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.

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.

The steering committee of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) met in Washington DC, USA, from 29 September to 2 October 2024. The meeting was kindly hosted by Georgetown University, in association with Virginia Theological Seminary. The steering committee was joined for its meeting by three of the bishops who took part in the IARCCUM summit meeting and pilgrimage of Catholic and Anglican bishops which took place in Rome and Canterbury in January 2024.

During their meeting, the steering committee reflected on the future of IARCCUM, including means of maintaining contact with the pairs of the bishops who took part in the 2024 summit, and the question of replacement of IARCCUM bishops on their retirement from office. The steering committee also spent time reflecting on the origins and specific ecumenical task of IARCCUM, seeking to discern new ways to contribute to the work of deepening communion between Anglicans and Catholics.  The committee also reviewed IARCCUM’s most important publication to date, the 2007 document Growing Together in Unity and Mission, with a view to beginning work on a new document as a resource for bishops of the two churches.

The steering committee of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) met in Washington DC, USA, from 29 September to 2 October 2024. The meeting was kindly hosted by Georgetown University, in association with Virginia Theological Seminary. The steering committee was joined for its meeting by three of the bishops who took part in the IARCCUM summit meeting and pilgrimage of Catholic and Anglican bishops which took place in Rome and Canterbury in January 2024.

During their meeting, the steering committee reflected on the future of IARCCUM, including means of maintaining contact with the pairs of the bishops who took part in the 2024 summit, and the question of replacement of IARCCUM bishops on their retirement from office. The steering committee also spent time reflecting on the origins and specific ecumenical task of IARCCUM, seeking to discern new ways to contribute to the work of deepening communion between Anglicans and Catholics. The committee also reviewed IARCCUM’s most important publication to date, the 2007 document Growing Together in Unity and Mission, with a view to beginning work on a new document as a resource for bishops of the two churches.

In an October 2016 Common Declaration recalling the fiftieth anniversary of the historic visit of Archbishop Michael Ramsey of Canterbury to Pope Paul VI in Rome, Pope Francis and His Grace Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, recognized how Anglicans and Catholics “have become partners and companions on our pilgrim journey, facing the same difficulties, and strengthening each other by learning to value the gifts which God has given to the other, and to receive them as our own in humility and gratitude.” Together they advance the work of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), involving Anglican and Catholic bishops giving collaborative witness, based on the unity that Anglicans and Catholics already enjoy. Through IARCCUM, 46 bishops, representing 27 countries, gathered in Rome and Canterbury in January 2024 and pledged to “engage in common witness, to build relationships of friendship in Christ, to walk a synodal path together, and to share wherever possible in the Church’s mission.”

Five IARCCUM participating bishops are meeting at Georgetown University from September 30 through October 2, 2024, and at this public session they will share their experiences as IARCCUM participants.

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.

This January, I participated in a unique pilgrimage and summit, “Growing Together,” sponsored by the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM). The event brought together 50 paired bishops, both Anglican and Roman Catholic, from 27 different countries to offer an ecumenical witness of solidarity between the two worldwide communions and to underscore the progress that has been made in relations between them. The pilgrimage began in Rome, during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in this historic Christian centre, and then moved to the close of Canterbury Cathedral for its conclusion.

IARCCUM practices what is sometimes called the Lund principle: churches are called to act together in all those areas where conviction does not require them to act separately. If there are things that we can do together, we should be doing them. The pilgrimage and summit were intended to offer a common witness of Christians, in the midst of deep divisions in our world and enormous difficulties facing the human family, and to challenge our churches to work more closely together in those areas where we are able to do so.

On January 25, at the annual ecumenical service in Rome that marks the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Pope Francis spontaneously invited Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby to offer remarks after Francis’ own homily. Archbishop Justin’s reflection constituted a second homily, though it was called a “discourse” in the Vatican media. Such an invitation had only been offered to Orthodox bishops in the past, so this marked a significant sign of welcome between two leaders who have become close collaborators in a number of projects. On previous occasions, Archbishop Justin and his predecessors had been invited to offer remarks at a later portion of the liturgy, but never immediately after the homily.

Visiting holy sites to pray in both Rome and Canterbury was very much part of the process. On January 23 it was moving for us to be part of an Anglican Choral Evensong being held for only the second time ever in the Choir Chapel of St Peter’s Basilica. The meeting coincided in part with the annual Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity which always ends on January 25 when our churches mark the Feast of the Conversation of St Paul.

Appropriately that evening all the bishops attended Catholic vespers at the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, where the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury both preached and commissioned the IARCCUM delegates in their pairs for their work. For us and many of those attending the liturgy, it was encouraging to observe both church leaders clearly at ease in each other’s company and both committed to the goal of Christian unity.

I was recently appointed by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales to become a member of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM). 25 Catholic bishops and 25 Anglican bishops from across the world gathered in Rome to be commissioned jointly by Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury on the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, the conclusion of the Octave of Prayer for the Unity of Christians.

The Catholic and Anglican bishops were paired from each nation, I being united with Bishop Stephen Race of Beverely who was representing the Church of England. We assembled in Rome on Monday January 22 and transferred the conference to Canterbury on Friday January 26, concluding our deliberations on Monday January 29.

The experience was intense, enlightening and fruitful. Each pairing was charged with sharing their national experience of ecumenical dialogue and cooperation. This sharing proved to be a most powerful experience.

The second summit meeting of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) took place in Rome and Canterbury from 22 to 29 January 2024. IARCCUM is an official commission of the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church, established to deepen the relationship between Anglicans and Catholics and promote shared mission, based on the significant degree of theological agreement that has been reached over sixty years of dialogue. The first IARCCUM summit took place in 2016. The 2024 event, with the theme Growing Together, gathered pairs of bishops, Catholic and Anglican, from 27 different countries around the world.

The summit began in Rome on 22 January, with introductions to the background and history of the commission and presentations by each bishop-pair on the ecclesial and ecumenical situations in their countries. On Tuesday 23 January, the Anglican office of Choral Evensong was celebrated in the Chapel of the Choir in St Peter’s Basilica. Other elements of the Rome phase of the summit included a discussion on synodality in the two traditions and reflection on justice, peace and reconciliation, including testimonies about the challenging situations in their territories by the bishops from Sudan, South Sudan and the Holy Land.

The Roman Catholic-Anglican dialogue is advancing on the path of reconciliation after four centuries of conflict and separation. This decades-long effort is now moving beyond theological dialogue at the international level to building a movement whose guiding principle is: “The Christian churches should do all things together except where deep differences require that we act separately.”

Canada’s Catholic archbishop of Regina, Don Bolen, and the Canadian British-born Anglican suffragan bishop in Europe, David Hamid, explained this to America at the Basilica of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, on Tiber Island in Rome, on Jan. 25.

The two bishops are the co-chairmen of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, which goes by the acronym IARCCUM. Composed entirely of bishops from both churches, the commission came into existence in 2001 and held a two-part summit in Rome and Canterbury during this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Jan. 18-25. The summit brought together pairs of bishops from 27 countries, one from each Anglican province and one from the Catholic bishops’ conference in the same region.

I spoke to them just before the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, celebrated the Anglican Holy Eucharist in the Basilica of St. Bartholomew “with the permission of the bishop of Rome,” he said. (Archbishop Welby’s predecessor, Archbishop Rowan Williams, celebrated the Holy Eucharist in the Basilica of Santa Sabina on Rome’s Aventine Hill on Nov. 26, 2006, with the permission of Pope Benedict XVI.)

Both bishops agreed that Pope Francis’ approach to ecumenical dialogue dovetails well with the commission’s model. Indeed, from the beginning of his pontificate in March 2013, Francis has encouraged Christians to cooperate in concrete ways in addressing the problems of the world, even when theological or doctrinal problems may still create roadblocks to unity between the different Christian churches. He believes that “by walking together,” “praying together” and “working together” wherever possible, friendships can be built between the leaders and members of the different churches that not only give an important Christian witness to the world but also make it easier to address the theological obstacles to Christian unity.

It’s time to ‘walk together, pray together, and seek justice together’, say Anglican and Catholic Bishops.

Anglican and Catholic bishops participating in the ecumenical summit Growing Together have shared their post-conference ‘Call’ today. Entitled Our Common Witness, Calling and Commitment, it comes after a weeklong gathering (22-29 January) that saw the bishops meeting in Rome and Canterbury, for pilgrimage and discussion on joint mission and witness.

Meeting during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the summit was attended by Catholic and Anglican bishop pairs, representing 27 countries from all over the world. During the summit, each pairing was commissioned by Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury, during Vespers, at the basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls in Rome.

The summit was organised by IARCCUM, an ongoing International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission. It is supported by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity in Rome and the Anglican Communion Office, Secretariat to the Anglican Communion.

Last week I had the privilege of participating in a summit of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission. IARCCUM’s mandate is to help give tangible expression to the formal agreements reached between our two communions of churches over the past 60 years. Even with so much theological consensus on so many things, there is still so much more that Anglicans and Catholics can and should be doing together.

In that spirit, 50 bishops from 27 countries where Catholics and Anglicans live side by side in significant numbers spent a week gathered in Rome and then Canterbury on an ecumenical pilgrimage of common prayer, relationship building, discussion, and discernment about how we can be better witnesses of reconciliation in our own lands and in the world.

IARCCUM bishops work in pairs – an Anglican and a Catholic bishop from each country represented. My Canadian Catholic “twin” is Bishop Martin Laliberté of Trois-Rivières. He’s also currently the president of the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Quebec/Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec. Bishop Martin and I have known each other since 2019 when he served as an auxiliary bishop in Quebec City. We got to know each other better still over the course of the week, and discussed ways Anglicans and Catholics in Quebec and the rest of Canada might work more closely together.

Each pair of bishops was invited to briefly share a snapshot of the context of their ministries. Bishop Martin and I explained some of the challenges and opportunities of being the church in a sometimes aggressively secular age – something we were reminded is not unique to Quebec or Canada. We also shared our churches’ involvement in the residential schools system, and our attempts to be reconciled with Indigenous peoples.

“Called to be Jesus Partners”. The bishops taking part in Anglican and Catholic “Growing Together” ecumenical summit, went on pilgrimage to Canterbury this weekend.

They attended Sunday Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Stephen Chow Saau-yan (Bishop of Hong Kong) shared a message of hope.

Watch the video highlights from a weekend of discussion and friendship.

The bishops of the ‘Growing Together’ ecumenical summit have travelled from Rome to Canterbury for the second phase of their programme. The summit coincided with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and run from January 22-29.

Meeting in Anglican and Catholic bishop pairs, it has been a week seasoned with themes of friendship, conversation and journeying together.

The bishops have explored the importance of listening and learning from one another, celebrating what they have in common and how faith traditions can work together as partners in the gospel.

This sense of partnership was celebrated most significantly on January 25, when Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury commissioned the bishops in joint mission, during Vespers, at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the church of Saint Paul Outside The Walls.

From Rome to Canterbury! Co-Chairs of IARCCUM and the ‘Growing Together’ summit, Archbishop Donald Bolen and Bishop David Hamid, talk about what it means for Catholic and Anglican bishops to meet together for conversation and pilgrimage in Canterbury this weekend.

San Gregorio al Celio in Rome is the church from where Pope Gregory the Great sent St Augustine to England in 597, to be the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

Yesterday, the ‘Growing Together’ summit travelled from Rome to Canterbury. Co-Chair of IARCCUM, is the Archbishop Donald Bolen, the Catholic Archbishop of Regina, Saskatchewan. Standing on the steps of San Gregorio, he shared his reflections on the significance of this meeting of Catholic and Anglican bishops.

This week’s “Growing Together” summit has seen pairs of Anglican and Catholic bishops gather for a series of ecumenical discussions and visits to holy sites in Rome, that have significance to the common roots shared by both traditions.

Today, before the summit moves to Canterbury for the second phase of the programme, the bishops gathered to pray at the Church of San Gregorio al Celio during their last day in Rome. It was a fitting location, as San Gregorio al Celio is the church from where St Augustine was sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great in 597, to be the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

During the service, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Anthony Poggo, the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, along with Archbishop Donald Bolen and Bishop David Hamid (Co-Chairs of IARCCUM) stood at the Chair of Gregory the Great.

This week’s “Growing Together” summit has seen pairs of Anglican and Catholic bishops gather for a series of ecumenical discussions and visits to holy sites in Rome, that have significance to the common roots shared by both traditions.

Today, before the summit moves to Canterbury for the second phase of the programme, the bishops gathered to pray at the Church of San Gregorio al Celio during their last day in Rome. It was a fitting location, as San Gregorio al Celio is the church from where St Augustine was sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great in 597, to be the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

During the service, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Anthony Poggo, the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, along with Archbishop Donald Bolen and Bishop David Hamid (Co-Chairs of IARCCUM) stood at the Chair of Gregory the Great.

Today, Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, commissioned pairs of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops from across the world at Vespers (Evening Prayer) at the Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome. Marking the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the ecumenical congregation drawn from various Christian traditions, prayed for the unity of the Church.

The bishop pairs are currently attending ‘Growing Together,’ a weeklong programme of ecumenical dialogue and pilgrimage, taking place in Rome and Canterbury. It is organised by the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), supported by the Anglican Communion Office and the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

The Pope and the Archbishop commissioned the bishops to engage in joint mission and witness and to promote reception of the agreements already reached in theological dialogues between the two traditions. The location of the commissioning is significant, as it marks the place where the apostle Paul was buried after his martyrdom in Rome.