Anglican/Roman Catholic International Commission Issues Statement on Authority

12 May 1999 • Persistent link: iarccum.org/?p=3774

At a press briefing in Westminster Abbey, London, today, the co-chairmen of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), the Rt Revd Mark Santer (Anglican) and the Rt Revd Cormac Murphy-O’Connor (Roman Catholic), launched the document “The Gift of Authority”, the latest in study documents issued by 18 members of the Commission.

This new document is the third agreed statement from ARCIC to address the question of authority in the church – its nature, exercise and implications. The statement takes into account the recent work in both Churches concerned with the matter of authority – the Lambeth Conference 1998 resolutions of the topic, “The Virginia Report” (Anglican document sent to the Provinces), and the 1995 Encyclical Letter on Ecumenism, “Ut Unum Sint”.

Section 52 of “The Gift of Authority” (pp. 37/38) lists “Advances in Agreement” on authority reached by the Commission. They are:

52. The Commission is of the view that we have deepened and extended our agreement on: