Anglicans and Roman Catholics Release Statement on Authority
Episcopal News Service. May 26, 1999 [99-073]
ENS) After five years of careful dialogue, the co-chairs of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission on (ARCIC) May 12 released the text of "The Gift of Authority" at a news conference in London's Westminster Abbey.
The new statement emerges from a series of dialogues that began with a 1966 visit of Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey to Pope Paul VI at the Vatican. They have produced a number of statements on the Eucharist, Ministry and Ordination, and now Authority in the Church. "The Gift of Authority" is the fourth statement from the second phase of ARCIC's work.
Authority, particularly the authority of the Bishop of Rome, has been "a key element in the division that occurred at the time of the English Reformation," said the Church of England's Bishop Mark Santer of Birmingham, and Bishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Catholic bishop of Arundel and Brighton, at the press conference.
"For four centuries the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church developed their structures of authority in separation from each other, and Anglicans lived without the ministry of the Bishop of Rome," they said.
A Final Report issued in 1981 at the end of the first round of dialogues revealed broad agreement on how authority operates in the church, the role of bishops, and even about the significance of the papal office in "a reunited Church and the place his ministry has in God's providential plan for his Church." Yet the report also revealed "some serious issues had still to be resolved." Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey and Pope John Paul II agreed in 1996 that "we shall not reach the full visible unity to which we are both committed" without an agreement on authority.
"It is a closely argued, rich text, with every sentence important in leading towards its conclusion," the bishops said in their background statement. "It therefore will need careful study and reflection in our two Communions."
Stressing the understanding of authority as "God's gift to be received gratefully," they drew upon a Scriptural image from Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians that suggests authority serves the church in its attempt to remember the "yes" God has given to the world in Jesus Christ, enabling church members "to respond with a faithful 'amen' as they walk Christ's way."
The statement outlines how authority is exercised at various levels in the life of the church, "including how the whole people of God bears the Tradition across space and time, and the particular role bishops have in discerning and articulating this faith of the Church and ensuring that all the Churches are in communion."
The statement agrees about the role of the Bishop of Rome "within the college of bishops concerning the discernment of truth," making it clear that in certain circumstances he has "a duty to discern and make explicit, in fidelity to Scripture and Tradition, the authentic faith of the whole Church, that is the faith of all the baptized in communion." ARCIC said that it believes that "this is a gift to be received by all the Churches and is entailed in the recognition of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome."
In the final section, the statement addressed one of the most contentious issues at last summer's Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops -- the interdependence among the provinces of the Anglican Communion. "Is the Communion also open to the acceptance of instruments of oversight which would allow decisions to be reached that, in certain circumstances, would bind the whole Church?.... To what extent does unilateral action by provinces or dioceses in matters concerning the whole Church, even after consultation has taken place, weaken koinonia?" the statement asked.
While underscoring a willingness among Anglicans to "tolerate anomalies for the sake of maintaining communion," the statement said that there was a price to pay in an "impairment of communion."
In a covering memo to the Episcopal Church's bishops and ecumenical participants, the Rev. David Perry said that the topic of authority may sound esoteric but he stressed its importance for the life of the whole church. "We are talking about how decisions are made in the church -- by whom and with what effect," said the church's ecumenical officer. "The issue goes to the heart of all our relationships, not only within our own church but in our relationship with ecumenical partners. And how we view authority is related to almost every other issue in our life together."
Perry hopes that local Roman Catholic and Episcopal dioceses will "take the time to carefully study the document." And he said that the dialogue between the two churches in this country (ARC-USA) will be "enriched" by the statement.
Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold said in a sermon at the March meeting of ARC-USA that such statements "are signs of the unwavering commitment of our two communities to resolve all that impedes our full and open recognition of the communion we share in the risen Christ."
In the continuing journey toward unity, Griswold, who is the newly appointed co-chair of ARCIC, expressed a hope that "we are so ready to have our vision expanded, our hearts broken open, and our tendency to try and fit God's truth to our own, undermined and overturned."
The presiding bishop called the statement on authority "another important step forward in the long and arduous journey toward the establishment of full visible communion...," one that "challenges Anglicans and Roman Catholics to think in fresh ways" about how authority can serve in the "reconciliation of all things in Christ."
(The text is available on the websites for both churches: www.anglicancommunion.org and www.nccbuscc.org. and in printed version from the Episcopal Book and Resource Center in New York (tel. 800-334-7626, ext. 6118).