Walking Together in Canada: A Response to ARCIC-III’s ‘Walking Together on the Way’

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Agreed statements have been agreed by the dialogue members and submitted to the sponsoring churches for study. These texts express the careful considerations of the members of the dialogue but are not official statements of either of the churches.


Author/editor(s): ARC-Canada
Creation: 2022 (The date of original creation or publication, if known)
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Walking Together in Canada

A Response of the Anglican–Roman Catholic Dialogue in Canada to
Walking Together on the Way: Learning to be the Church — Local, Regional, Universal

(ARCIC III, 2018)

Part A: The Turn to Receptive Ecumenism

Introduction

1. Official bilateral ecumenical dialogues between Christian churches have been working together now for 50–60 years. In that time, they have achieved a great deal of positive and laudable progress towards understanding the convergences and divergences between divided Christian communities. However, they have also run into unexpected challenges and limitations along the way. One of these unintended pitfalls of church–to–church dialogues is that participants sometimes enter the conversation with the assumption — conscious or otherwise — that dialogue is about making a case for ourselves to another. While some measure of this stating and clarifying of one‘s own identity and perspective certainly does have a part to play in any ecumenical discussion, ecumenists have come to discover that too heavy a reliance on such an approach can in fact end up serving an ecumenically counter–productive purpose of simply reinforcing each church it its own distinctive insights.

2. The ecumenical methodology known as “receptive ecumenism” tries to mitigate this accidental tendency. It does so by inviting churches to begin their conversation not with an explanation of themselves and their own perspectives to a dialogue partner, but rather with some sober self–examination — and even self–criticism — with the help of the presence of another. [1] It is, in effect, an ecumenical approach patterned on Jesus‘ instructions about taking the plank out of your own eye before taking a speck out of your neighbour‘s. A receptive ecumenism begins by asking questions like, ‘where are my blind spots?’, ‘what am I lacking?’, ‘what are the things I might need to learn in this area?’, and ‘what are the things I need to be challenged and changed by from the distinctive history and qualities of my dialogue partners?’

3. Inspired by the approach of Pope John Paul II‘s encyclical Ut Unum Sint, the late and esteemed Canadian ecumenist, Dr. Margaret O‘Gara, anticipated this developing methodology with her descriptive and analytical work on what she called the ‘ecumenical gift exchange.’ [2] Like the receptive methodology the ecumenism of gift exchange involves churches placing themselves in a posture of humility and recognizing that there might be ecclesial gifts which are at this time being uniquely lived out by another Christian community more fully than their own. An ecumenism based on the sharing of gifts, therefore, is not only about trying to articulate agreement, but rather allowing the diversity that exists between one church and another to be seen not as a burden or obstacle but as a potential source of enrichment, growth, and healing. Many of the national and local ecumenical dialogues in Canada have been at the forefront of experimenting with this modus operandi for quite some time. Receptive ecumenism, therefore, finds a natural fit on the Canadian ecumenical landscape.

4. The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III) has intentionally embraced the receptive approach to dialogue in its most recent iteration. The 2017 publication entitled Walking Together on the Way: Learning to be the Church — Local, Regional, Universal (WTW) is one of the first examples of a major international bilateral dialogue which has sought to intentionally produce a document which does not necessarily aim at consensus or convergence but rather the mutual giving and receiving of gifts. This path was taken in part because the subject on which it is focused — i.e., synodal authority and governance in the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions — is one where there are substantial differences. As a Canadian expression of Anglican–Roman Catholic dialogue, we wish to affirm that self–awareness and honesty. However, we also wish to reiterate, along with the WTW text, that this move should not be interpreted as a retreat into a way of ecumenism that is somehow less serious or ambitious than models which have more often been driven by the search for consensus. Rather, we would suggest that the adoption of receptive ecumenism by our ARCIC colleagues is in fact a sign of a maturing ecumenical relationship which is not afraid to embrace areas of difference and to seek to learn from them. Indeed, the Anglican–Roman Catholic Dialogue of Canada (ARC Canada) commends this approach by ARCIC III as a positive development in the growth of international bilateral ecumenism.

5. In witness to that appreciation, our national dialogue has determined to prepare a Canadian response to WTW which is itself shaped by an application of the same receptive ecumenism model. We believe that doing so will be of benefit to the reception process of WTW in the Canadian context, first and foremost. We also see it as a means for ARC Canada to offer some feedback towards the ongoing work of ARCIC III in connection with the second part of its present mandate on moral discernment.

6. To these ends, Part B below will offer a description of Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism in Canada as they have evolved over time and now presently exist, with an emphasis on features of synodality as they are expressed in the Canadian context. Part C will share our discernment as to where the two churches in Canada have gifts to be received and shared from one to the other. Finally, Part D will offer some considerations and suggestions drawn from the Canadian context with respect to how a receptive ecumenical approach to the topic of synodal governance might also yield lessons which directly contribute to ARCIC III‘s future work on the question of moral and ethical decision–making processes in the two traditions.

Part B: Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism in Canada

Walking Apart

7. The relationship between the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches in different parts of the world does not exist in a vacuum. Rather, it takes a specific form based on the history and features of a given land and the peoples who live there. This is certainly the case in the country known today as Canada. It is important to be aware of some of these contextual features when reflecting upon the work of ecumenism in that place in the present day.

8. The history of Christianity in Canada has been blighted from the beginning by the various separations which occurred before colonization and settlement arrived on the shores of this land. This includes both the divisions of East and West, and those which occurred in the wake of the Reformation era. Christian missionary activity in this country unfortunately transferred many elements of these same divisions here, including to the Indigenous Peoples and communities it encountered. While Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and other Protestants differed from one another in many ways, one area where they did agree was in seeing little value in any but their own form of religion. Although their belief in the fundamental unity of humanity and the universality of God‘s offer of salvation meant that some missionaries held a high view of the spiritual life of Indigenous people, this theological conviction did not always translate into a positive assessment of the actual spiritual state of those they met. Indigenous spiritual and ceremonial practices were often deemed as either irreligious or idolatrous, and simply to be replaced by commitment to Christ — and indeed a particular culturally Euro–centric articulation and expression thereof.

9. In these days, it was also not enough to see Indigenous Peoples converted to Christ; inter–ecclesial competition soon followed as well, with what amounted to a kind of race to win adherents to one church over another. This has left its divisive mark on Indigenous Nations and traditional territories across the land to this day, both among the Indigenous churches and between wider Indigenous communities as well. This is another harmful legacy which, among many others, needs to be reckoned with by the churches in this time.

10. The development of Christianity in Canada has also been uniquely impacted by tensions between the British and French colonial enterprises, and the resulting relationships of the Anglican, Protestant, and Roman Catholic churches to the governing state of a given time. The distinctive feature of this history is that while, post 1763 and the Treaty of Paris, the law privileged the Anglican and Protestant denominations in British North America, the Roman Catholic population was always quite substantially larger than that of any other church. What this enabled was a situation where neither the Catholic nor the Anglican/Protestant parties were able to dominate the religious scene; they had to live alongside one another, all the while establishing their various protective measures against perceived incursions of the other.

11. Suspicion was the mutual feeling which marked Roman Catholic–Anglican/Protestant relations in Canada up to and at the time of Confederation in 1867. In the late 1800s a series of inflammatory incidents both internationally and closer to home led to overt hostility. Examples include the Red River Rebellion and execution of Thomas Scott, provocative ‘Orange Parades‘ leading to Catholic counter–protests and rioting in Montreal, the Italian occupation of Rome, the Vatican declaration of papal infallibility, and the trial and execution of Louis Riel. Many Protestants of the period generally had a low opinion of the Catholic Church, which they identified with ignorance, semi–pagan religious practice, and opposition to free institutions. Roman Catholics, naturally, had another perspective. As minorities in Canada and North America as a whole, they saw themselves engaged in a struggle to ensure the survival of the true Catholic faith over against heretical sects. Cultural and linguistic tensions between English and Scottish Anglicans or Presbyterians and French and Irish Catholics were also at play in this regard. The establishment of separate schools arose as one way to try to ensure safety and preservation of distinct identities.

12. Even the early ecumenical movement in Canada was marred by this competitive reality. The union of the bulk of the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist denominations into the United Church of Canada in 1925 could be negatively interpreted in some quarters as a move designed to create a power block to more effectively promote the British Protestant ideal in Canadian affairs over against the influence of French Roman Catholics. The formation of the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) in 1944 — at that time with exclusively Anglican/Protestant in membership — was viewed by some as a counter move to the creation of the Canadian Catholic Conference in 1943 (later to become the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1977).

13. We rehearse this background above because we believe it to be important in understanding how the concurrent and mutual evolutions of Canadian Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism have impacted their operative ecclesiology at every stage of their ongoing development, including the developments which continue within them today. However, while Canadian Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism do still suffer from the effects of this broken history and the impacts it has wrought on the wider community, thankfully, the two communities have not been satisfied to only walk apart.

Walking Together

14. It was in the 1960s and 70s that a change in ecumenical orientation really took hold in Canada. When it did, the unique history of ecclesial coexistence by Anglicans and Roman Catholics in Canada — along with Presbyterian, Lutheran, United, and other Christian traditions — was found to have some positive impacts as well. Justice and peace coalitions of various kinds in the 60s were the vanguard of this to a large degree, with an ecumenism of life and work unfolding between members of each tradition. Theological engagements between the churches themselves came not long after. The Anglican–Roman Catholic Theological Dialogue (ARC–Canada) began in Canada in 1971 and, at the time of writing this response, is now celebrating 50 years. The Canadian Anglican–Roman Catholic Bishops Dialogue (ARC–B) — the first dialogue of its kind in the world — started soon after in 1975 and continues to the present. In 1997, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) became a full member of the Canadian Council of Churches, which enabled not only further Anglican and Roman Catholic connection and collaboration, but greater multi–lateral dialogue by these traditions in conversation with Orthodox, Lutheran, Reformed, Mennonite, Evangelical, and other families of churches as well.

15. Through all these bodies, and others not mentioned, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) have learned a great deal from each other and have collaborated often in areas of mutual concern and responsibility. This has included theological education, social justice activism, international relief and development work, chaplaincies in military, correctional services, and healthcare settings, political advocacy, and, perhaps most importantly given the history named above, responding to calls in Canada for truth, justice, and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. Increasingly, therefore, it can be said that the two churches have begun to walk together again.

Synodality in Canadian Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism Today

16. Being on the ecumenical path together is what makes possible the kind of honest self–reflection and genuine mutual exchange of gifts which we seek to facilitate in this document. To that end we now move into a format of parallel columns for the purpose of description and comparison of synodical polity and governance in our two churches in Canada, inspired by the WTW text.

Descriptions of Canadian Anglicanism
Descriptions of Canadian Catholicism
17a. As of 2011 the national census indicated that 1.6 million Canadians self–identified as Anglican. As a percentage of the Canadian population, Anglicans have also been in numerical decline for at least 50–60 years. In 1961, Anglicans represented 7% of Canada’s population, and by 2017 that number had dropped to 1%.

Although there was significant Anglican immigration from the Caribbean between 1960 and 2000, the church struggled to hold onto the second generation of these families, or to recruit clergy among people of colour. More recently, while many African immigrants to Canada have an Anglican background, similar challenges remain over successfully integrating them into existing congregations or supporting leadership for new churches made up of such recent immigrants.

17b. Today, approximately 13 million Canadians self–identify as Catholic, making the Catholic Church the largest church in Canada and one of the more sizeable minority groups in the country.

While the percentage of Canadians who identify as Catholic has dropped in the last five decades – from 48% in 1961 to 39% in 2011 – the overall Catholic population within Canada continues to grow, sustained in large part through immigration coming from all over the world.

18a. Although the number of Canadian Anglican faithful has sharply decreased over the past fifty years, the numbers of Anglican clergy have remained relatively stable over that same period. There were 1912 deacons, priests, and bishops actively engaged in ministry in 1961. In 2017 there were 2016 active clergy. Of the 1628 active priests in 2017, 361 were listed as “unpaid.” A disproportionate number of these non–stipendiary presbyters are Indigenous, and this has increasingly been identified as an unaddressed structural injustice within the church. Out of 295 “vocational” or “permanent” deacons (as opposed to “transitional” deacons), only 11 were listed as “paid.” Since the 1980s there has been a movement toward a restoration of the diaconate as its own distinct and integral order of ministry rather than simply as a prerequisite step to priesthood.
18b. Within the fifty–year period of 1961 to 2011, however, the Catholic Church has registered substantial and disproportionate declines in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, in church attendance among the faithful, and in terms of infrastructure (number of parishes and dioceses, schools, hospitals, etc.). An exception may be noted for the permanent diaconate that was reintroduced into Catholic dioceses after the Second Vatican Council and that continues to register slight vocational increases annually. At the same time, many dioceses across Canada regularly engage the services of paid and/or volunteer lay ecclesial ministers to lead parish and diocesan ministries. The result being that while the Catholic community in Canada today continues to grow in both size and diversity, it is served by an ever–diminishing number of clergy leaders and formal institutions, and an increase in lay ministers and often less formal ecclesial structures.
19a. The lived synodal reality of Anglicans in Canada is largely consistent with the presentation offered in Walking Together on the Way. For the sake of this response, areas where there is some additional complexity or specificity unique to the Canadian Anglican context are noted, at local, regional, and universal levels.
19b. The structures of the Catholic Church in Canada are highly consistent with the ecclesiological description of Roman Catholicism given in Walking Together on the Way. At the same time, certain local, regional, and universal nuances and particularities can be identified in terms of how they are expressed and experienced within the Canadian context.
Local

20a. The ecclesial jurisdiction of the Anglican Church of Canada is coterminous with Canada‘s national civil boundaries. It is currently configured into 30 dioceses or equivalent diocesan units of ministry. Dioceses are typically the main locus of authority for decisions related to congregational development, Christian education, property, finances, and the training, appointment, and discipline of clergy. There is widespread consistency between the description of the diocesan expression of Anglican ecclesiology found in WTW and that which operates in Canada.

Of note, one of the newer diocesan–like units in the ACC is the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh (located on territories that span portions of the civil boundaries of the provinces of Ontario and Manitoba). This body, though functioning in a similar way to other dioceses, is structured somewhat differently in accordance with local Indigenous cultural expressions of community and decision making in these regions. There may well be more of this contextual adaptation at local levels in the coming years.

Since 2001, the Anglican Church of Canada has enjoyed full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) with the advent of the Waterloo Declaration. Although the churches remain distinct, the Canadian expression of Anglican–Lutheran full communion is quite well developed, including mutual recognition and the possibility of exchange of presbyteral and episcopal ministries. At the local level, full communion has also enabled the formation of over 75 joint congregational ministries which share everything from buildings to clergy to worship. Such “Waterloo Ministries,” as they are called, appoint members to the synodal governance structures in both churches at both local and regional levels.

Local

20b. In accord with WTW 82, the Catholic Church in Canada is made up of various ecclesiastical circumscriptions (“local churches“) which, broadly speaking, are communities of the faithful under the authority of a bishop, who is the key instrument of communion for the local church. There are also different kinds of ecclesiastical circumscriptions based on whether they are specific to the Latin Catholic Church or the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Within Canada, there are 59 dioceses/archdioceses of the Latin Catholic Church which are defined by geographical territory. In addition, there are 2 “ordinariates” and a “personal prelature“, which are each defined by the unique pastoral needs of the faithful which they serve. Each diocese (and ordinariate) is distinct and autonomous, yet they coexist in the relationships of communion. These relationships are all spelled out accurately for the Canadian context in Part III of WTW. Of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris of the Catholic Church, 10 are represented in the Canadian context in overlapping jurisdiction with their Latin Rite Catholic counterparts. Among the Eastern Catholic Churches in Canada there are 12 eparchies, 1 archeparchy, and 1 exarchate (a local church in Canada not yet promoted to the level of eparchy), all of which are defined by geographical territory.

Other sorts of variations in ecclesiastical circumscription can also exist within the Latin dioceses of certain geographical territories of Canada, such as, for example, La Loi sur les fabriques — a Quebec civil law (established in 1965, and significantly modified in 1993) which mandates that certain administrative matters of the parish are overseen by an elected corporation comprised of members of the congregation.

21a. Each of the dioceses is overseen and governed by a “bishop–in–synod” model of governance familiar within the wider Anglican tradition. The diocesan bishop exercises his or her authority with the advice and consent of the clergy and laity of the diocese, who are represented by members of a diocesan synod. Most synods require the formal assent of the diocesan bishop before any legislative change can be enacted.

Between meetings of the diocesan synod, diocesan councils made up of elected members of the clergy and elected representatives of the laity continue this conciliar support of the bishop‘s leadership. These executive councils will often have their work augmented further by other advisory committees which the bishop appoints and empowers to share in the oversight of certain aspects of diocesan life and ministry.

21b. A diocesan synod, in the Canadian Catholic context, is a formal assembly of representatives of the whole diocesan community: clergy, religious and lay people. Through the synod process, which involves collaboration, discernment, governance and communion, the bishop seeks advice on matters concerning the good of the whole diocese.

In Canada, diocesan synods are typically not held at regular intervals. Rather, they are convened occasionally to address specific concerns and needs within the life of a local church. A synod could be called, for instance, to devise an overall diocesan pastoral plan, to apply norms and other directives to the local level, to address acute pastoral problems requiring pastoral solutions, etc. The bishop promulgates the provisions and decrees drawn up during the synod.

22a. In many contexts, bishops are assisted by archdeacons or similar roles (Dean, Vicar General, Canons, etc.), who are typically deacons or priests delegated with oversight of a particular geographic region or area of work in the diocese. Some larger dioceses will also be permitted by canon and provincial council to elect suffragan or area bishops to give further assistance to the diocesan bishop. In some cases — such as the Arctic for geographical reasons, and the greater metropolitan and surrounding areas of the Diocese of Toronto for population reasons — this may mean more than one. Occasionally, assisting bishops are appointed by a diocesan bishop, with the approbation of the diocesan executive body. Assisting bishops are typically retired diocesan or area bishops who are invited to assist with episcopal ministry in another diocese, but they have neither jurisdiction nor right of succession.
22b. Local churches are each governed through a variety of offices and structures whose task it is to assist the ministry of the bishop in various ways. Many of these are mandatory offices or structures defined in the Code of Canon Law or other documents; others may exist only as pastoral or temporal needs arise. In Canada, these typically include: a Vicar General and/or other episcopal vicars, offices of a Diocesan Curia, a College of Consultors, a Presbyteral Council, a Diocesan Pastoral Council and a Diocesan Financial Council. Each of these offices or bodies assists the exercise and promotion of communion and synodality within the life of the local church. When the pastoral needs of a diocese suggest it, one or more auxiliary bishops may be appointed at the request of the diocesan bishop. These share in the ministry of the diocesan bishop and “proceed in harmony with him in effort and intention.” Likewise, whenever the correct governance of a diocese requires it, the diocesan bishop may appoint one or more episcopal vicars, namely, those who, in a specific part of the diocese, or in a certain type of ministry, or over certain groups of persons, possess the same ordinary power which a Vicar General has by universal law, according to canonical norms. Emeritus bishops, who have resigned from office but who maintain residence in a diocese, may also be called upon to assist with episcopal ministries at the invitation of the diocesan bishop.
23a. Most bishops in the ACC are elected by diocesan synods whose members vote in successive ballots until a single candidate receives a canonically required percentage of the votes (usually one–half or two–thirds) of both the laity and clergy electoral colleges.

More recently, and especially in dioceses where there is a significant Anglican Indigenous presence, bishops are sometimes selected using methods traditional to First Nations, such as consensus–based decision making. Some communities have even seen the election of suffragan bishops specifically by the Indigenous members of a diocese and from among Indigenous leaders of that diocese. While such bishops are formally understood as suffragan to the diocesan bishop, in practice the working relationships often take the form of equal partnerships delineated by a covenant of sharing the episcopal ministry together.

Notably, there are three bishops without territorial jurisdiction in the Anglican Church of Canada, each of whom is chosen in a different way:

The first of these is the Primate, who is elected by the lay and clerical members of the General Synod from among candidates who are nominated by and from among the national House of Bishops (more on the Primate below under the ‘Regional‘ and ‘Universal‘ headings).

The National Anglican Indigenous Archbishop is chosen by a process established by the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples, and that election requires the concurrence of the Primate and the four metropolitan archbishops of the ecclesiastical provinces in Canada.

The Bishop Ordinary to the Canadian Armed Forces is chosen by an electoral college of the Anglican Military Ordinariate, and that election also requires the concurrence of the Primate and the four metropolitans.

23b. Paragraph 92 from WTW describes perfectly what happens with respect to the nomination of Catholic bishops in Canada. To summarize, the Apostolic Nuncio of Canada (defined below), having consulted local clergy and, often, vowed religious and laity, sends a list of three names (terna) to the appropriate Vatican Congregation, which then presents the name and dossier of the candidate it considers most suitable to the Pope. According to the provision of the Latin or Eastern Catholic Churches: ‘The Supreme Pontiff freely appoints bishops or confirms those legitimately elected‘ (cf. CCC c. 377; CCEO cc. 182—5)

In Canada, during the First World War, the Holy See appointed the first Military Ordinary, and during the Second World War, a bishop was posted to the armed forces. In 1951 Pope Pius XII erected the Military Vicariate of Canada and the Military Ordinariate was canonically erected in 1986 by Pope John Paul II.

Regional

24a. Every diocese in the ACC belongs to one of four Ecclesiastical Provinces — the Provinces of Canada, Ontario, Rupert‘s Land, and British Columbia and Yukon. The four ecclesiastical provinces also each meet as a synod with lay, clerical, and episcopal representation from each of the constituent dioceses. The purview of ecclesiastical provinces lies chiefly in the election and discipline of bishops, as well as the evaluation of candidates for ordination.

The ecclesiastical provinces periodically gather in Provincial Synod, a decision–making body consisting of all the bishops of the province, as well as lay and clerical delegates from each of the constituent dioceses. Such synods are largely consultative but do have jurisdiction over some important provincial matters. Each ecclesiastical province is also led by a metropolitan archbishop, who is elected from among the diocesan bishops of the ecclesiastical province to which they belong, typically by vote of all members of the provincial synod. There are no fixed metropolitan sees in the ACC. Rather, upon election, the new metropolitan is simply styled “Archbishop,” and remains the ordinary of their current diocesan see.

Regional

24b. The local churches in the Catholic Church in Canada relate to each other through various other structures, including, first, as Ecclesiastical Provinces around a Metropolitan See. In practice, it is more common that all the bishops of a specific civic jurisdiction will gather at regular intervals to address concerns affecting their province/territory (e.g., BC–Yukon, Alberta–NWT, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador).

The Catholic Church in Canada also consists in Regional Assemblies, namely West, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic. Each Regional Assembly has its own structure with a set of officers and regularly scheduled meetings. At these meetings, specific groups of laity, religious, and clergy may be involved. These regional assemblies enable their members to deal directly with pastoral questions related to the Catholics residing in their regions.

25a. What at one time were considered financially assisted “missionary dioceses” of the ACC continue to associate as an entity within the denomination and are today known as the Council of the North. This body gathers the bishops of dioceses serving less populated areas such as the Arctic, Yukon, the British Columbia interior, and the northern regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, who together provide pastoral and sacramental ministry to Anglicans living in isolated regions, many of them Indigenous communities. Council of the North dioceses continue to receive annual financial assistance from the General Synod.
25b. A relatively new development in the regional identity of the Catholic Church in Canada occurred in 2016, when Pope Francis transferred Canada‘s remaining six “mission dioceses” to the common law of the Church. By doing so, he invited the Catholic Church in Canada to take–on a shared financial responsibility for these dioceses, all of which are found in more remote, northern parts of Canada. The full extent of new “twinning” relationships between northern and southern Canadian dioceses, including the mutuality of pastoral and spiritual gift exchanges between them, continues to be an area under development.
26a. A recent and highly significant regional ecclesiological innovation in Canadian Anglicanism is the emergence of an Indigenous Anglican church which is at once self–determining but also continues to exist within the structures of the Anglican Church of Canada. This remains a work in progress as the Sacred Circle and the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (synodal structures in their own right) work to develop a framework and structures to support the churches‘ common life. Among the questions to be resolved is how the pastoral oversight of an Indigenous parish might be shared by both the bishop of the diocese in which the parish is physically situated and the National Anglican Indigenous Archbishop. As the ACC seeks to walk together on the way with Indigenous Anglicans, this journey promises to provide new opportunities for reflection on synodality and polity for the benefit of ecclesiological reflection of the whole church as well.
26b. The Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council is an advisory body of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB). Since its beginnings in 1998, the role and responsibilities of the Indigenous Council have grown considerably. Today, the Council comprises a significant number of Bishops and Indigenous Catholics. Through research, writing and community engagement, the Council provides the CCCB with information and recommendations on understanding and appreciating Indigenous needs and furthering relationships and healing with Indigenous Peoples across the land. Within its regular service to the CCCB, each year the Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council also assists the CCCB in marking the National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12) by issuing a message which is distributed in dioceses and eparchies as well as on the CCCB website and in the publications Living with Christ and Prions en Église.
27a. The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada was formed in 1893 through the collective assent of the then extant dioceses and ecclesiastical provinces — more than a century after the establishment of the first Anglican diocese. This uniquely Canadian historical anomaly makes the relationship of dioceses and provinces to the national structure somewhat different as compared to other parts of the Anglican Communion.

As the national expression of church, it is the General Synod which has primary jurisdiction over doctrine, worship, theological education, missionary work, social issues, relations with other churches, and pensions. This necessitates the hiring of programmatic and support staff, both lay and ordained, managed and directed by a General Secretary who may be lay, deacon, or priest, but not bishop. While there are many important functions carried out by the General Synod for the life of the church national, in the view of some it is really the diocesan level of the church where much more direction and movement originates and is actually able to happen.

At the level of the national church offices, the full communion relationship of the ACC and ELCIC enables them to cooperate in many ways. This includes the training and formation of clergy, development of resources for parishes, representation on commissions and councils of each respective church, joint efforts in addressing issues of compassionate justice and reconciliation in Canadian society, collaborations in ecumenical and interfaith relations, etc.

27b. The Catholic Church in Canada is also organised at a national level through an episcopal body known as the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops/Conférence des évèques catholiques du Canada (established in 1943). The CCCB/CECC does not typically hold authoritative jurisdiction over the bishops of Canada (except in very restricted matters prescribed by canon law or by special mandate of the Holy See). Its central purpose, rather, is to facilitate joint pastoral action on the part of the bishops across Canada, including the regulation of certain pastoral matters, the transmission of the Church‘s teachings adapted to the situation of Catholics living in Canada, and the coordination of apostolic and charitable initiatives across many dioceses.

To assist them in their work, the bishops established within the CCCB/CECC a permanent, bilingual General Secretariat located in Ottawa, Canada‘s capital city. Made up of various Offices and Services, the General Secretariat (overseen by a General Secretary who reports to the President of the CCCB/CECC) maintains contacts with the Holy See, Episcopal Conferences around the world, the Regional Assemblies of Catholic bishops, and national Catholic organizations operating in Canada (e.g., the Canadian Religious Conference, the Catholic Women‘s League of Canada, the Knights of Columbus, etc.). The General Secretariat is also the principal point of contact between the CCCB/CECC and the national leadership of other Christian churches and other faith traditions in Canada, together with authorities in the Federal Government.

28a. Meeting in a different part of the country every three years, the triennial convocation of the elected, appointed, and ex officio members of the General Synod follows rules of procedure that in many ways mirror the Westminster parliamentary system. This includes voting by “houses” or “orders” (i.e., laity, clergy, bishops), and different kinds of legislation requiring different thresholds of support for approval.

The General Synod‘s membership includes all active bishops, as well as a representative number of lay and clerical delegates from each diocese based on a formula that calculates each jurisdiction‘s Anglican population. To this is added a fixed number of delegates representing the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples and the Anglican Military Ordinariate.

In 2013 the General Synod met concurrently with the National Convention of the ELCIC (its national synodal body), with some elements of business done in joint session. In 2022 the two bodies will meet jointly again, with plans for an even further integration of synodical processes.

Between gatherings of the General Synod, an executive body known as the Council of General Synod typically meets twice a year. Its members are largely drawn from the most recent General Synod, and its work includes helping implement the decisions of the previous General Synod and preparing proposals for consideration by the next.
In recent years, there has been frustration expressed among some Canadian Anglicans with the oppositional style of the General Synod. These are sometimes perceived along the lines of what WTW 94 calls “a blunt instrument with which to decide responses to sensitive pastoral needs and doctrinal and ethical questions.” Such sentiments led to the 2019 General Synod passing a motion directing a review of the membership and rules of order of the General Synod to be presented for consideration in 2022. This is not the first time the General Synod has re–evaluated its ways of working, and its structures, procedures, and customs have been regularly adapted to changing contexts since the body first met in 1893.

29a. The National House of Bishops is a consultative body which meets twice annually as an occasion for prayer, conversation, and the promotion of relationship and unity between diocesan bishops in Canada. On occasion, the Anglican bishops are joined for these meetings by the bishops of the ELCIC.

The House of Bishops is not a legislative or juridical body of the ACC. It nevertheless exercises a certain authority of moral suasion within the broader Church, and certainly plays a part in the clarification and implementation of the vision and work of the General Synod. When sitting as members of the Order of Bishops during a meeting of the General Synod, however, the bishops do on occasion possess a de facto form of veto. For example, in matters related to doctrine, worship, or discipline, any proposed measure must receive the support of at least two–thirds of the Order of Bishops. This same threshold must be achieved within the General Synod‘s other two orders (of the clergy and of the laity, both of which are numerically larger than the Order of Bishops), so this legislative power is not unique to the bishops.

29b. The CCCB/CECC sees the bishops meet in Plenary Assembly at least once annually to consider resolutions pertaining to doctrinal, liturgical, canonical and/or pastoral matters. Between Plenary Assembly, the general work, policy questions, and other decisional matters of the CCCB/CECC are carried out by the “Permanent Council“, which is a body of at least 12 bishops who are elected by and report to the Plenary Assembly. The “Permanent Council” is in turn assisted by an “Executive Committee“, which according to CCCB/CECC statues, “has principal responsibility for promoting and coordinating the initiatives of the CCCB/CECC, for ensuring the execution of the resolutions of the Plenary Assembly and the Permanent Council, for overseeing financial matters of the CCCB/CECC, and responding to issues as they arise.” The members of the Executive Committee are the President, Vice President, and the two co–Treasurers of the CCCB/CECC, who are all elected by and ultimately report to the Plenary Assembly. CCCB/CECC statutes require that there be equal representation from French and English–speaking Canada among the members of both the Permanent Council and Executive Committee.
30a. In addition to the General Synod, another major national instrument of communion for the Anglican Church of Canada is the office of the Primate. The Primate is elected by the lay and clerical members of the General Synod from among a list of eligible episcopal nominees provided by the national House of Bishops.

The ACC is one of only two provinces of the Anglican Communion whose Primates are not also diocesan bishops. There is no Canadian Anglican primatial see, and so the Primate is a bishop without any territorial jurisdiction. Although the Primate is considered the primus inter pares of all the country‘s bishops and serves as the convenor of the House of Bishops, they may only visit or exercise ministry in a diocese at the invitation of the local bishop.

The Primate‘s primary canonical role is to “lead the Anglican Church of Canada in discerning and pursuing the mission of God.” They serve as president of the General Synod and of the Council of General Synod, they convene and chair the meetings of the House of Bishops, and they serve as the chief executive officer of the corporate entity that is the General Synod. Other elements of the Primate‘s ministry fall under the ‘Universal‘ heading below.

30b. Historically, the Archdiocese of Québec as the first and oldest diocese in Canada, is acknowledged to be the Primatial See of the country. The Archbishop of Québec thus bears the ceremonial title of “Primate of Canada“, but the title accords no special jurisdictional or legislative power to its holder.
Universal

31a. Among the Primate‘s canonical roles at a universal level is the duty to “represent the Anglican Church of Canada internationally.” This is most frequently and visibly expressed when they attend the Primates‘ Meeting. As described in WTW, the Primate‘s Meeting is one of Anglicanism‘s four Instruments of Communion at the global level. Convened every two years with the call of the Archbishop of Canterbury, its purpose is “to enhance cohesion, understanding, and collaboration in the family; and to share information among the churches.” It is, therefore, a collegial body without juridical authority. However, because it draws together the heads of all the provinces of the Anglican Communion, its deliberations and declarations nevertheless carry moral weight.

Universal

31b. The principal instrument of communion for all Catholics, including Canadian Catholics, at the universal level is the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, who is the chief pastor of the Universal Church. Historically, an Apostolic Delegation was established in Canada by Leo XIII in 1899. In its history, Canada has received only three direct Apostolic (Papal) Visits, each made by Pope Saint John Paul II: a cross–Canada tour in September 1984, a five–hour stop in Fort Simpson, NWT, in 1987, and at World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002. The Pope is always represented in Canada, however, by an Apostolic Nuncio, who resides in the nation‘s capital, Ottawa.

The Apostolic Nunciature was created in Canada by Paul VI in 1969. The Apostolic Nuncio is the personal representative of the Pope in a particular part of the Church or a particular country. Thus, the Nuncio has two main functions: one relating within the Church, the other relating with States. In addition to serving as ambassador of the Holy See to Canada, the Nuncio fosters close relations with the CCCB/CECC, is very often one of the Principal Ordaining Bishops at episcopal ordinations in Canada, and issues important pastoral communications from the Holy Father to the people of Canada on significant occasions.

While the role of an Apostolic Nuncio is referenced in WTW 92 in relation to “short–listing” names of potential candidates for episcopal ordination, WTW does not reference the diplomatic service of the Holy See as an instrument of universal communion in the Catholic Church. Notably absent is any reference to Canon 364: “The principal task of a Papal Legate is continually to make more firm and effective the bonds of unity that exist between the Holy See and the particular Churches.”

32a. Another Instrument of Communion mentioned in WTW, which owes its existence in part to the ACC, is the Lambeth Conference. Anxious about emerging differences across the Anglican Communion concerning synodical authority, biblical interpretation, and sexual mores, Canadian bishops in the 1860s appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury to convene a “pan–Anglican synod” or “General Council” with the authority to resolve such doctrinal disagreements within the fledgling worldwide family of churches. Since then, that Lambeth Conference invites all the bishops of the Anglican Communion, including the bishops of Canada (and typically also their spouses), every ten years. Lambeth convenes under the presidency of the Archbishop of Canterbury, not to decide but to confer: “to pray, to worship, to engage in Bible study, to share experiences and concerns, and to seek a common mind”

Canadian Anglicans have also frequently participated in several of the international “networks” of the Anglican Communion. Though much less formal and structured than the Roman Catholic Church‘s dicasteries, they in a similar way connect Anglicans globally and “create a cluster of energy around a particular area of mission, ministry and concern.” Networks are accountable to the Anglican Consultative Council and receive staff support from the Anglican Communion Office. These networks have sometimes been described as a fifth—albeit unofficial—Instrument of Communion.

Another noteworthy Canadian initiative with universal implications within the Communion is the Consultation of Anglican Bishops in Dialogue. Between 2010 and 2020 it gathered bishops from eight African provinces of the Anglican Communion and from the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church (based in the United States) and the Scottish Episcopal Church. These informal discussions were intended to foster a spirit of dialogue in the midst of deep differences over issues of human sexuality and larger questions of scriptural interpretation. For many participants, these discussions have proven transformational in “recognizing our common call in Christ to a common mission and ministry,” and in realizing “that we held much more in common than the differences often emphasized so strongly.”

32b. A second instrument of universal communion for Canadian Catholics comes through the various dicasteries and officials of the Roman Curia. Of particular note are those occasions when Canadian bishops and/or theologians are appointed to serve as consultors to or members of curial offices of the Holy See.

Relating to the Roman Curia as points of communion with the universal church (but not identified in WTW) are annual national collections undertaken by the Catholic Church in Canada in support of the Pope‘s Pastoral Works, Pontifical Mission Societies and The Church in the Holy Land. Similarly, the Catholic Church in Canada participates in the vast international development network of the universal church called Caritas Internationalis. The Canadian branch of Caritas Internationalis is known as the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

In relation to General Councils (WTW 128), we note with pride the participation of Canadian Catholic bishops at both the First and the Second Vatican Councils, as well as the specific contributions of Canadian Catholic theological advisors (periti) especially in the areas of liturgy, catechesis, religious life, laity, ecumenism, and religious freedom.

Canadian Catholic bishops also participate regularly in Ordinary and Extraordinary Synods of Bishops (WTW 129), and lay theologians or other experts (both women and men) are often invited to accompany the bishops at these meetings.

The Ad Limina visits of Canadian bishops to Rome are yet another instrument for strengthening communion at universal level of the Church. However, as Canadian bishops typically undertake ad limina visits by Regional Assembly, they might be considered rightly as instruments of communion at every level of the life and ministry of the church: local, regional and universal.

33a. In a certain way, religious communities also represent a universal dimension of ecclesial reality in Canada. Several Anglican religious communities with international scope are present in Canada, a few of which are “traditional” in the sense that they take monastic vows, consist exclusively of women or men, and share a common home and rule of life. Other newer communities, sometimes described as “neo–monastic,” are also emerging, and often have some international presences as well.
33b. Religious institutes in the Catholic Church in Canada also have international bonds. Today, the Canadian Religious Conference reports a membership of 250 institutes of women and men religious, with 70% of these in Quebec. Except for newly formed institutes, the majority of Canadian religious congregations are identified as pontifical, which usually means that they serve in several dioceses across Canada and often internationally as well (cf. WTW 105). Following the Second Vatican Council, and in response to the urging of Pope Paul VI, many Canadian congregations (and dioceses) opened missions in Latin America and the Caribbean. This raised their awareness of systemic injustice which has been a feature of the mission and ministry of many since that time.

Part C: Gifts to be Received in the Canadian Context

34. In the spirit of WTW, ARC Canada also wishes to follow the descriptive sections of our Canadian response by applying the method of receptive ecumenism to our own context and seeking to encourage ecumenical gift exchange between the Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions as they exist here. This is undertaken in part to enhance ecumenical understanding and reception of WTW locally. We also hope that seeing the approach of the international text applied to a national context will be of benefit to ARCIC III in assessing the effectiveness of the document on a level closer to the ground.

35. In offering this identification of gifts to be received in Canada, we have been assisted by local Anglican and Roman Catholic church members, theological students, clergy members, scholars, and so on, who have provided written feedback, and who have participated in engagement sessions with the content of WTW. We are greatly indebted to these colleagues and friends for their excellent contributions to the ecumenical task.

Gifts to be Received by Anglicans

36. We begin by naming some of the gifts which we believe the Anglican Church of Canada might be able to learn and receive from our Canadian Roman Catholic neighbours in the area of ecclesial decision–making and governance. There are others beyond the ones we identify here, but these are the areas deemed especially significant by the members of ARC Canada.

37. The first such potential gift comes in connection with questions around what Anglicans would describe as national/provincial autonomy within a global communion of churches. The Anglican Church of Canada sometimes struggles with maintaining the balance between being an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion that is also but one part of the one Body of Christ in fellowship with its sister churches around the world. Like the Communion as a whole, our church is yet to agree on the implications of what the 1930 Lambeth Conference called being “bound together” by a “mutual loyalty sustained by common counsel.” The 1963 gathering of the Anglican Congress in Toronto did have a formative influence on a generation of Canadian Anglicans with respect to their identification with the universal expression of the church, but questions and debate about what this ought to mean for the national church have continued up to the present day. Obviously, this sometimes results in significant challenges, particularly as we find ourselves in disagreement with other churches of the Anglican Communion in various matters of faith and practice. Roman Catholic instincts about catholicity and unity and what is required to help hold them in healthy tension can undoubtedly inform Canadian Anglicans in our discernment about the disagreements and fragmentation which our Communion faces globally. This may also be instructive to us in relation to the ministry of the Primate as we seek to walk together as fully as possible across divergent decisions between dioceses.

38. Another Roman Catholic gift which Anglicans could do well to consider is the practice of non–legislative synods. Anglican synods in Canada, whether in their diocesan, provincial, or national expressions, tend to be dominated by debates over legislation. This means that they are often occasions for controversy and flashpoints for potential new divisions. The parliamentary nature of their agendas and ways of doing business only enhance this further. Recognizing this fact, many Canadian Anglicans have begun to recover the emphasis on the educational, relational, and formational components of synods, and have tried to find ways to incorporate such elements into their programs. The model of Roman Catholic synods that focus instead on learning, consultation, and discernment may offer a helpful alternative approach. While there will always be a need for decision making synods within Canadian Anglican polity, perhaps an alternating cycle of purely consultative synodal gatherings could help to temper the factional character which business–oriented synods sometimes engender.

39. Finally, we see the Roman Catholic experience of dealing with geographically overlapping jurisdictions of church based on linguistic and cultural differences or diversity of liturgical rite as having gifts to offer to Canadian Anglicanism. As we have touched on in places throughout this response, the ACC and the ELCIC have overlapping jurisdictions across the country in all but one civil province and one civil territory. As the Indigenous Anglican church in Canada continues to develop greater canonical, liturgical, and ecclesiological distinctives, it is also likely that, especially in urban areas, there will be more regions of Canada which will see episcopal oversight come to be exercised by both Indigenous and non–Indigenous bishops and synodical structures at the same time, either in parallel or working together in certain ways. Of course, the Roman Catholic Church is no stranger to these kinds of dynamics, resulting from its centuries–long experience of distinct sui juris churches, liturgical rites, codes of canon law, etc. Though Anglicans are aware that this has not been without some measure of challenges even in the Catholic Communion, there are undoubtedly hard–won lessons which we could learn from the history of navigating these.

Gifts to be Received by Roman Catholics

40. Dialogue is always an avenue for the work of the Holy Spirit that enables us, through conversion, to journey together in becoming “true disciples of Christ“. We turn now to some suggested gifts that Roman Catholics might be able to receive from Anglicans, once again giving thanks for the foundational gift of dialogue itself.

41. First, we wish to raise the subject of the Catholic Church engaging the laity in the synodal dimensions of the Church at diocesan and parish levels as one that could be enhanced by a gift from the Anglican way of proceeding. Specifically, we refer to what WTW describes as “the deliberative involvement of the laity in diocesan and parochial governance.” The 2016 document The Co–responsibility of the Lay Faithful in the Church and the World (2016), produced by the Episcopal Commission for Doctrine of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, makes clear that, by baptism, every Christian participates in what WTW calls “Christ‘s tria munera of teaching, sanctifying, and leading God‘s people” (WTW 81). Therefore, the matter of “co–responsibility” is something that the Catholic Church in Canada agrees arises for each Christian as a response to the love of Christ and wants to find more ways to embody and support. While there are structures within the ecclesial governance of the Catholic Church in Canada in which the laity participate, this participation is largely informative and consultative rather than deliberative. The ACC‘s roles for lay, clerical, and episcopal sharing in synodical governance suggests a way in which the involvement of the Catholic lay faithful in Canada could be increased in connection with certain kinds of questions in the life of the church where collaborative discernment may be helpful (perhaps even including the process for appointing bishops), while still leaving provision to preserve the executive prerogative of the bishop within Catholic canon law. This would also respond, in part, to what WTW names as “the need for executive accountability to the faithful at diocesan and parochial levels” (WTW 95).

42. There is also a suggestion in WTW that Catholics could perhaps receive some gifts from Anglicans with regard to “learning about the need for open conversation” in the Church (WTW 101), including open conversation on painful and/or difficult themes (WTW 102).

Because the Roman Catholic tradition typically places a priority of emphasis on establishing definitive principles on questions of doctrinal or moral debate, it can be difficult within that system not to view areas of ambiguity or ongoing discussion as dissent and divisiveness. Both the Anglican Communion in general, and the ACC specifically, certainly know about living with this ecclesial reality on a regular basis. This includes both its unique challenges and its beneficial lessons. Catholics can find gifts in this feature of the Anglican experience as well.

43. The WTW text further acknowledges what is seen as a Roman Catholic tendency to “assume that the entire church always needs to move as one on all things.” On this point it invites Catholic readers to consider that “on some matters different parts of the Communion can make different discernments influenced by cultural and contextual appropriateness” (WTW 148). Such a thought is hardly questioned in the Anglican Communion, perhaps at times to a fault. Yet it is not an alien idea in the Roman Catholic context either. The Roman Catholic tradition does place a priority of emphasis on establishing definitive principles but in certain circumstances it encourages the contextualization and application of these principles in different times and places. One recent example of this might be seen in the highly localized implementation of a permanent diaconal ministry across the Latin Church. A greater embrace of this kind of complexity within a world–wide Communion implies the need for a deeper sense of provisionality and for time to test and discern new ways forward.

Gifts to be Received Together

44. The land we know as Canada today has been walked by the First Peoples who have been its inhabitants and caretakers for millennia. Since arriving here, our churches have often failed to walk with them well — even as the churches have themselves walked apart from one another. Both the ACC and the Catholic Church in Canada have much more learning, repenting, and healing to undergo in this regard. However, as the two churches begin to seek a retracing of those misplaced steps, we are being called, by grace, to walk anew with Indigenous Peoples — both those who are fellow members of the churches, and in wider Canadian society as well. There are many gifts to be offered and received from Indigenous cultures and practices which can positively transform the churches in their areas of weakness and need, and the question of how different people and points of view take council and seek consensus together in good ways — i.e., engage in synodality — is yet another one. As we seek to walk together into a different future, may we truly listen to all the companions who travel along the road.

Part D: Looking Ahead to Moral Discernment

45. The preface to WTW specifies that the document intends to lay the groundwork for a subsequent ARCIC III Statement on how “in communion the local and universal Church come to discern right ethical teaching” (WTW iv). With this aim in view, we therefore share in this final section some preliminary reflection on how WTW might inform this wider goal of the international ARCIC dialogue. We are also mindful of the fact that we undertake this work as the World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order has also focused substantial recent attention on moral discernment as an increasingly critical area for ecumenical concern. Our own ARC–Canada deliberations over the emerging implications in WTW for the Church‘s reflection on discerning ethical teaching and decision–making include the following:

An ethical approach to discerning ethical teaching

46. The adoption of receptive ecumenism as the model for the document has itself clear ethical implications. This embrace of diversity as a potential source of learning and gift exchange (WTW 15), framed theologically in shared baptismal identity and the call to participate in the koinonia of the body and blood of Christ (WTW 59), challenges commonplace fears and assumptions about complexity in ethical deliberation. The model reminds Christians that the encounter of difference does not fundamentally endanger God‘s truth. Rather than threatening to reduce the Church to a Tower of Babel, confident engagement with Christian difference is understood through the lens of Pentecost. Listening to the other‘s particularity and attending to the different perspectives of the neighbour are opportunities to be drawn by the power of the Holy Spirit into greater fellowship and unity, while at the same time being offered deeper self–understanding and growth.

47. Pope John Paul II expressed such a vision when he wrote, “one of the advantages of ecumenism is that it helps Christian Communities to discover the unfathomable riches of the truth.” [3] What is crucial in this confident embrace of difference is to distinguish it from relativism. Rowan Williams has challenged thinking of ethical discernment in terms of making choices from among various options, as if one is standing in front of a supermarket shelf. [4] This echoes the statement by John Paul II quoted in WTW, “dialogue is not simply an exchange of ideas” (WTW 15). Of course, Pope Francis has also been very clear on this point as well. True discernment and growth emerge from engagement out of a specific tradition, in a particular context, in relationship to the immediate neighbour. What we lack in our moral understanding, “God might give us through the other” (WTW 18). What prevents such conversations among difference from becoming confusing or disorienting? Rowan Williams speaks of the gift of witnessing in one‘s conversation partner the same “grammar of obedience” to Christ, and “the trust that in the Body of Christ the confronting of wounds is part of opening ourselves to healing.” [5]

Implications for conceptions of power and authority

48. In its adoption of the terminology of “instruments of communion,” WTW is concerned to stress that the instruments “serve the unity and the diversity — of the Church” (WTW 57). This point has ethical implications. The church‘s ethical discernment cannot be the product of a regimented uniformity. There are implied limits to institutional structures and exercise of power in this perspective, which the document suggests “are more limited than the life of grace” (WTW 46). This acknowledgement that there are limits to the deployment of institutional power in ethical discernment resonates with our deliberations over WTW from a Canadian perspective. This emerged among Anglicans in our growing appreciation for the Catholic practice of consultative rather than exclusively legislative synodical gatherings (WTW 36). Both Anglicans and Roman Catholics in Canada are also becoming increasingly sensitive of the importance of conceiving of episcopal influence and authority beyond sovereignty over an enclosed geographical area (WTW 37).

49. Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church of Canada have had to confront the tragic legacy of the Residential Schools by listening to the testimonies of Indigenous and Inuit peoples during the TRC process. Such admission by our churches of our failings has taught us of the ethical relevance of remembering rightly and has reminded us of the moral significance of confession and penance. Our churches have learned that remembering together frees us from the prison of the past. This lesson in humility and of the need to listen to one‘s neighbour are key elements of the church‘s ethical discernment of truth. It also suggests that there is a significant relationship between receptive ecumenism and ecclesial repentance.

Re–learning to speak with moral authority

50. Our “receptive listening” to each other in the Canadian context has illuminated the extent to which our churches (Roman Catholic, Anglican, and also Lutheran) have historically been rooted in particular ethnicities and immigration patterns. Although this heritage has blessed our churches in many ways, it is also evident that our historic identities complicate our capacity to attract people from non–traditional constituencies into our communities. Moreover, the rising number of people with “No Religion” in our context is a further challenge to the witness and mission of our churches.

51. These pastoral challenges in our context are relevant to the processes of the ethical discernment of truth. Listening more attentively to the voices of those outside of our respective church constituencies remains a challenge we are all wrestling with. The same is true of our proficiency at communicating the ethical insights of our traditions to an increasingly post–Christian context. One of the gifts we may be able to offer each other, therefore, is to help one another learn how to engage effectively and faithfully with neighbours with little to no connection with our churches.

Pastoral Ecumenism and Ethical Discernment

52. As we have reflected together in the Canadian context, our recollection of historic tensions between our churches — often fueled by ethnic or linguistic differences — have left lingering wounds in our communities. Such considerations have encouraged Sister Susan Wood, SCL, to suggest that it may be time for the next stage of ecumenism to attend to what she calls “pastoral ecumenism.” [6]

Conclusion

53. We offer this Canadian response in gratitude for the work of the third phase of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III). We conclude in the same spirit of Walking Together of The Way, which looks to the Letter to the Ephesians to described the common pilgrimage our churches are walking together: “I] beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:1–3).

Notes

1. Cf. Paul Murray, ed., Receptive Ecumenism and the Call to Catholic Learning: Exploring a Way for Contemporary Ecumenism (Oxford University Press, 2010).

2. Cf. Margaret O‘Gara, The Ecumenical Gift Exchange (Liturgical Press, 1998).

3. John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint, n.38.

4. Rowan Williams, “Making Moral Decisions,” The Cambridge Companion to Christian Ethics, ed. Robing Gill (CUP, 2001), 3.

5. Ibid., 11.

6. Susan Wood, “The Shifting Ecumenical Landscape,” Theological Studies 78.3 (2017), 594.

A Note About the Document

This document is produced in the name of the Anglican–Roman Catholic Dialogue in Canada (ARC Canada) and does not necessarily represent official views of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) or the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB). The ARC Canada dialogue is, however, formally sponsored by the ACC and CCCB, and its members are appointed to it by those bodies to undertake this work.

Members of ARC Canada (current as of 2021)

Anglican

Bishop Bruce Myers (Co–chair)
The Rev. Marie–Louise Ternier
The Rev. Dr. Christopher Brittain
The Rev. Dr. Iain Luke
Bishop Cindy Halmarson (Lutheran Full Communion Observer)
The Rev. Canon Dr. Scott Sharman (ACC Staff)

Roman Catholic

Archbishop Brian Dunn (Co–chair)
Ms. Adèle Brodeur
Sr. Donna Geernaert
Mr. Julien Hammond
Dr. Nicholas Olkovich
Mr. Kyle Ferguson (CCCB Staff)