Search the Episcopal Press and News

Archbishop Carey Meets with Pope, Dedicates New Anglican Centre in Rome

Episcopal News Service. March 18, 1999 [99-021]

(ENS) Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey opened the new Anglican Centre in Rome February 12-14 and held private discussions on a strategy for unity with Pope John Paul II.

"The centre has been a place for learning and discussion, a place where eyes are opened and enthusiasm for Christian unity kindled," said Carey in dedicating the new $500,000 headquarters in an imposing Renaissance palace, the Doria Pamphili.

Carey reminded the 300 guests from around the Anglican Communion who joined in the dedication -- including Cardinal Edward Cassidy of the Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity -- of the history of the centre and its initial dedication by Archbishop Michael Ramsey in 1966.

At that time Ramsey pointed out that Anglicans cherish Scripture and the Catholic creeds, as well as the lessons of the Reformation and "the continuity which it claims with the ancient church." In its embrace of "saints and teachers of every period in the West and the East," Anglicans also strive "to use whatever light is shed by modern knowledge upon the understanding of man and the world." Carey said that the original vision of "making available the resources of Anglican learning to anyone who will come and enjoy them" had not changed.

The Anglican Centre offers continuing education opportunities for both clergy and laity and its director serves as a personal representative of the archbishop of Canterbury to the Vatican.

Shortly after the dedication, Carey announced the appointment of Bishop John Baycroft of Ottawa, Canada, as the new director of the centre. Baycroft, who will succeed the Rev. Bruce Ruddock and his wife Vivien, who has been a member of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission, responsible for the official theological dialogue between the two communions.

Responding to his appointment, Baycroft was quoted in a local paper as saying, "Anglican-Roman Catholic relations have grown to the point that the Archbishop of Canterbury thought it would be a good thing to put a bishop there. My role is to make sure the Anglican Communion as a whole is represented and interpreted to the Vatican and the Vatican is interpreted back to the Anglican Communion."

Millennium meeting scheduled

At his meeting with Pope John Paul II Carey discussed the future relations between the two churches, including a meeting early in 2000 in Canada to develop plans for future cooperation, described by Ruddock as "a global meeting between church leaders at the highest level." The agenda for the meeting would not avoid "difficult matters such as inter-communion and mixed marriages," Carey said, but would concentrate on the broader issues of the relationship. They also expressed a common concern for persecution of Christians in the Sudan and India and said that they would work together on such issues.

Carey and the Pope also agreed that they would cooperate in addressing issues of economic justice and international debt -- and the Millennium. "We look forward to the opportunity offered by the celebration of the great Jubilee for churches throughout the world, to demonstrate their unity in Christ and their common commitment to justice, particularly in encouraging Christians to play their part in the campaign against unpayable debt in the global south," they said in statement following the meeting.

[thumbnail: Carey meets with Pope, de...] [thumbnail: New Anglican Centre dedic...]