Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
The fact that Anglicans and Catholics are not able to receive the Eucharist together yet is a matter of sadness,” the Bishop of Ossory Niall Coll said at the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
In his homily at an Anglican Eucharist in St Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny last weekend, Bishop Coll said the Church of Ireland liturgy, as well as his attendance at a meeting of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission last year, were the “most moving experiences” of spiritual communion for him.
He told the congregation he hoped they would be “a further impetus to continue our ecumenical journey together so that we might one day break bread together around the same altar”.
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Acknowledging that much progress has been made on the ecumenical journey, the Bishop of Ossory also underlined that “much more needs to be done”.
Highlighting how Anglicans and Catholics are initiated into the faith through baptism, he prayed that their witness and ministry alongside one another would be “a foretaste of the reconciling of all Christians in the unity of the one and only Church of Christ”.
Meanwhile, in the Cathedral of St Brendan, Loughrea, Bishop Michael Duignan and Bishop Michael Burrows led an ecumenical service of prayer for Christian unity.
Bishop Duignan urged those present to “never to give up hope of an ever greater, enriching, lifegiving unity among the followers of Christ”.
In his sermon, Bishop Burrows noted how the ecumenical movement, although “moving slowly”, is nonetheless “making concrete advances that no one would have imagined before”.
Separately, the Archbishops of Armagh have produced a joint reflection on the theme of this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
In the video, Archbishops Eamon Martin and John McDowell discuss the role faith plays in sustaining hope amid personal and societal challenges and reflect on the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.
The Anglican Communion is moving “from a season of raw and antagonistic division to one of reckoning with what will likely be a long process of resolution”, the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) has said.
The body met in Kuala Lumpur from 6 to 12 December, and released a communiqué on 18 December in which it wrote that members had “wrestled” with their divisions, and felt that “we may now be able to face our theological differences and associated fractures more productively, as we seek responsible and creative ways to remain together, albeit to varying degrees.”
The body has an advisory position in the Communion, and is formed of 18 members, drawn from six continents. About two-thirds of the members come from countries considered to be part of the global South.
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Under the proposals, the agreed description of the Anglican Communion would be revised to describe the constituent Churches as having a “historic connection” with the see of Canterbury rather than “in communion” with it.
The second proposal put forward is to introduce a rotating presidency of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), and to give the Primates’ Standing Committee an “enhanced role” in convening the Primates’ Meetings and the Lambeth Conference.
The report, known as the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, will be debated at the next meeting of the ACC in 2026. If introduced, the proposals would reduce the Archbishop of Canterbury’s procedural influence in the Communion.
In the communiqué, the members of IASCUFO called on the Churches of the Communion to “cultivate generosity in the spirit” of the proposals, while recognising “the hurt that has been caused”.
Questions of sexual ethics have dominated inter-Anglican discussions in recent years and occasioned divisions in the Communion. The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), which opposes any change to traditional teaching on marriage and sexuality, has emerged as a prominent voice.
The leaders of the GSFA pledge to remain within the Communion, while making clear their opposition to actions taken by the Church of England in introducing blessings for same-sex couples (News, 28 June 2024).
IASCUFO’s communiqué argues that the Anglican Communion “needs to find ways for the contribution of the GSFA to be more fully recognised and received within its wider life and mission. . . We resolved that IASCUFO should reach out to the leadership of the GSFA to explore the relevance of The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals to our most immediate challenges.”
Several member Churches of the GSFA are also represented on IASCUFO, including the Province of Alexandria, and the Church of the Province of South East Asia.
The Church of England Evangelical Council is listed as a “mission partner” of the GSFA.
A meeting of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) gathered in Kuala Lumpur from 6-12 December. Hosted by the Right Revd Steven Abbarow and the Diocese of West Malaysia, the meeting was also attended by the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Right Revd Anthony Poggo.
IASCUFO is supported by the Anglican Communion Office and chaired by the Right Revd Dr Graham Tomlin of the Church of England. It is one of the main places where the Anglican Communion does its theological and ecclesiological reflection. Its membership is composed of a diverse group from across the Anglican Communion, incorporating a range of viewpoints from Africa, Asia, South and North America, Europe, and Australia.
IASCUFO’s Kuala Lumpur gathering followed the recent publication of the paper The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals: Renewing the Instruments of the Anglican Communion on December 6, 2024. They are the result of a long-term piece of work, commissioned at the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC-18) in 2023 to explore “structure and decision-making to help address [our] differences in the Anglican Communion.” A draft of the paper was discussed at the Primates’ meeting in April 2024, and will be considered at the 19th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in 2026.
During the meeting, the Commission discussed plans to aid the reception of The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals around the Anglican Communion. A communiqué summarising the meeting and its hopes reports that the Commission “sensed that the Communion may be moving from a season of raw and antagonistic division to one of reckoning with what will likely be a long process of resolution. We may now be able to face our theological differences and associated fractures more productively, as we seek responsible and creative ways to remain together, albeit to varying degrees.”
The communiqué goes on to say that “IASCUFO’s entire membership, which includes members of Churches of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), welcomes the GSFA’s commitment to stay within the Anglican Communion. We value its voluntary intensification of fellowship within the Communion as a potential source of renewal and fresh missional energy, the fruits of which may inspire others (see Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, §§8, 56, 68-69). Despite our divisions, the Anglican Communion needs to find ways for the contribution of the GSFA to be more fully recognised and received within its wider life and mission.”
Following the meeting, Bishop Tomlin said: “We give thanks for the work that we have done together and that we are still engaged in, seeking common ground on ways forward in handling differences within our common life as Anglicans. Our discussions have been an opportunity for learning from one another, as well as wrestling with challenging questions around Anglican identity and unity. It is our heartfelt prayer that the Holy Spirit will use the Nairobi-Cairo proposals to build bridges across our divisions, to strengthen our life in Christ together, in order to serve the mission God has called us to in his world.”
In a recent comment about The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals, Bishop Poggo said: “The Anglican Consultative Council commissioned IASCUFO’s work in 2023. The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals are the result of international collaboration, representing diverse voices from around the Communion. They are offered to strengthen our global Anglican family. I pray that they will be received with prayerful consideration in the months ahead.”
The years following the closure of the Second Vatican Council in 1965 witnessed an explosion of bilateral ecumenical dialogues between various churches. Among these is the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), which traces its origins to a consultation of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops in May 2000. It holds a unique place which may offer hope for renewed ecumenical progress.
Mississauga Consultation
Pope St. John Paul II and Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. George Carey signed a Common Declaration when Carey visited Rome in December, 1996. In response to that declaration, Carey and Cardinal Edward Cassidy, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), invited pairs of Anglican and Catholic bishops from around the world to gather at a retreat house in Mississauga, ON. Chosen by their fellow bishops to represent their respective Anglican Province or Episcopal Conference, they met to evaluate the state of Anglican-Roman Catholic relations and to chart a course for the future.
Grounded in prayer, the consultation began with a time of retreat, a shared meditation on conversion, communion, and a renewal of baptismal promises. On alternate days, the Eucharist, Morning Prayer, and Evening Prayer were celebrated according to the tradition of each communion. Making use of a theological reflection model based on experience, the gathering was designed with a minimum of input from other presenters at the consultation. Among the goals identified by the planning committee, it was hoped that the bishops would have an experience of exercising their episcopal ministry together during the consultation and continuing after, which might encourage commitment to a more regular exercise of shared ministry locally. With this in mind, a questionnaire was forwarded to the countries of the participating bishops prior to the conference. Responses to the questionnaire provided a kind of “map” of the state of current relationships, examples of ongoing joint witness, and issues which should be addressed together.
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The dialogue began with a review of the map of the quality of relationships in the participating countries, and a panel outlining specific issues in two areas: Papua New Guinea, and Northern Ireland. Participants were then invited to consider agreement in faith as outlined in the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission’s (ARCIC) dialogue documents as well as the experience and challenge of reception at the local level. A paper by Rev. Jean-Marie Tillard, OP, provided input on the vision of unity emerging from the ARCIC dialogue, and a panel with participants from India, Nigeria, and New Zealand strongly asserted that the Church’s mission would be enhanced by its unity. It was noted that there is a need to be clearer about the shape of full visible unity in order to take appropriate interim steps which have their own integrity and contribute positively towards attainment of the goal of full visible unity.
The final two days of the consultation looked towards the naming of elements for a common commitment. A statement, Communion in Mission, was adopted on the last day of the meeting. In this statement, the bishops claimed their communion together is no longer to be viewed in minimal terms, and that it implies a joint commitment to common mission in the world. Believing that they had reached a very significant new place on their ecumenical journey, the bishops affirmed their specific responsibility to promote the ongoing work of unity. They drew up an Action Plan as a means of translating their commitment into visible and practical outcomes.
As a first step in their action plan, the bishops recommended the establishment of a Joint Unity Commission, later named IARCCUM, to oversee the preparation of a Joint Declaration of Agreement and plan for its signing and celebration. Among other tasks, this new commission would promote and monitor the formal response to and reception of the ARCIC agreed statements, examine ways of dealing pastorally with situations of inter-church marriages, and encourage co-operation locally on clergy formation, lay education and other pastoral matters. Some of these proposed items have been addressed, but not all. For example, IARCCUM has not taken up the issue of inter-church marriages. Other items in the action plan make reference to follow up by the pairs of bishops from the thirteen participating countries, a future agenda for ARCIC, and a review consultation of bishops to be held within five years.
IARCCUM
Established in January 2001, IARCCUM was in its first phase comprised of bishops from a variety of countries, assisted by a few specialists. Officially launched through formal visits to Lambeth Palace and Rome in November 2001, IARCCUM received strong encouragement for its work from both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope. Three sub-committees were to: 1) prepare a first draft of a common declaration which would formally express the degree of agreement in faith that already exists between Anglicans and Catholics, consolidate the results of more than thirty years of dialogue and commit the dialogue partners to a deeper sharing in common life and witness; 2) focus on practical recommendations for facilitating the ongoing reception of ecumenical texts, especially those of ARCIC; and 3) identify pastoral and practical strategies to help the two communions, particularly in local contexts, to do together whatever is possible in this current stage of real but imperfect communion
A second meeting took place in Malta in 2002. Draft texts were carefully reviewed, and practical proposals were made with regard to the local reception of ARCIC texts. Following a third meeting which took place in Northern Ireland in 2003, the churches of the Anglican Communion entered into a period of dispute occasioned by the authorisation of a rite of blessing for same-sex couples and the episcopal ordination of a priest living in a same-sex union. The Vatican expressed concern over these developments which it saw as not of a merely disciplinary nature but of vital importance to the preaching of the Gospel. The work of IARCCUM was put on hold to allow for a period of discernment. In this context, an IARCCUM sub-commission was set up to reflect on what the ARCIC agreements offer to this discernment process. Its Report, entitled Ecclesiological Reflections on the Current Situation in the Anglican Communion in the Light of ARCIC, identified some ecclesiological implications of the moral decisions taken. The Anglican Communion addressed these difficulties through its publication of The Windsor Report in October 2004, and a Primates’ communiqué in February 2005. IARCCUM was able to resume its work, holding a fourth meeting in November 2005, and publishing its agreed statement, Growing Together in Unity and Mission (GTUM), in 2007.
Growing Together
In issuing their agreed statement, the authors of GTUM were well aware that they had “not answered the full challenge extended by the bishops at Mississauga”, but had “sought to undertake what is appropriate in the present context” (#8). The commission members were tasked by the Action Plan from Mississauga to initiate a process leading towards an authoritative joint declaration, similar to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification that was formally signed by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church in 1999. However, the commission members found themselves only able to develop an agreed statement, GTUM, which they nevertheless saw as a significant step towards such a declaration. In what will necessarily be a longer process that is still ongoing, the text was submitted to the sponsoring bodies for study and reflection. Responses to it will assist the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion to discern whether it provides a sound basis for a formal agreement which could be affirmed, officially signed, and celebrated in the future.
As stated in GTUM, the document is a call for action, based upon “an honest appraisal of what has been achieved in our dialogue” (Preface). Affirming the concept of unity by stages and acknowledging the need to grow gradually into the full communion which Christ desires, the authors of this statement nevertheless believe: “it is the time to bridge the gap between the elements of faith we hold in common and the tangible expression of that shared belief in our ecclesial lives” (#10).
The text is structured in two main parts: I) The Achievements of Anglican-Roman Catholic Theological Dialogue, and II) Towards Unity and Common Mission.
The first part of the text includes a large section on “The Faith We Hold in Common” with topics presented under nine headings: “Belief in God as Trinity,” “Church as Communion in Mission,”, “The Living Word of God,” “Baptism,” “Eucharist,” “Ministry,” “Authority in the Church,” “Discipleship and Holiness,” and “The Blessed Virgin Mary.” In all but two of these, the text uses boxed paragraphs to clearly indicate topics that require further exploration. Frequently used in other bilateral and multilateral dialogues, this formatting invites reflection on unresolved issues within the framework of already recognized agreements. Identified in this way, areas of divergence are not minimized but placed within a broader context which may allow for new interpretations. Through the past forty years of ecumenical dialogue, Anglicans and Catholics have, IARCCUM affirms, “grown closer together and have come to see that what they hold in common is far greater than those things in which they differ” (#2).
While acknowledging that the time may not be right to initiate “a formal new stage in our relations”, the second part of GTUM “proposes some specific steps to deepen our fellowship in life and mission which we believe are responsibly open for us and would be appropriate for us to take in the present context” (#10). The text states: “Genuine faith is more than assent: it is expressed in action,” and that “the extent of common faith described in this statement compels us to live and witness together more fully here and now” (#96). Because “the context and dynamics of relationships between Anglicans and Roman Catholics differ widely across the world” (#99), appropriate action must be determined locally. Drawing on the work of earlier dialogue documents, the text makes numerous practical recommendations under four headings: “Visible expressions of our shared faith”, “Joint study of our faith”, “Co-operation in ministry”, and “Shared witness in the world” (#100-125).
Prepared by an episcopal commission, GTUM is addressed primarily to bishops. It encourages bishops around the world to exercise their episcopal role and responsibility to guide, promote, and energise the ongoing search for Christian unity, especially in their own dioceses. Much of what is contained in this section is already within the framework of what other officially approved texts agree can be implemented. For example, see the PCPCU’s 1993 Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, and their 1997 The Ecumenical Dimension in the Formation of Those Engaged in Pastoral Work.
Further, in 2006 Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Rowan Williams signed a Common Declaration, which calls for closer co-operation in a wide range of areas of witness and service, including pursuit of peace in the Holy Land, promotion of respect for life from conception until natural death, outreach to the poor, care for the environment, commitment to inter-religious dialogue, and addressing the negative effects of materialism. In brief, joint action in mission is not only an expression of the degree of faith already shared but also an invitation to deepen the communion yet to be shared. While rejoicing in what has been accomplished, the bishops of IARCCUM call on all bishops to encourage their clergy and people “to engage in a searching exploration of new possibilities for co-operation in mission” (#126).
A Second Phase of IARCCUM
Following the publication of GTUM, IARCCUM entered a second phase with a clear focus on giving flesh to the breadth of faith already held in common. Consistent with the pairs of bishops who participated in the initial Mississauga consultation, IARCCUM has developed a network of paired Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops from countries and regions where the two communions exist in significant numbers. With David Hamid, Anglican Suffragan Bishop in Europe (succeeded in February 2024 by Robert Innes, Anglican Bishop in Europe) and Donald Bolen, Catholic Archbishop of Regina, SK, serving as International Co-Chairs, the IARCCUM network seeks to build links of friendship between themselves and with their colleagues, identify opportunities for shared mission and pastoral cooperation, foster local reception of ARCIC Agreed Statements, and encourage regular occasions for prayer together. A steering committee meets regularly by video conference to build relationships and share updates and information about local activities.
Specific to the IARCCUM method is its focus on the experiences of local relationships between Anglicans and Roman Catholics, whose contexts and dynamics, as GTUM recognizes, differ widely across the world (#99). Further, in light of GTUM’s careful reading of the ARCIC agreed statements, IARCCUM sees its role as that of giving practical expression to the degree of shared faith already achieved rather than that of seeking to resolve doctrinal divisions.
The IARCCUM network continues to expand, as is evident in pilgrimages between Canterbury and Rome undertaken in 2016 and 2024. In October 2016, 36 bishops from around the world gathered to reflect on the ecumenical context in their own areas and to learn from each other’s experiences. The highlight of the gathering was a joint commissioning of the bishop-pairs by Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin Welby at the Basilica of San Gregorio al Celio, the site where St. Augustine of Canterbury was commissioned by St. Gregory the Great to evangelize the English. During the prayer service, the bishops were given a Lampedusa cross made from the wreckage of boats carrying refugees seeking asylum in Europe, a symbolic summons to stand together against the globalization of indifference. The meeting concluded with an appeal calling on all Anglicans and Catholics to work together: “to extend the mercy and peace of God to a world in need.”
In January 2024, a second pilgrimage gathered 50 bishops from 27 countries (including Canadian Bishops Bruce Myers and Martin Laliberté), who also issued a concluding statement affirming IARCCUM’s call to common witness and commitment to unity in today’s troubled world. At the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin again commissioned the pairs of bishops to promote growth in communion between the two churches and reception of the agreements reached in ecumenical dialogues. This commissioning of the IARCCUM bishop-pairs is of great significance. Where the bishops were initially called together by the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury to assess the state of Anglican-Roman Catholic relations and propose a way forward, they are now commissioned and sent forth together in mission to live and proclaim the Gospel in today’s world
Reflecting on the IARCCUM Method
To summarize, three aspects of the IARCCUM method seem well suited to the promotion of ecumenism in today’s world: participation by pairs of bishops, focus on local experience, and commitment to common action based on agreements achieved in theological dialogue. The fact that the bishop-pairs are appointed by, or otherwise accountable to, their colleagues highlights their responsibility to one another and to their respective episcopal conferences or Anglican provinces. The importance of building relationships cannot be overstated. As the paired bishops become friends, recognition of shared faith and similar pastoral concerns grows, and it becomes increasingly clear that what they hold in common is far greater than the issues on which they are divided.
The focus on diocesan experience, reminiscent of the mapping of Anglican and Roman Catholic relations that introduced the Mississauga Consultation, facilitates effective action to address local concerns as can be seen in areas like South Sudan and Papua New Guinea. IARCCUM is a particular application of the Lund Principle that churches are to act together except where deep conviction requires them to act separately. In this instance, the discernment around appropriate and possible acts of common witness and mission are built directly upon the work of ARCIC and over five decades of dialogue and the convergence and consensus achieved, upon local bishops working together to foster such common action. In addition, as the bishops gather in pilgrimage, there are opportunities to identify new areas of agreement and possibilities for common action based on their study of current issues and local concerns.
Established as an episcopal commission, IARCCUM seems to have an advantage when it comes to the implementation of its recommendations, because each of its bishop members exercises a ministry of oversight in their respective dioceses. Yet, dialogue with churches in the Reformed tradition also identifies a ministry of oversight which may be exercised in various ways. Thus, the IARCCUM method could well be extended to any church which has an identifiable oversight structure. As dialogue commissions have moved closer to resolving issues which arose at the time of the Reformation, new topics are being raised by use of the Trinitarian formula in Baptism, questions about who may or may not be ordained, and the impact of changing views of anthropology and sexuality on ethical and moral decision-making. As new areas of disagreement emerge, it becomes increasingly important for leadership in all churches to respond to the challenge of maintaining Christian unity through dialogue and common witness. The IARCCUM method, with its focus on joint action based on agreements already achieved, may well offer a way forward.
Sr. Dr. Donna Geernaert, SC, served for 18 years in promoting ecumenical and interfaith relations for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. She has been a staff member, consultant, and member of numerous multilateral and bilateral theological dialogues in Canada as well as internationally.
On 3 and 4 December 2024, representatives of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the steering committees of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) were hosted by the Anglican Communion Office in London, United Kingdom, for the annual Anglican-Catholic Informal Talks. The DPCU was represented by the Secretary of the Dicastery, Archbishop Flavio Pace, and the official responsible for relations with the Anglican Communion, Fr Martin Browne OSB. On Tuesday 3 December, the group attended Choral Evensong at St Paul’s Cathedral, London.
Along with updates on the work of ARCIC and IARCCUM, the meetings provided an opportunity for informal conversations about current developments and challenges within and between the two communities. The incoming Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, Bishop Anthony Ball, kindly welcomed the group to meet at his residence in Westminster Abbey, where he currently serves as a canon. He will succeed the current Director, Archbishop Ian Ernest, who retires in January 2025. The next meeting will take place in Rome on 10 and 11 November 2025.
Participants:
Anglican Communion
Bishop Anthony Poggo, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion
Archbishop Philip Freier, Co-Chair, ARCIC (participated online)
Bishop Robert Innes, Co-Chair, IARCCUM
Bishop Anthony Ball, incoming Director, Anglican Centre in Rome
Revd Neil Vigers, Anglican Communion Office
Dr. Christopher Wells, Anglican Communion Office
Catholic Church
Archbishop Flavio Pace, Secretary, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity
Archbishop Bernard Longley, Co-Chair, ARCIC
Archbishop Donald Bolen, Co-Chair, IARCCUM
Revd Martin Browne OSB, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity
Renewing the Instruments of the Anglican Communion is the focus of a new paper called The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals released by the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO). Commissioned by the 18th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in 2023, a draft of the paper was presented to the Primates’ Meeting in Rome in April 2024, and was revised in conversation with the Primates’ Standing Committee, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the whole of the Standing Committee of the ACC. It has now been published as an offering to the Anglican Communion and for the consideration of the 19th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in 2026.
IASCUFO Propoals Commissioned by the ACC
IASCUFO is supported by the Anglican Communion Office and chaired by The Right Revd Dr Graham Tomlin of the Church of England. Its membership is composed of a diverse group from across the Anglican Communion, incorporating a range of viewpoints from Africa, Asia, South and North America, Europe, and Australia.
The report represents two years of work by the commission. ACC-18 asked IASCUFO to “explore theological questions regarding structure and decision-making in the Anglican Communion.” The ACC resolution underlined “the importance of seeking to walk together to the highest degree possible and learning from our ecumenical conversations how to accommodate differentiation patiently and respectfully.”
The work also carries forward the call of the 2022 Lambeth Conference to review the Instruments of Communion, and to seek to answer two questions: “To what extent are the Instruments fit for purpose? To what extent might some (or all) of the Instruments be reconfigured to serve the Communion of today and the future?”
The Instruments of the Anglican Communion are the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council, the Primates’ Meeting, and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Each emerged at a different point in history, as the Anglican family of churches has sought to articulate and deepen its faith and order, in service of wider Christian unity.
The Proposals
The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals urge the churches of the Anglican Communion to reclaim their oldest ideals, founded in Scripture and the ancient faith of the Church, and to respond properly to God’s gift and call of unity in Christ, even when that unity is wounded by disagreement and division. The paper seeks to help Anglicans speak “honestly and directly” and to consider several structural adjustments “to encourage a more sustained equality, mutuality, and flourishing of all member churches.”
The longest section of the paper describes anew the vocation of Anglicanism with reference to the four ancient marks of the Church as One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. This frames the two principal proposals of the paper, which seek “to account for changes of the last century and to encourage a maximal sharing in leadership that reflects [Anglican] identity and ideals.” The proposals are presented together by IASCUFO and the Standing Committee of the ACC.
The first proposal offers an updated statement (for the first time since 1930) of the nature and status of the Anglican Communion, a statement that reflects the “maturing of the 42 sister churches of the Communion.” The proposed hopeful description states that (1) the churches of the Communion seek to uphold and propagate the Catholic and Apostolic faith and order, as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer; (2) they are properly autonomous, rooted in their various localities; and (3) they remain bound together in four respects: “through their shared inheritance, mutual service, common counsel in conference, and historic connection with the See of Canterbury.” The latter four characteristics “capture the present reality and ideals of the churches of the Communion, by which they seek to foster the highest degree of communion” with one another and with all churches and communities of the Universal Church.
The second proposal suggests broadening how the meetings of the Instruments of Communion are called, convened, chaired, and presided over, in order to diversify the face of the Instruments of Communion. In particular, the paper proposes “a rotating presidency of the Anglican Consultative Council between the five regions of the Communion, elected from the membership of the Primates’ Meeting by the same; and an enhanced role for the Primates’ Standing Committee in the calling and convening of both Primates’ Meetings and the Lambeth Conference.” These suggestions “fit with the identity and ideals of the Anglican Communion in a post-colonial era. The leadership of the Communion should look like the Communion.”
This second proposal is partly presented to “assist and broaden aspects of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s ministry in the Communion,” especially by drawing on the Regional Primates who form the Primates’ Standing Committee. Since at least 2016, primates have taken turns chairing sessions of the Primates’ Meeting, and the Primates’ Standing Committee has helped to shape the agendas in advance.
The paper argues that the See of Canterbury, the first see of the Anglican Communion, “stands as a symbol of the apostolic character of the Anglican Communion and serves as a touchstone of Anglican unity, for which reason the Archbishop of Canterbury is rightly understood as an Instrument of Communion.” The archbishop’s ministry is personal and pastoral, as he or she seeks to “serve, encourage, and persuade, as a brother or sister among siblings and peers, particularly in the college of the Lambeth Conference and the Primates’ Meeting.”
The paper observes that “the binding character of historic connection to Canterbury that all Anglicans share is experienced in countless contexts and relationships.” For this reason, constitutions and canons of churches of the Communion are free to specify their own commitment to “communion with the See of Canterbury.” Such communion “ought not be expected in any provincial constitution or canon nor need it be affirmed univocally by all member churches. Some degree of latitude is fitting and appropriate.”
Beginning a new conversation
IASCUFO emphasizes that the proposals are offered “not as an end but as the beginning of a new conversation.” They provide “suggestions for next steps to all four Instruments of Communion for their consideration and wise response.”
They are also written in direct address of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican (GSFA) Churches, the contributions of which are encouraged as “outworkings both of provincial autonomy and the mutuality of ‘common counsel,’ in hopeful service of the unity and faithfulness of the Anglican Communion.” The communiqué of the 2024 Primates’ Meeting addressed the GSFA when it expressed a “desire for conversation and mutual discernment of the way forward together,” including “discernments about the faith and order of the Communion.”
In the Foreword to the paper, The Right Revd Dr Graham Tomlin writes: “The varied input that we have received has reflected the breadth of perspectives that may be found in the Anglican Communion on the issues that divide us, and the composition of our own Commission reflects the same breadth. Accordingly, we have sought in our meetings to speak frankly, to protect one another’s conscience, and to cultivate a patient charity in discerning next faithful steps. All together, we present the following paper as the product of deep listening and honesty across theological and cultural difference. It proposes a way forward that all members of the Commission are able to commend. I am grateful to the members of the Commission for the generosity of spirit and resilience that they brought to our discussions.”
The Most Revd Dr Samy Shehata, Primate of the Province of Alexandria and a member of the commission, said: “As we navigate the complexities of our future as Anglicans, we will do well to remember the importance of empathy, understanding, and collaboration. IASCUFO’s Nairobi-Cairo Proposals is a historical document for such a time as this. It lays the groundwork to continue in fellowship. Even in moments of disagreement, there is always an opportunity for dialogue and mutual respect. I pray for open hearts and minds in seeking common ground and solutions that benefit us all.”
The Revd Dr Katherine Sonderegger, Professor of Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary and a member of the commission, said: “The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals exhort us as churches and as a Communion to ‘wait for one another,’ and to seek, under the Spirit’s guidance, the highest form of communion possible among us. The proposals give us the next steps forward, a glimpse of a new, more diverse Communion that will nurture our churches in the midst of serious division. May it be a sign of healing, of reconciliation, and renewal!”
The Right Revd Anthony Poggo, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, said: “The Anglican Consultative Council commissioned IASCUFO’s work in 2023. The Nairobi-Cairo Proposals are the result of international collaboration, representing diverse voices from around the Communion. They are offered to strengthen our global Anglican family. I pray that they will be received with prayerful consideration in the months ahead.”
The paper anticipates the election of a new Archbishop of Canterbury, which will happen through the Church of England’s usual Crown Nominations Commission.
With reference to the proposed revision to the Constitution of the Anglican Consultative Council, which will be presented to ACC-19, IASCUFO and the Standing Committee express a “hope that the next Archbishop of Canterbury will welcome the development, and that the Primates’ Meeting will take up the proposal to elect from among its membership a first President of the ACC, from one of the five regions of the Communion.” They also express a “hope that the next meeting of the Lambeth Conference will devote sustained attention to the identity and vocation of the Anglican Communion, to advance our shared understanding and deepen our collective commitment.”
In the lead up to the 2024 Primates’ Meeting, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: “I welcome the proposals that will be discussed by the primates in Rome. I have long called for the structures of the Anglican Communion to be reimagined for the 21st century — as have my recent predecessors as Archbishop of Canterbury. This is an ongoing conversation, and I pray it will lead to greater unity — and to a more accurate reflection of the diversity of global Anglicanism.”
For more information
To find out more and download the report, visit the Anglican Communion office website here.
Doubling down on the centrality of synodality in the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said that it is now up to local churches to accept and implement proposals from the final document approved by the Synod of Bishops on synodality.
Approved by the pope, the synod’s final document “participates in the ordinary magisterium of the successor of Peter, and as such, I ask that it be accepted,” the pope wrote in a note published by the Vatican Nov. 25.
“Local churches and groupings of churches are now called upon to implement, in different contexts, the authoritative indications contained in the document, through the processes of discernment and decision-making provided by law and by the document itself,” he wrote nearly a month after the synod’s close.
The final document outlined key priorities for the church, including increased participation of laity through new ministries and adjusted governing structures, greater transparency and accountability among church leadership and creating space for previously marginalized groups.
After synod members voted to approve the final document, Pope Francis announced that he would not write the customary apostolic exhortation after the synod but would instead offer the document to the entire church for implementation.
With the exceptions of the first synods convoked by St. Paul VI in 1967 and 1971, all ordinary assemblies of the Synod of Bishops have been followed by an exhortation on the synod’s themes and discussions by the pope.
In his note, Pope Francis clarified that while the document is “not strictly normative” and must be adapted to contexts where it is applied, it still obligates “local churches to make choices consistent with what was indicated” in the document.
He also underscored the need for time to address broader churchwide issues, such as those assigned to the 10 study groups he set up in the spring to explore issues raised during the synod, including women’s ministry, seminary education, relationships between bishops and religious communities, and the role of nuncios. More groups may be created, the pope said.
The conclusion of the general assembly of the Synod of Bishops “does not end the synodal process,” he wrote.
Quoting his 2016 exhortation, “Amoris Laetitia” on marriage and family life, the pope wrote that “not all doctrinal, moral or pastoral discussions must be resolved by interventions of the magisterium,” rather the bishops of each country or region can seek “more encultured solutions” to issues involving local traditions and challenges.
He added that the final synod document contains recommendations which “can already now be implemented in the local churches and groupings of churches, taking into account different contexts, what has already been done and what remains to be done in order to learn and develop ever better the style proper to the missionary synodal church.”
“In many cases it is a matter of effectively implementing what is already provided for in existing law, Latin and Eastern,” while in other contexts local churches can proceed with the creation of “new forms of ministry and missionary action” through a process of synodal discernment and experimentation.
Pope Francis also specified that during bishops’ “ad limina” visits to Rome, each bishop will be asked to discuss what choices have been made in his local church regarding what has been indicated in the final synod document, reflecting on the challenges and the fruits.
Meanwhile, he said, the General Secretariat of the Synod and the various dicasteries of the Roman Curia will be tasked with overseeing the synodal journey’s “implementation phase.”
As the IARCCUM.org website has developed, I have been adding little features that enhance the resources and assist people in sharing the material with colleagues and friends. A few years ago, I added social media links to each news post and, eventually, to each document as well. The social media links are supported by some back-end coding to ensure that Facebook, Twitter, and other sites can properly identify the titles and feature images for each page.
More recently, I have had misgivings about promoting the use of Twitter/X and even removed it from the site for a long period. I have now replaced it with Bluesky, a similar service that has no advertising and uses robust content controls.
On each page, there should be a Bluesky butterfly among the social icons. Clicking this link will open a Bluesky compose window where users can compose their own posts if they have a Bluesky account. Similarly, the Facebook, Messenger, Pocket, Email, and WhatsApp icons open their respective websites. These seem to be the most helpful icons at this time.
Note: Bluesky is still in development. One feature that does not yet work fully is the “compose link” that appears on this website. When clicking on the link a new window successfully opens, and the text box is populated with the URL of the target news story. However, Bluesky does not immediately convert this into a photo and a description or caption (known as a link card). However, if you type a blank space immediately before the URL, the search for the link card will initiate. Bluesky is apparently working on this.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a statement announcing his resignation. The statement was made at 2.00 pm UK time and reads:
Having sought the gracious permission of His Majesty The King, I have decided to resign as Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Makin Review has exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.
When I was informed in 2013 and told that police had been notified, I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow.
It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024.
It is my duty to honour my Constitutional and church responsibilities, so exact timings will be decided once a review of necessary obligations has been completed, including those in England and in the Anglican Communion.
I hope this decision makes clear how seriously the Church of England understands the need for change and our profound commitment to creating a safer church. As I step down I do so in sorrow with all victims and survivors of abuse.
The last few days have renewed my long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England. For nearly twelve years I have struggled to introduce improvements. It is for others to judge what has been done.
In the meantime, I will follow through on my commitment to meet victims. I will delegate all my other current responsibilities for safeguarding until the necessary risk assessment process is complete.
I ask everyone to keep my wife Caroline and my children in their prayers. They have been my most important support throughout my ministry, and I am eternally grateful for their sacrifice. Caroline led the spouses’ programme during the Lambeth Conference and has travelled tirelessly in areas of conflict supporting the most vulnerable, the women, and those who care for them locally.
I believe that stepping aside is in the best interests of the Church of England, which I dearly love and which I have been honoured to serve. I pray that this decision points us back towards the love that Jesus Christ has for every one of us.
For above all else, my deepest commitment is to the person of Jesus Christ, my saviour and my God; the bearer of the sins and burdens of the world, and the hope of every person.
For more information visit the Lambeth Palace website here.
The Board of Governors of the Anglican Centre in Rome has announced the appointment of a new Director. Bishop Anthony Ball will take over the leadership of the Centre when Archbishop Ian Ernest steps down at the end of January 2025. There will be a transition period of a few months, as Bishop Anthony takes up his responsibilities in Rome and concludes those of his current roles.
The Anglican Centre in Rome is the permanent Anglican Communion presence in Rome. It embodies the Anglican Communion’s commitment to the full visible unity of the Church, with a particular focus on building trusted relationships with the Roman Catholic Church and advancing shared ecumenical priorities.
As Director, Bishop Anthony Ball will lead the Centre and be the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See, playing a key role in the interface between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.
Bishop Anthony will also play a major role as a public face of Anglican ecumenical commitment, liaising with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Unity, Faith and Order team at the Anglican Communion Office.
Bishop Anthony is currently serving at Westminster Abbey as Canon Steward and Archdeacon of Westminster and as the Bishop of the Diocese of North Africa in the Province of Alexandria, having previously been an Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Egypt.
In his current role at Westminster Abbey, he has oversight of hospitality and welcome to visitors and pilgrims and responsibility for pastoral care as well as being the lead clergy person for the Abbey’s inter-religious relationships. Previously, he held roles of Canon Rector, Rector of St Margaret’s Church, Almoner and Sub-Dean. Before coming to the Abbey he was Rector of Worth, Pound Hill and Maidenbower in West Sussex, also holding the role of Anglican Chaplain at Worth School.
He has held several roles in the charity and education sectors, including Chair of Trustees of the Christian development charity ‘Embrace the Middle East’; the Chair of Governors of Westminster City School; a Trustee of the United Westminster and Grey Coat Foundation; a Trustee of the Christian-Muslim Forum; and Co-Chair of the Council of Christians and Jews’ Central London Branch. He currently Chairs the Jerusalem and the Middle East Church Association and serves on the UK Advisory Board of the Abraham Initiatives.
He was born and lived for many years in Southern Africa. After studying at the University of Durham, he joined the Diplomatic Service. He had overseas postings in the Middle East and Spain during which time he was ordained as a priest. During a posting with the British Embassy in Damascus, he was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Heads of the Orthodox Churches in Syria and Lebanon. From there he moved to join Archbishop Rowan Williams‘s staff at Lambeth Palace where he variously held responsibility for advising on Anglican Communion, Ecumenical, Inter Religious and International relations before serving as the Archbishop’s Chaplain.
Speaking of the appointment, Bishop Anthony Ball said:
“It is an extraordinary privilege to be offered this opportunity to serve the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the cause of Christian unity. As a long-time supporter of the Anglican Centre in Rome I am hugely excited at the prospect of contributing to its leadership and building on the work of Archbishop Ian Ernest and his predecessors. I look forward to developing further the connections and collaboration with institutions, organisations and all those, within our Communion and beyond, committed to education, pilgrimage, encounter and deepening mutual understanding. Establishing friendships was core to the founding vision of the ACR and is as vital today as it was nearly sixty years ago – I relish the chance of sharing in this endeavour.”
Announcing the appointment, Bishop Michael Burrows said:
“Bishop Anthony Ball is someone of energy, vision and rich experience whose many gifts will be a source of blessing to the ACR. Ecumenism, diplomacy, administration and liturgy are examples of areas where he is proficient. In particular he knows how to network fruitfully, to be given to hospitality and to deepen dialogue. The Governors of the ACR, rejoicing at the news of his appointment, know that he will be a worthy successor to Archbishop Ian Ernest, who over the last five years has developed the profile and agenda of the Centre, in and beyond Rome, quite immeasurably.”
The Most Reverend Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury said:
“Throughout his ministry to date, Bishop Anthony Ball has served God’s church in several contexts. This has imbued him with a deep commitment to the unity of the church and the value of ecumenism. I know that he will play a vital role in growing the Anglican Communion’s relationship with the Holy See, as together we celebrate our warm friendship and collaboration in mission.”
The Right Revd Anthony Poggo, the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, is also a Governor on the Anglican Centre in Rome. Speaking of the appointment he said:
“The Anglican Centre in Rome is a unique institution in the Anglican Communion, given to embodying the spirit and commitments of ecumenism. It is hard to think of the fruitfulness of Anglican-Catholic dialogue in the last almost- 60 years without thinking of the ACR as a place of personal encounter and friendship. In April 2024, it played an important role in hosting the Anglican Primates’ Meeting, which included an historic meeting with Pope Francis. I look forward to all that Bishop Anthony Ball will do as Director and share our prayers and support. We also give thanks for the service and tremendous ministry of his immediate predecessor, Archbishop Ian Ernest.”
Pope John Paul II once observed that ‘the modern ecumenical movement is the world’s most important peace movement’. Certainly, at the time of its origin at the end of the First World War many Christians shared the pressing awareness that they had a clear responsibility to make the most positive contribution possible to the cause of world peace. The moral imperative to help ensure that the devastating catastrophe of world war would never happen again was obvious.
With this goal firmly in view, as early as 1920 the Eastern Orthodox churches proposed the formation of some kind of international ‘fellowship of churches’ similar to the League of Nations.
Somewhat ironically, the inauguration of the World Council of Churches, which about 100 member churches had agreed to set up in 1937/38, had to be postponed because of the outbreak of World War II!
It was not until 1948 that the WCC finally came into existence. This international fellowship now comprises some 352 national or regional churches.
From the start, however, the Council suffered from the major defect that the Roman Catholic Church stood aloof from it, and even tended to regard it with suspicion. This is not to say there were not voices within the Roman Catholic fold that earnestly expressed a desire to pursue the cause of Christian unity.
Also in near proximity to the end of the First World War, Pope Pius XI explicitly approved conversations with the Anglicans that were held at Malines in Belgium between 1921 and 1926.
Successive Popes encouraged prayers for unity, and were supportive in particular of the ‘Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’. Pope Pius XII went a step further in an Instruction of 1950 in which he expressly supported the ecumenical movement, emphasizing that it originated in the action of the Holy Spirit.
However, there was a sense in which, from the perspective of Rome, the goal of unity was imagined only in terms of the return to Rome of the Orthodox churches of the East and, in the West, the return of those who had departed in the course of the 16th-century Reformation.
It was not until John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council which began its work in 1962 that things began to change dramatically.
On 21 November 1964 the Council promulgated its Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio, which stands as one of the most momentous events of the twentieth century.
Those of us who were alive at the time will remember something of the excitement that reverberated around the world when Unitatis Redintegratio passed in the Council by an overwhelmingly positive vote of 2137 bishops in favour, with only 11 in opposition.
This decree brought the Roman Catholic Church formally into the ecumenical movement as a key player by signalling an unqualified commitment to the search for Christian unity. Indeed, in its opening statement it declared that the restoration of unity among all Christians was one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council.
The document states in its introduction that, “Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only”, and forthrightly declares that division contradicts the will of the Lord, “scandalizes the world and damages …the preaching of the Gospel.”
Certainly, the text of Unitatis Redintegratio breathed a new generosity of spirit. It forthrightly reversed a long-held Roman Catholic position effectively of claiming to be the only true Church of Jesus Christ. This was achieved by openly affirming the validity of baptisms administered by other Christian churches and ecclesial bodies.
Then, instead of claiming that the Roman Catholic Church simply is the Church of Jesus Christ, a follow-up Vatican II document on the Church, Lumen Gentium, affirmed that the Church of Jesus Christ “subsists in” the Roman Catholic Church – without denying that in varying degrees it subsists in other churches and ecclesial bodies which validly offer salvation in Christ to their adherents.
In 1969 the unequivocal ecumenical commitment of Unitatis Redintegratio was put into practice when the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity was set up as a permanent Vatican department. Clearly, ecumenically speaking the Roman Catholic Church really meant business. Soon after, with the generous help of the Doria family, the Anglican Communion responded by establishing a permanent diplomatic presence – the Anglican Centre in Rome.
Multiple unilateral dialogues then systematically addressed issues that were identified as having previously been contentious and divisive across the Christian spectrum. Individualised dialogues were established between Rome and the Orthodox churches, the Anglican Communion, the World Lutheran Federation, the Reformed churches and Pentecostal churches.
In deepening relations with the Anglican Communion, in the decade between 1971 and 1981 the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission produced agreed statements and “elucidations” on the eucharist, ministry and ordination, and the exercise of authority in the Church.
A second phase of this dialogue addressed salvation (1987), the Church as Communion (1991), morals (1994), and in 2006 reached agreement in an irenic and deeply spiritual document Mary, Grace and Hope in Christ, on the place of Mary in the theology and devotion of the Church. It even proposed an enlightening, agreed understanding of the formerly divisive Vatican dogmas of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and Bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1950).
Clearly, when measured in terms of this output of agreed statements, the flow-on effect of the Vatican Decree on Ecumenism of 21 November 1964 has been enormous.
Understandably, the 60th anniversary of the Decree is to be celebrated with gusto at St George’s Anglican Cathedral Perth on Sunday 10 November when current Anglican Archbishop, Kay Goldsworthy will preside at a commemorative Evensong, at which her Catholic counterpart, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe will preach the sermon. An appropriate party is planned outside the cathedral afterwards.
The date of this celebration was chosen with the consideration of predominating practicalities in mind, given the need to find space in busy diaries as close to the actual date of the 60th anniversary as possible.
However, by a stroke of providence 10 November falls on the eve of Armistice Day, thus happily reviving the original connection with the theme of world peace that provided the initial stimulus for the twentieth century ecumenical movement in the first place.
Alas, perhaps at this time in the history of this tragically divided and troubled world, the churches may take the opportunity to expand their vocation to work together so as, at the very least, to uphold the possibility of dialogue before their sister world religions of the tradition of Abrahamic monotheism – Judaism and Islam.
World peace is once again a moral imperative.
The Most Reverend Dr Peter Carnley was Anglican Archbishop of Perth from 1981 to 2005, and primate of the Australian Anglican Church from 2000 to 2005.
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.
Read the rest of this article in The Church Times
Speaking to the Church Times this week, Dr Warner said that Protestant, Orthodox, and Evangelical delegates had been welcomed on “almost complete and equal terms” with RC participants, were allowed to speak at plenary and round-table sessions, and could submit written comments to the Synod Secretariat.
He said that a 146-page document, The Bishop of Rome, published in June by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, had been “incredibly helpful” in outlining how “primacy and subsidiarity” might be exercised between the Pope and other Christian leaders.
“Far from being confined to some discreet chapter, the ecumenical dimension will run through the Synod’s synthesis report, and is integrated into the way the Church, a communion of communions, is envisaged,” he said.
“I think it represents a very fruitful exploration into ensuring equal dignity, which opens up obvious questions as to how other ecclesial communities are recognised and included.”
The Synod on Synodality — the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops — is debating “communion, participation, and mission”.
In a statement, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity confirmed that representatives of the “four major Christian traditions” had been invited “not only as observers”.
Other participants include delegates from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Serbian and Romanian Orthodox Churches, the Coptic Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Churches, the World Methodist Council, the Communion of Reformed Churches, the Baptist Alliance, and the Pentecostal Fellowship.
Speaking at Friday’s ecumenical liturgy, the Pope said that the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) had marked the RC Church’s “official entry” into the ecumenical movement, and that the current Synod was helping Christians to discover how “unity and synodality” were linked.
“Just as we do not know beforehand what the outcome of the Synod will be, neither do we know exactly what the unity to which we are called will be like.”
Dr Warner said that the Synod on Synodality’s discussions were now turning to “more demanding” questions about “how to implement the things being talked about”. There had been demands for “greater clarity and transparency in decision-making processes” at all levels of the RC Church.
“Some of this sounds very similar to the Church of England’s synodical processes — with the major difference that our own Synod, with its three elected Houses, is deliberative and legislative, whereas this synodal process is consultative and advisory, with papal primacy remaining in place.”
At a meeting this week with the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, Dr Warner said: “I think the Anglican Communion’s struggle with its own instruments of unity could be very helpfully informed by a general recognition that the Bishop of Rome has a pre-eminence, universally and globally, of service and love to the rest of the Church, which gives us a capacity for holding together as Christians.”
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 prayer, organised by the DPCU and the General Secretariat of the Synod in collaboration with the Taizé Community, was inspired by these two fundamental documents that underpin the ecumenical commitment of the Catholic Church. It involved the Fraternal Delegates to the Synod and representatives from various Christian traditions in Rome.
In his homily, the Holy Father reflected on the connections between synodality and Christian unity. Both, he suggested, are “unexpected gifts” of the Holy Spirit—a journey to be undertaken, a “harmony of multifaceted diversity”, all for the sake of mission. In reference to this latter aspect, he mentioned the ‘ecumenism of blood’ that continues to be experienced in our times.
Writing from Rome, where he is attending the Synod of the Roman Catholic Church, LWF Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations Dirk Lange, reflects on its far-reaching implications for the whole Christian world.
Reflections after the first week of the 2024 Synod of Bishops
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’.
Listening and discerning is a risky process. It is closely linked to and supported by prayer, so that the Holy Spirit can break down barriers behind which we too often hide. It requires honest speech (or as Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes it in Life Together, “genuine speech”). It is rooted in Ignatian spirituality, which comes as no surprise since Pope Francis is the first Jesuit pope.
The process is also unique because participants are not only Catholic bishops (despite the title “Synod of Bishops”). Lay persons, women, and youth are participating with voice and vote. Ecumenical participation has also been invited, not simply as “observers” but as “fraternal delegates”, fully integrated into the table discussions, with voice though not vote. We share meals, we pray together, we discuss and explore with an eucharistic imagination: that all are gathered around one table, very much as we see depicted in the Lund Cross and the Joint Commemoration of the Reformation.
The Second Session began with a Vigil of Repentance on Tuesday evening, 1 October. It was a profound moment for participants as we heard testimonies of survivors of abuse and the confession of church leaders. In the midst of the powerful vision of Isaiah, quoted at the beginning of the Instrumentum Laboris (Isaiah 25:6-8), we are reminded of our own brokenness and failing and of God’s infinite mercy. At the heart of trust is a shared forgiveness.
The key question for the Synod is how to be a missionary synodal church. This requires deep reflection on what synodality has to say for the life and mission of the church. A synodal church is one that, first and foremost. confesses the gospel that we are liberated by grace. Justified by faith alone, we are liberated to engage with the world (unhindered by personal agendas and ambition), to proclaim the immeasurable goodness and mercy of God, and to serve our neighbours together. When synodality is joyfully confessing the gospel, our understanding of mission becomes discerning the gospel in every context, discerning God’s ongoing “mission” in every time and place.
In this sense, mission implies a process of transformation. It means not only giving or sharing something with others, but also being vulnerable and taking the risk of being transformed by others. The hope is that this Synod will open the door to a fuller participation of all people in discernment and decision-making, recognizing God’s presence in each other and allowing us all to be transformed by the Holy Spirit.
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 meeting took place in the context of shared meals and worship. On Monday 30 September, the group participating in an ecumenical service of Vespers in Georgetown University’s Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart, with Catholic Co-Chair, Archbishop Donald Bolen of Regina (Canada) presiding, and Anglican Co-Chair, Bishop Robert Innes of the Church of England Diocese in Europe (Belgium) preaching. On Tuesday 1 October, the group visited Virginia Theological Seminary, the largest seminary in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. During a dinner for staff and students hosted by the Dean of the Seminary, the two Co-Secretaries of IARCCUM, Dr Christopher Wells of the Anglican Communion Office and Fr Martin Browne OSB of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, shared personal testimonies of their experience of ecumenical work and prayer, and Archbishop Samuel Peni of Equatoria in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan spoke about the very close relationships between the two churches in his country.
The meeting concluded on Wednesday 2 October, with a public seminar in Georgetown, co-sponsored by the university’s Office of the President and Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, in association with the Office of the Dean of Virginia Theological Seminary. Following an introduction by Dr Joe Ferrara, Vice-President and Chief of Staff of the university, Dr John Borelli, the university President’s special assistant for Catholic identity and dialogue, moderated presentations and discussion involving the two Co-Chairs, Archbishop Peni and the IARCCUM ‘bishop-pair’ from the United States, Bishop John Bauerschmidt of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee and Bishop John Michael Botean of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Canton, Ohio. The evening concluded with a dinner hosted by Dr Tom Banchoff, university Vice-President for Global Engagement, preceded by an address from Revd Dr Kate Sonderegger of Virgina Theological Seminary.
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 meeting took place in the context of shared meals and worship. On Monday 30 September, the group participating in an ecumenical service of Vespers in Georgetown University’s Dahlgren Chapel of the Sacred Heart, with Catholic Co-Chair, Archbishop Donald Bolen of Regina (Canada) presiding, and Anglican Co-Chair, Bishop Robert Innes of the Church of England Diocese in Europe (Belgium) preaching. On Tuesday 1 October, the group visited Virginia Theological Seminary, the largest seminary in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. During a dinner for staff and students hosted by the Dean of the Seminary, the two Co-Secretaries of IARCCUM, Dr Christopher Wells of the Anglican Communion Office and Fr Martin Browne OSB of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, shared personal testimonies of their experience of ecumenical work and prayer, and Archbishop Samuel Peni of Equatoria in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan spoke about the very close relationships between the two churches in his country.
The meeting concluded on Wednesday 2 October, with a public seminar in Georgetown, co-sponsored by the university’s Office of the President and Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, in association with the Office of the Dean of Virginia Theological Seminary. Following an introduction by Dr Joe Ferrara, Vice-President and Chief of Staff of the university, Dr John Borelli, the university President’s special assistant for Catholic identity and dialogue, moderated presentations and discussion involving the two Co-Chairs, Archbishop Peni and the IARCCUM ‘bishop-pair’ from the United States, Bishop John Bauerschmidt of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee and Bishop John Michael Botean of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Eparchy of Canton, Ohio. The evening concluded with a dinner hosted by Dr Tom Banchoff, university Vice-President for Global Engagement, preceded by an address from Revd Dr Kate Sonderegger of Virgina Theological Seminary.
Speaking about the meeting, Dr Christopher Wells, Director for Unity, Faith and Order at the Anglican Communion Office said: “Continuing the work of IARCCUM here at Georgetown, in partnership with VTS, has been a joy. We’re excited to be updating ‘Growing Together in Unity and Mission’, which remains a profound text. We want to add more about how our communions are changing and what we are learning to say about synodality and the character of ecumenical commitment as it shapes our ecclesial identities. For Anglicans, certainly, there is no unity or mission without our Roman Catholic—and other—Christian friends. As we learn to understand why this is so, our internal divisions in the Anglican Communion also start to look different.”
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.
This public event is co-sponsored by Georgetown University’s Office of the President and Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs with the President of Virginia Theological Seminary.
4:00 p.m. – 4:05 p.m. EDT | Welcome
Joseph A. Ferrara, Ph.D., Vice President and Chief of Staff, Georgetown University
4:05 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. EDT | Introduction to IARCCUM Methodology and Theology
Archbishop Donald Bolen, Catholic Archbishop of Regina and IARCCUM Co-Chair
Bishop Robert Innes, Anglican Bishop in Europe and IARCCUM Co-Chair
4:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. EDT | Promoting Anglican-Roman Catholic Relations in the United States
Bishop John C. Bauerschmidt, Anglican Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee
Bishop John Michael Botean, Bishop of the Greek Catholic (Romanian) Eparchy of St. George in Canton, Ohio
4:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. EDT | The South Sudan Experience of Anglican-Roman Catholic Relations
Archbishop Samuel Enosa Peni, Archbishop of the Internal Province of Western Equatoria and Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Yambio, South Sudan
5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. EDT | Audience Questions and Discussions
Moderator, John Borelli, Ph.D., Special Assistant to the President, Georgetown University
5:30 pm. EDT | Reception
Mark Santer was born in 1936, son of Canon Eric Santer and Phyllis Barlow. His father was a distinguished incumbent in Bristol diocese and sometime chairman of the Bristol Diocesan Fellowship. Mark was educated at Marlborough, Queens’ College, Cambridge, and Westcott House.
Before ordination, he studied in the University of Utrecht, during which time he attended a sports festival in East Germany which was, in fact, a cover for a meeting of young Christians. There he met Henriette Weststrate, a psychologist from Amsterdam. He was ordained priest in 1964, marrying Henriette in the same year.
He served his title at Cuddesdon, and was also tutor of the college under the principalship of Robert Runcie, who continued to seek his wisdom. Dr Runcie’s significant address to Lambeth 1988 on the nature of unity and on the inclusiveness of the Anglican Communion was drafted in consultation with a small band of trusted collaborators, Mark among them.
In 1967, he became Fellow and Dean of Clare College, Cambridge, and, in 1973, Principal of Westcott House. At his licensing, Professor Charlie Moule spoke of him as “a principal at the height of his powers, outstanding in learning and pastoral ability”.
Read the rest of this article in The Church Times
Westcott had already begun to change under his predecessor, Peter Walker, eventually Bishop of Ely. Mark’s vision developed its reset. He appointed the first woman member of staff, Mary Tanner. And he invited two Mirfield-trained theologians to staff: John Armson and Rowan Williams were not obvious choices; the latter describes his appointment as “a risky invitation to a spectacularly inexperienced candidate”.
This was all part of Mark’s vision of how discipline and liturgical prayer should infuse theological seriousness within a firmly but untheatrically Catholic environment, centred on the daily office and the eucharist. A developing relationship with the sisters at Fairacres and Hengrave Hall, and with the English College, Rome, also became distinctive features of Westcott.
To Westcott he also brought his wife and three young children. Rowan Williams was an occasional babysitter. Mark’s family life with Henriette and their children encouraged others to bring their families into the life of the community.
While Mark steered Westcott in a new direction, this did not deflect an iota from a deep commitment to the Cambridge Ecumenical Federation with Wesley House (Methodist), Ridley Hall (Anglican Evangelical), and Westminster College (Congregationalist). Peter Sedgwick, who was an ordinand at Westcott House from 1971 to 1974, recalls that some people were unable “to work him out”: he was ecumenical and yet Catholic, his vision based on a real knowledge of Reformed systematics and history as well as a commitment to a renewed Catholicism.
In 1981, Mark became Bishop of Kensington, consecrated in St Paul’s Cathedral at the same time as Timothy Dudley-Smith (Gazette, 16 August). The Bishop of London was Gerald Ellison, an establishment prelate if ever there was one but who frequently made imaginative appointments. Mark Santer had made no secret of his left-of-centre politics, his lack of enthusiasm for the establishment of the Church of England, and his anti-nuclear convictions. Ellison had once blessed a nuclear submarine; Mark’s son remembers accompanying his father on CND marches.
In Kensington, Mark established a collegiate relationship with his area deans and archdeacon. He was only 44 when he arrived, and an unknown quantity except for reports of his sharp intellect and teaching abilities. These gifts soon endeared him to the clergy in his area, and he proved to be a wise and sympathetic pastor, always available to his clergy. This led him to establishing a pioneering ministry-development review programme. Initial suspicion evaporated once its purpose was recognised as sustaining clergy rather than examining them.
In 1983, he was appointed as the Anglican co-chairman of the second Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC II), an appointment made by Archbishop Runcie and the Anglican Consultative Council. ARCIC was to occupy him for no less than 15 years. Its agenda was partly set by Rome and by the Lambeth Conference of 1978, and, over the years, it issued five Agreed Statements. Some were more controversial than others.
Mark thought retrospectively that ARCIC II had perhaps gone on for too long. But it was also true that both Churches had lost enthusiasm for ecumenism as they each became embroiled in internecine conflict. The Roman Catholic co-chair of ARCIC was Bishop, and later Cardinal, Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. Mark had spent a formative sabbatical at the English College in Rome, when Cormac was its Rector. Mark reflected on the reconciliation of memories that this sabbatical prompted in an important chapter he contributed to a book he also edited, Their Lord and Ours (SPCK, 1982). Canterbury and Rome had noted this good relationship, and their appointment by the respective authorities was not serendipitous.
Not least of the achievements of ARCIC during Mark’s time was the neglected statement on morals (almost totally eclipsed at the time by Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Veritatis Splendor), and a visionary statement on authority. During Mark’s time, Pope John Paul II visited the Commission; and there was also a meeting with the man who was to be his successor, the then Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. In a debate enjoyed by both theologians, Ratzinger ceased for a time being a doctrinal watchdog and relished explorative theological discussion.
Mark was also a member of the Church of England’s Faith and Order Advisory Group. This included work on an important document on the ordained priesthood, of which he drafted the patristic chapter. He was also a member of the commission that led to the Meissen Agreement between the German Protestant Churches and the Church of England. He was an all-round ecumenist.
Mark was translated to Birmingham in 1987, amid speculation that Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister, had chosen him in preference to Jim Thompson, Bishop of Stepney (News,16 April 1987). Thompson was said to be “too left-wing” for some Conservative MPs, but, in Mark, Birmingham certainly did not get a Conservative. In retrospect, the diplomatic skills of Archbishop Runcie can be detected in the two names offered to the Crown; Thompson went to Bath & Wells in 1991.
Mark’s first days in Birmingham indicated his future policy. He spoke of Birmingham’s inheritance of faith in both its Congregational history and that of John Henry Newman. He also attacked selfishness turned into acceptable social principle, earning disapprobation in The Daily Telegraph and criticism of “turbulent priests” (News, 5 October 1987). Then followed a sermon to the West Midlands Judiciary, challenging them to press for a reform of sentencing policy and the issue of overcrowded prisons. Again, there was right-wing press criticism, but the following day, Douglas Hurd, then Home Secretary, asked for a private meeting to discuss the issues that Mark had rightly raised. When the Gulf War started, he invited Muslim leaders to his house.
In Birmingham, the monthly staff meetings were humane, convivial, and effective. He would as readily serve at the eucharist as preside. Breakfast and lunch followed, the latter with wine, except in Lent. (He was a member of the Wine Society.) Among the bishops, he was early in recognising the seriousness of safeguarding issues.
He is remembered — not just at staff meetings but also at dinner parties — for dashing impetuously to his study for a folio volume (usually Augustine) and rattling out a Latin quotation to illustrate a theological point.
Although Mark Santer was sensitive to others, his intellectual sharpness could occasionally lead to irritation. He did not tolerate muddle or shoddy thinking. At an induction at a fashionable church in Birmingham, he once endured over-long and pompous civic greetings. He was overheard remarking that he hoped that the welcomes had some substance to them. At a more serious civic level, he developed excellent relations with both the Leader and Chief Executive of the City Council. He assiduously served the NHS Trust for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, including becoming its vice-chair in retirement.
There were difficulties. The Bishop of Aston, Colin Buchanan, had booked the Aston Villa stadium for an evangelistic rally, with disastrous financial consequences, against the advice of the DBF chair, who also happened to be chair of the Football Club. Mark accepted Colin Buchanan’s resignation. But there were also honours: DDs from Birmingham University in 1998 and Lambeth in 1999, and a D.Univ. from the University of Central England in 2002.
In retirement from 2002, Mark also enjoyed caring for the parish of Kings Heath during an interregnum, becoming a parish priest at the end of his ministry rather than its beginning. His beloved Henriette died in 1994. Mark later, in 1997, married a close friend of hers and of the family for 30 years, Sabine Bird. She died in 2021.
He moved to Poole in 2022 to be closer to his family, still able to enjoy drives, walks, and talking to close friends on the telephone. He died peacefully at home on 14 August, aged 87, was able to speak with his family up until his last hours, receiving communion shortly before he died. He is survived by a sister and brother, three children, three stepchildren, and 15 grandchildren. His funeral and requiem eucharist took place at St Aldhelm’s, Branksome, on Wednesday 4 September. He chose words from Augustine for his funeral:
“There we shall rest and we shall see; we shall see and we shall love; we shall love and we shall praise.
“That is what shall be in the end without end. For what is our end but to arrive at the kingdom which has no end?”
The author is indebted to friends and colleagues of Mark from Westcott House, Kensington, and Birmingham for much of this obituary, not least Mark’s children Hendrika, Miriam, and Diederick.
Some historical background to the specific Irish context is helpful in elucidating the significance of advances in relationships between both Anglicans and Roman Catholics in the country, north and south, over recent decades. Such progress was underlined by the presence of two bishops, one from each tradition respectively, at the recent meeting of the International Anglican–Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) held in both Rome and Canterbury. Before discussing the particular shape of that gathering, we will offer a brief sketch of some key elements of the Irish Christian experience—one in which recourse to physical force and violence has sadly been a recurring theme—to help readers appreciate better the journey in reconciliation and hope that is underway in our country.
Read the rest of this article in One in Christ 57, no. 1 (2024): 113-122.
Niall Coll is the Catholic bishop of Ossory and Adrian Wilkinson is the Church of Ireland bishop of the United Diocese of Cashel, Ferns and Ossory.
Recognizing that the Christian churches continually are called to grapple with new moral issues and that reaching different conclusions can complicate the search for Christian unity, a commission of Catholic and Anglican bishops and theologians has been studying how their traditions make decisions and what they can learn from each other.
Members of the official Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) met May 11-18 in Strasbourg, France, to continue their examination of “how the Church local, regional and universal discerns right ethical teaching,” according to a statement released May 27.
“For the first time in its work, ARCIC III has chosen to include two case studies as part of its reflection — one where Catholics and Anglicans reached broadly the same teaching, and one where they did not. These case studies, on Enslavement and Contraception, illustrate the doctrinal and structural similarities and differences between the two communions and also serve to highlight unresolved questions,” the statement said.
In 1930, the Anglicans’ Lambeth Conference ruled there were some cases when the use of contraception could be acceptable. In 1958, the conference commissioned a report of moral theologians and bishops to examine the reasons the church traditionally had prohibited contraception; after discussing the report, the bishops attending the conference found the use of artificial contraception morally acceptable by a married couple who decides before God that they should use contraceptives to determine the number and frequency of children they have.
The Catholic Church also had a commission studying the theological, pastoral and scientific implications of contraception.
And, in 1968, St. Paul VI issued the encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (Of Human Life), which rejected artificial contraception as the obstruction of the natural, divinely willed life-giving power of sex within marriage. According to that teaching, the only morally acceptable methods of birth regulation are abstinence or using the woman’s natural periods of infertility.
In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Rowan Williams, the then-archbishop of Canterbury, England, and head of the Church of England, had identified two critical areas for ecumenical exploration: “the emerging ecclesiological and ethical factors making that journey more difficult and arduous.”
The declaration came at a time when Catholic-Anglican relations were seeking a way forward after the decision in some churches of the Anglican Communion to ordain women as priests and bishops, to bless same-sex unions and to ordain openly gay clergy.
For many people, differing positions on those issues created a sense that Anglicans and Roman Catholics were growing farther apart rather than approaching unity.
From 2011 to 2017 ARCIC members considered the first part of the problem posed by Pope Benedict and Archbishop Williams and published, “Walking Together on the Way: Learning to Be the Church — Local, Regional, Universal.”
The ARCIC discussion of how the churches make judgments on ethical matters refers to the earlier paper since how authority is exercised in the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion differs.
The statement issued after the Strasbourg meeting said members hope in the next few months to complete drafting their agreed statement on making ethical decisions so the commission can finalize the document in 2025 and present it to the authorities and faithful of the two communions.