October ~ 2024 ~ Anglican-Roman Catholic news & opinion
The Anglican Communion’s representative at the ongoing Synod on Synodality at the Vatican, the Bishop of Chichester, Dr Martin Warner, has urged the Church of England to learn from the “spiritual atmosphere” of the Rome discussions, while also defending its greater “decision-making transparency”.
Dr Warner is one of 16 non-Roman Catholic “fraternal delegates” participating in the Synod. He said: “There’s a very profound stylistic lesson to be learned — about the role of silence, of conversation in the Holy Spirit as the main protagonist in debates.
“The discussion in small groups, irrigated by silence and prayer, is quite unlike the structural and legislative model of the Church of England’s General Synod. Although it might seem a small detail, something like this could transform the General Synod’s mood and atmosphere.”
Dr Warner, who co-chairs the bilateral English and Welsh Anglican-Roman Catholic Committee, attended an ecumenical service of prayer and candlelit vigil for Christian unity on Friday evening. Pope Francis led the event, which the Taizé Community had organised.
An Ecumenical Prayer Vigil took place on Friday, 11 October, in the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs at the Vatican, attended by Pope Francis and participants in the second session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (2-27 October 2024).
In his introductory remarks, Cardinal Koch, Prefect of the DPCU, recalled that this day marked the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and also highlighted the 60th anniversary of the publication of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and the Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio.
The Synod on Synodality, convened by Pope Francis in 2021, began its final Session this past week. “For a synodal church: communion, participation, mission” has entailed listening to voices from around the Roman Catholic world and beyond. First, listening to the local church (dioceses and ecumenical partners), then listening to continental (or we might say “regional”) bishops’ conferences. The fruits of these two years’ work were brought to the table last year at the First Session for discussion by bishops from around the world, ecumenical participants, theologians and special guests.
This First Session indicated major questions that then were compiled into a text, known by its Latin name ‘Instrumentum Laboris’. We are now listening deeply to one another, discerning what the Spirit says to the church based on themes developed in the ‘Instrumentum’.
The process is unique. It is not a “democratic” process, that is, trying to get a majority on this or that issue, but it is a “conversation in the Spirit.” We are seated at round tables. There are 10-12 participants at each table. Pope Francis himself sits at one such table. We begin in prayer and then everyone shares for no more than three minutes on the theme of that particular day.
This is followed by silent prayer and then a second round of conversation in which each person shares what resonated for them, what they heard from others. After this, there is prayer again and then a general discussion leading to a brief report of the conversation. These reports are gathered, summarized by another group, and then shared back with the plenary for more conversation. By the end of four weeks, we will have discussed the entire ‘Instrumentum Laboris’.
The steering committee of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) met in Washington DC, USA, from 29 September to 2 October 2024. The meeting was kindly hosted by Georgetown University, in association with Virginia Theological Seminary. The steering committee was joined for its meeting by three of the bishops who took part in the IARCCUM summit meeting and pilgrimage of Catholic and Anglican bishops which took place in Rome and Canterbury in January 2024.
During their meeting, the steering committee reflected on the future of IARCCUM, including means of maintaining contact with the pairs of the bishops who took part in the 2024 summit, and the question of replacement of IARCCUM bishops on their retirement from office. The steering committee also spent time reflecting on the origins and specific ecumenical task of IARCCUM, seeking to discern new ways to contribute to the work of deepening communion between Anglicans and Catholics. The committee also reviewed IARCCUM’s most important publication to date, the 2007 document Growing Together in Unity and Mission, with a view to beginning work on a new document as a resource for bishops of the two churches.
The steering committee of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) met in Washington DC, USA, from 29 September to 2 October 2024. The meeting was kindly hosted by Georgetown University, in association with Virginia Theological Seminary. The steering committee was joined for its meeting by three of the bishops who took part in the IARCCUM summit meeting and pilgrimage of Catholic and Anglican bishops which took place in Rome and Canterbury in January 2024.
During their meeting, the steering committee reflected on the future of IARCCUM, including means of maintaining contact with the pairs of the bishops who took part in the 2024 summit, and the question of replacement of IARCCUM bishops on their retirement from office. The steering committee also spent time reflecting on the origins and specific ecumenical task of IARCCUM, seeking to discern new ways to contribute to the work of deepening communion between Anglicans and Catholics. The committee also reviewed IARCCUM’s most important publication to date, the 2007 document Growing Together in Unity and Mission, with a view to beginning work on a new document as a resource for bishops of the two churches.
In an October 2016 Common Declaration recalling the fiftieth anniversary of the historic visit of Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury to Pope Paul VI in Rome, Pope Francis and His Grace Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, recognized how Anglicans and Catholics “have become partners and companions on our pilgrim journey, facing the same difficulties, and strengthening each other by learning to value the gifts which God has given to the other, and to receive them as our own in humility and gratitude.” Together they advance the work of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), involving Anglican and Catholic bishops giving collaborative witness, based on the unity that Anglicans and Catholics already enjoy. Through IARCCUM, 46 bishops, representing 27 countries, gathered in Rome and Canterbury in January 2024 and pledged to “engage in common witness, to build relationships of friendship in Christ, to walk a synodal path together, and to share wherever possible in the Church’s mission.”
Five IARCCUM participating bishops are meeting at Georgetown University from September 30 through October 2, 2024, and at this public session they will share their experiences as IARCCUM participants.