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New Anglican-Roman Catholic International Comission Named

Episcopal News Service. July 14, 1983 [83134]

LONDON (June 14) -- Membership of the new Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC II) has been announced. The first meeting of the Commission will be held in Venice later this year (Aug. 30-Sept. 6).

The announcement followed a two day planning meeting in June between the co-chairmen of the new Commission, the Rt. Rev. Mark Santer, Bishop of Kensington (Anglican) and the Rt. Rev. Cormac Murphy O'Connor, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton (Roman Catholic) with representatives of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Vatican Secretariat for Christian Unity.

The task of the new Commission, as stated by the Common Declaration by Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury when they met in Canterbury last year, will be to continue the work already begun by (a) the examination of the outstanding doctrinal differences which still separate the Churches especially in the light of their respective judgements on the Final Report of the earlier Commission; (b) the study of all that hinders the mutual recognition of the ministries of the two Churches; (c) the recommendation of the practical steps necessary for the restoration of full communion.

Membership of the new body, which was appointed by -- on the Roman Catholic side, the Vatican Secretary for Unity -- and, on the Anglican side, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council in consultation with the Primates, is more widely representative of the two Churches than the former Commission. It includes members from Australia, Barbados, Canada, England, Ghana, India, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria and the United States; and includes women and lay members. It includes six members (three from each side) from the first commission.

Santer told a London press conference that in its early stages the new Commission would need to steer a careful course, on the one hand not losing the momentum which had already been achieved, but at the same time being sensitive to the fact that the results of the first series were still being studied by the Churches.

It is likely that it will begin with work on areas not studied by them, such as "Justification by Faith", a topic seen as important by some Anglicans and on which considerable work has been done by the Roman-Catholic-Lutheran dialogue, and the "Doctrine of the Church" from which the Commission should be able to deal with issues such as the way in which moral questions are dealt with, and hindrances to the mutual recognition of ministries.

O'Connor said that ecumenism today "is not an optional extra" for Roman Catholics and the search for Christian unity must go on because it is the will of God and because the task of evangelism demanded it. He thought that the ecumenical climate today was very different from what it had been at the beginnings of ARCIC I and this was due in part to the effect of the visit of Pope John Paul II to Canterbury.

A full list of members is attached.

New Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC-II) Members Anglican.
  • The Rt. Rev. Mark Santer, Bishop of Kensington, England. (Co-Chairman)
  • The Rev. Canon J.A. Baycroft, Archdeacon of Ottawa, Canada.
  • The Rt. Rev. Donald Cameron, Assistant Bishop of Sydney, Australia.
  • The Rev. Professor Henry Chadwick, Emeritus Professor of Divinity,
  • University of Cambridge, England.
  • The Rev. Julian Charley, Rector, St. Peter's Everton, and Warden of
  • Shrewsbury House, Liverpool, England.
  • The Rev. Dr. Kortright Davis, Vice-Principal, Codrington College, Barbados.
  • The Rt. Rev. David Gitari, Bishop of Mount Kenya East.
  • The Rev. Professor Oliver O'Donovan, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, University of Oxford,England (from late 1984). Professor John Pobee, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Ghana.
  • Mrs. Mary Tanner, Study Secretary, Board for Mission and Unity of the General Synod of the Church of England.
  • The Rt. Rev. Arthur Vogel, Bishop of West Missouri, USA.
  • The Rev. Professor Robert Wright, Professor of Church History, General
  • Theological Seminary, New York, USA.
Secretary
  • The Rev. Canon Christopher Hill, Archbishop of Canterbury's Assistant for Ecumenical Affairs, England.
Roman Catholic
  • The Rt. Rev. Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, England (Co-Chairman).
  • The Rev. Fr. A. Addapur, S.J., Lumen Institute, Cochin, India.
  • The Rev. J. Akpunomou, Rector of the Major Seminary, Enugu, Nigeria.
  • The Rt. Rev. Mgr. Brian Ashby, Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand.
  • Sister M. Cecily Boulding, OP, Lecturer in Systematic Theology, Ushaw College, Durham, England.
  • The Rev. Fr. Pierre Duprey, WF, Secretary, Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity.
  • The Rt. Rev. Raymond Lessard, Bishop of Savannah,Georgia, USA.
  • The Rev. Brendan Soane, Lecturer in Moral Theology, Allen Hall, London, England.
  • The Rev. John Thornhill, Aquinas Academy, Sydney, Australia.
  • The Rev. Fr. Jean Tillard, OP, Dominican Faculty of Theology, Ottawa, Canada.
  • The Rev. Dr. Edward Yarnold, SJ, Campion Hall, Oxford, England.
  • A further Roman Catholic member to be appointed.
Secretary
  • The Very Rev. Mgr. Richard Stewart, Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity.
  • An Observer from the World Council of Churches to be appointed.