‘Like money in the Bank’
From Forward in Faith
On Friday afternoon, the head of the (Roman) Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, delivered a substantial address reviewing the accomplishments of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), of which he had been co-chair (with the Anglican Bp. Mark Santer) during its second phase, from 1982 through 1999.
The Cardinal spoke of the excitement generated by the publication of ARCIC I’s Final Report in 1982, in the context of such historic events as Pope John Paul II’s visit to Canterbury, and of the expectation of "a quick and positive evaluation of ARCIC I’s work", leading to "some concrete intermediate steps on the way towards full communion". In the event, Lambeth 1988 recognized the Eucharist and Ministry statements as "consonant in substance with the faith of Anglicans", and that on Authority as a basis for further dialogue, while the (Roman) Catholic Church in 1991 issued a response "largely positive" about Eucharist and Ministry, and also acknowledging "`remarkable’ progress on `authority’".
That the response to this dialogue was so long in coming disappointed many. But in fact it reflected something positive, the Cardinal said: the realization that
"the reception of any dialogue document involves far more than just its publication or even an official response. It takes time and discussion at every level of the life the Church, as the path taken by your own 1997 Virginia Report and its proposals shows. And some or all of the contents can prove not to be accepted or received."
Analysis and questioning, he affirmed, are "an integral process" of receiving what a dialogue may propose.
The Cardinal pointed to a change of context during the course of ARCIC II. The (Roman) Catholic Church published its Ecumenical Directory, "a handbook full of the key principles and guidelines to help every member of the Church engaged in the search for unity" - and it remains the only church, he believes, to have produced "such a thorough and positive handbook". In 1995 Pope John Paul II issued his Encyclical Letter on Commitment to Ecumenism with its appeal for dialogue on how the Petrine office might "accomplish a service of love recognised by all" a rich document still being mined today. And papal visits with ecumenical partners, once considered daring, have become "fraternal and frequent", "more informal and increasingly normal".
But at the same time, the Cardinal noted, "we gradually became aware that the path to unity might be longer than we had imagined at first". The ordination of women in a growing number of Anglican provinces "presented what is for the Catholic Church a major stumbling block to the hoped-for reconciliation of ministries": "…if Anglicans themselves disagree over this development and find yourselves [sic] unable fully to recognise each other’s ministry, how could we?". Further, "some issues of morality" have proved "divisive": events have shown, the Cardinal noted, that these are issues of ecclesial and ecumenical consequence.
But the Cardinal observed "that something else is now emerging which has been hidden in these shadows, something even more fundamental, which is the question of ecclesiology".
What is the Church, and where is it to be found? Is it "a loose federation with a common history and family kinship", he asked? Or is it "a more closely-knit body with developed structures of authority?" And "with what instruments does the Spirit enable the Churches to reach binding decisions where necessary? - decisions which can provide clear and focussed guidance about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and about the moral decisions church members face as they try to follow the Gospel".
The Cardinal noted that these questions have been central to ARCIC’s work, and in particular in the centrality of "a deepening doctrine of the Church as koinonia" as an "undercurrent" running through the statements issued by ARCIC II. "ARCIC", he said, "may have been ahead of the field in seeing just how crucial this is".
The issue of "the bonds of communion", he noted, has had a central place in recent discussions within the Anglican Communion, the Cardinal noted, citing the Virginia Report, the Covenant process, and discussions both at Lambeth and "at the recent gathering in Jerusalem". "What are they? How necessary are they? Do they have sufficient strength to be able not only to hold people together but, even more vitally, to deepen communion?"
The work of ARCIC II "has not yet had anything like the same impact as the work of ARCIC I", the Cardinal observed. But he believes "they will yet prove to have been very timely" because they address "the key issue — communion, koinonia". Church as Communion in particular, he stated, "touches not only on what we need to resolve together but also on those very issues that Anglicans are now grappling with as a communion". He cited in particular paragraphs 40, 43 and 45 of that document, as well paragraph 37 of The Gift of Authority. "Those words arising out of dialogue", he asserted, "are meant to be expressive of the inner life of our churches even before they can be a blueprint for full restored communion between us".
Noting that the (Roman) Catholic Church "has always sought dialogue with the Anglican Communion as a whole", the Cardinal stated that "…our Church takes no pleasure at all to see the current strains in your communion - we have committed ourselves to a journey towards unity, so new tensions only slow the progress". At the same time, he described the resulting discussions as "very important", for they "are about the degree of unity in faith necessary for Christians to be in communion, not least so that they may be able to offer the Gospel confidently to the world". "Our future dialogue will not be easy", he asserted, "until such fundamental matters are resolved, with greater clarity".
The Cardinal reaffirmed his belief that "the path to unity is like a road with no exit for those who genuinely seek unity and are also seeking the conversion it requires", simply because "I know it is Christ’s will that we be one".
Further, the Cardinal is convinced that, whether they are accepted in their entirety or not, the various ARCIC statements "do signal real convergence". "If truth really is expressed in these agreements", the Cardinal asserted, "they must sooner or later bear fruit. They are `money in the bank’, whose value will one day be clearly seen".
The Cardinal is convinced that dialogue will continue in some form. "Even if we sometimes find it hard to discern just how to go forward we cannot give up on seeking the unity Christ wills". He concluded his remarks with words from The Gift of Authority (paragraph 33): "Only when all believers are united in the common celebration of the Eucharist will the God whose purpose it is to bring all things into unity in Christ be truly glorified by the people of God".
The Cardinal’s address was made to one of twenty-three Self-Select Sessions which met on Friday afternoon. Among the other sessions meeting at that time were one on the ecclesiology of the Windsor Report, and another introducing the draft Anglican Covenant. An informed source reports that only seventeen people attended the session, seven of them members of the (Roman) Catholic delegation at the Conference. The one English bishop present was the Cardinal’s host; two of the other Anglican bishops present were there as co-chairs of the session.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is scheduled to speak on Wednesday, July 30th. His presentation will also be made at a Self-Select Session, alongside fourteen others, including one on "The Covenant and Mission".
The Cardinal’s talk is rumored to be a substantial message to the Communion. But for all the emphasis being placed on ecumenism at the Conference, there is reason to question whether it will be attending by a substantial number of the bishops present. Indeed, there is reason to question whether they could hear him even if they wished to. The Cardinal’s talk is to be held in Indaba 3. Members of the press do not have access to the rooms in which the indaba groups meet, but one wonders if that room will hold more than the 40 to 45 persons (including ecumenical participants) who make up each indaba group.
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