Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue to continue with ARC-USA meeting in Washington
Episcopal News Service. March 2, 2007 [030207-04]
Matthew Davies
The Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation in the United States (ARC-USA) will convene for its 62nd meeting March 8-11 at St. Paul's College in Washington, D.C., to discuss recent developments in the Anglican Communion, consider a draft response to the 2004 "Seattle Document" of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), "Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ," and work to prepare a pastoral guide for Spanish-speaking Christians.
Bishop Christopher Epting, ecumenical officer for the Episcopal Church, observed that the ARC-USA dialogue is one of the Episcopal Church's oldest and most productive ecumenical dialogues.
"In conjunction with the international Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission, we have made enormous progress in understanding and mutual discovery, even given serious issues still to be resolved," Epting said, noting that a summary of both the agreements and continued areas of disagreement can be seen in "Growing Together in Unity and Mission," the new document from the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission, soon to be released for congregational study.
"At our March 8-11 meeting we will be concluding some ongoing work, reflecting on two more papers on "Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ" from ARCIC, and making plans for some re-structuring in the next formal round of dialogue," he said.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website notes that ARC-USA is one of the first and most fruitful dialogues of the Catholic Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (BCEIA).
"In many ways, ARC-USA has served as a model for ecumenical relations in the United States," it states. "Further, since its establishment in 1965, the Consultation has addressed and made headway in theological issues that have long divided Catholics from other Christians such as Church authority, the Eucharist, and women's ordination."
In a common declaration signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, and Pope Benedict XVI in Rome in November 2006, the two leaders expressed thanks for 40 years of cooperation and dialogue between the Roman Catholic church and the churches of the Anglican Communion and renewed the historic commitment to the goal of "full visible communion in the truth of Christ." The two paid tribute to the continuing process of dialogue which had begun with the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI and former Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey in 1966.
The declaration concludes: "Confident of the apostolic hope "that he who has begun this good work in you will bring it to completion"(cf Phil 1:6), we believe that if we can together be God's instruments in calling all Christians to a deeper obedience to our Lord, we will also draw closer to each other, finding in his will the fullness of unity and common life to which he invites us."
Further information is available here.