based on these principles, by which they make decisions”.

Asked by Vatican Radio what Catholics can learn from Anglicans, the Catholic co-secretary of Arcic III, Fr Anthony Currer, pointed to the “processes of synodal life”, including parish councils, diocesan administrations and other regional structures.

Noting the way Pope Francis is calling for “a more synodal Church”, he said these are questions where “we can look to the Anglican Communion”, whose structures are “a bit more developed than our own”. He also noted as “something we could look to gain from” the Anglicans’ “very frank and open culture of discussion about really difficult issues”.

Reflecting on obstacles to unity, such as the ordination of women, Fr Currer said the new document looks at the broader questions of “where authority lies”, adding that decisions taken at regional level are under “a lot of pressure to move in line” with the prevailing culture of the country.

AUSTRALIA
Melbourne Catholics and Anglicans have celebrated 50 years of Arcic, with its longest-serving member, Australian Anglican priest Dr Charles Sherlock, asking: “Can we be satisfied living out God’s love separately? Should not Anglicans embrace [the Pope’s encyclical] Laudato si’ as much as Catholics?” writes Mark Brolly. The celebrations marked the establishment of Arcic in 1967 by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury, a year after their historic Vatican meeting.

By James Roberts