Griswold, Pope Discuss Christian Unity
Episcopal News Service. December 15, 1999 [99-184]
Jerry Hames
(Episcopal Life) The concept of lay presidency, or the celebration of the Eucharist by Anglicans who are not priests, was among several topics discussed when Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, co-chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, met in Rome in late November with senior Vatican officials for informal conversations.
The Australian Diocese of Sydney three months ago approved a proposal that would allow lay people to preside at the Eucharist. The diocesan bishop, Archbishop Harry Goodhew, subsequently overturned the resolution, saying such action would impair relations with other churches in the Anglican Communion.
Griswold used this issue to illustrate the topics on the agenda with Cardinal Edward Cassidy and other representatives from the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity during an annual review of the commission's work.
The meetings took place at the Anglican Center, where the presiding bishop installed Bishop John Baycroft of the Anglican Church of Canada as the center's new director and presided at a meeting of the center's board. Baycroft, who served the Diocese of Ottawa, is an experienced ecumenist who has participated in earlier international talks between Anglican and Roman Catholics.
"We talked about the center's new role, about its future program, and explored ways by which it could become a place of meeting between the Roman Catholic Church and Anglicans around the world." Griswold said.
Griswold and his wife, Phoebe, also paid a formal visit to Pope John Paul II, at which the presiding bishop and the pope discussed the future of Anglican-Catholic relations. Griswold said he expressed support for the pope's recent document that stressed the need for the Western Hemisphere to be seen as "the Americas," with a need for a greater sense of interconnection and relationship between the continents and a more global vision of what it means to be community.
"We also talked about how the pope's ministry could be 'a ministry of service' to those outside the Roman Catholic Church -- how it could be a gift to the wider Christian world," Griswold said.
He presented the pope with a small bronze statue of Christ holding aloft a child, which was sculpted by the Rev. Gurdon Brewster, a former Episcopal chaplain at Cornell University. John Paul gave the presiding bishop a millennium pectoral cross.
Accompanying the presiding bishop and Phoebe Griswold were the Rev. Canon David Perry, ecumenical officer, and his wife, Ricki.
Perry described the visit as significant, considering the pope's ill health and his onerous work schedule. "I think it is a sign of the deep affection for us and his desire that both churches continue on the search for unity," he said.
It was during the ride to his hotel after dinner with Vatican officials at the residence of the British ambassador to the Holy See that Griswold said he gained a greater appreciation of what the international dialogue symbolizes for many people.
"The Italian taxi driver pointed to my clerical collar and said; 'Are you Anglican?'" Griswold related. "I told him I am. When we got to the hotel, he refused to accept any payment and, interlocking his fingers of both hands, he said, 'Anglican, Roman Catholics, uno, uno.' One, one.
"It deepened my own commitment to the ecumenical enterprise," Griswold said. "Though we go through more hopeful and less hopeful times, there are people in the street who see this question with a sense of urgency.
"It made me think that my time is well invested in this whole area of ecumenism and search for unity among Anglicans and Roman Catholics -- and certainly among other Christians as well."
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