Anglican-Catholic Symposium celebrates 50 years of
progress
(Vatican Radio) The
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby joined the head of the Pontifical Council
for Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch and other ecumenical experts on
Wednesday for a Symposium at Rome’s Gregorian University marking half a century
of progress in Anglican-Catholic relations.
The Symposium, entitled ‘50
Years of Walking Together in Faith’ explored not only the theological
progress made through the documents of the Anglican-Roman Catholic
International Commission (ARCIC), but also the ways in which communities are
working to incorporate those developments into the life of the local churches.
Taking part in the Symposium were pairs of Anglican and Catholic bishops from
countries around the world who are spending a week together in Canterbury and
Rome, sharing pastoral challenges and best practices for closer practical
collaboration.
Later on Wednesday evening, Pope
Francis and Archbishop Welby were scheduled to preside together at Vespers in
the Rome church of St Gregory on the Caelian Hill, signing a common declaration
and symbolically sending out the Anglican and Catholic bishops together on a
renewed mission of evangalisation.
One of the organisers of this
week’s events is Fr Tony Currer, in charge of Anglican-Catholic
relations at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He spoke
to Philippa Hitchen about this significant milestone in ecumenical relations…
Fr Tony says he hopes these
events will mark a milestone in two different ways: firstly, by celebrating the
50th anniversary of first historic meeting in the Vatican between Archbishop
Michael Ramsey and Blessed Pope Paul VI and the many developments that stemmed
from that encounter.
But in the Vatican, he
continues, “we have lots of anniversaries that come from the Second Vatican
Council” so rather than just being “a point to look back and congratulate
ourselves on what we’ve done, we have put a lot of effort into IARCCUM
(International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission) to make
sure this is a forward looking event”.
Fr Tony also points out the
Catholic-Anglican dialogue is the only group to have two commissions within the
Pontifical Council, ARCIC for the theological work and IARCCUM to look at “how
to make those agreements into tangible expressions in the life of Anglicans and
Catholic Christians across the world”
Speaking of the impact of
this week’s events, Fr Tony says the task of the pairs of bishops working in
partnership is to be “advocates for collaboration” within the episcopal
conferences and Anglican provinces in their own regions.
He says the mandating of
these bishops will be a “powerful sign” at the church of San Gregorio, the
place from where Gregory the Great sent Augustine out on mission to England.
Once again, he says, the church “will again be a place of sending on mission”
but this time “like the Lord sending His disciples out in pairs, they will be
sent out in pairs on mission to the world to respond to pastoral challenges of
our day”
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