Praise for Anglicans’ commitment to unity

The Catholic Church has welcomed Anglican primates’ decision last week to avert schism in the Communion by temporarily excluding the US Episcopal Church.

After four days of talks in Canterbury, the 38 Anglican primates released an agreement stating that the US Episcopal Church’s acceptance of same-sex marriage was a “fundamental departure from the faith and teaching held by the majority of our provinces on the doctrine of marriage” and banned it from taking part in decision-making on any issue regarding doctrine or policy for three years.

Canon John O’Toole, national ecumenical officer for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, described the outcome of the meeting as “encouraging”.

“They [the primates] have committed themselves to a unanimous decision to continue to ‘walk together’ as a deep expression of their unity in the body of Christ while, at the same time, recognising honestly that there are deep differences of understanding among them with regard to marriage and human sexuality which need to be explored,” he said.

Meanwhile the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, revealed after the meeting that he was working with other Christian Churches to agree on a fixed date for Easter, although he acknowledged that any changes could take up to a decade to implement.

Archbishop Welby said that he was in talks with Pope Francis and the leaders of the Coptic and Orthodox Churches.