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”.

I welcome the publication of the ARCIC‘s latest document, “The Gift of Authority”. I would like to express my thanks to the Co-Chairmen of the Commission, Bishop Cormac Murphy O’Connor and Bishop Mark Santer, together with their colleagues, for all their hard work and dedication.

“The Gift of Authority” tackles the most controversial of theological issues separating Roman Catholics and Anglicans. It is noteworthy that in earlier stages in the life of ARCIC it was recognised that more work would be needed before the same level of agreement could be recorded on Authority as was achieved on the topics of the Eucharist and Ministry and Ordination.

The end of the road is nowhere near being in sight yet, but solid progress is being made: this was the impression given by the communiqué and press conference that followed last week’s second meeting of the Anglican-Catholic joint preparatory commission, held at Huntercombe Manor, Taplow, Berks, from August 30th to September 3rd.

Indeed, the frequency of the commission’s meetings seems to be increasing: while the first meeting was held seven and a half months ago at Gazzada in northern Italy, it is hoped to hold the third meeting towards the end of December, at the most only four months hence. Where it will be held is not yet certain: it has to be some where near a large international airport, but the likelihood of fog at that time of year rules out London airport, and therefore England.