Vatican Responds to Report of Anglican/Roman Catholic Commission
Episcopal News Service. December 11, 1991 [91243]
Ten years after the first Anglican/Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) completed its report, the Vatican has officially responded.
The Vatican's statement, forwarded to Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey on December 5, said that the ARCIC report "constitutes a significant milestone not only in relations between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion but in the ecumenical movement as a whole."
While accenting broad areas of agreement, especially in the Eucharist and on ministry and ordination, the Vatican's response said that there are "areas where differences or ambiguities remain which seriously hinder the restoration of full communion in faith and in the sacramental life."
Among the areas where agreement has "eluded" the study commission, the Vatican cited the Roman Catholic dogmas of papal infallibility, the Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption of Mary. "The primacy of the Bishop of Rome belongs to the divine structure of the church," the Vatican said, observing that Anglican objections have been directed "against the manner of the exercise and particular claims of the Roman primacy rather than against universal primacy as such."
The Vatican expressed the hope that its response "will serve as an impetus to further study in the same fraternal spirit that has characterized this dialogue in the past of the points of divergence remaining."
In his own response to the Vatican statement, Carey agreed that it represents "another significant step along the road to visible unity of the church." The dialogue was established in 1967 and has been "a pilgrimage of repentance for the alienation of the past, of joy for the mutual discovery of our common heritage of faith, and thanksgiving for the progress made."
Carey said that he welcomed the "tone and warmth" of the Vatican's response and added that it "recognizes that the degree of doctrinal unity that this represents is the bedrock for our mutual confidence that further progress is possible."
However, Carey noted a shift in emphasis in the Vatican response, from a question of what was "consonant" to one of seeking an agreement that was "identical with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church." He said that a requirement that the other partner in the dialogue conform to one partner's theological formulations would make further progress "hazardous."
"The official Roman Catholic and Anglican responses to the final report prove that remarkable progress has been made," said Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning. "We need to be patient and perservere."
Browning said that "the priority now is for Episcopalians and Roman Catholics in local communities to support the dialogue with initiatives such as covenants, ministry to interchurch marriages, clergy conferences, prayer and worship, and service to the community."