wfn.org | [ENS] Anglicans and Roman Catholics discuss Windsor Report

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@mail.epicom.org>]

Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Anglicans and Roman Catholics discuss Windsor Report

ENS 030805-2

[ENS] At the 58th meeting of the Anglican Roman Catholic dialogue in the
United States (ARC-USA) substantial time was given to a discussion of
the
Windsor Report and the Primates' Communique in response to the Lambeth
Commission's Report. This long-standing and productive ecumenical
dialogue
held its March 3-6 meeting on the campus of the Virginia Theological
Seminary in Alexandria.

Dr. Ellen Wondra and Dr. Ruth Meyers, both faculty members at
Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and members
of
ARC-USA, led the group of some twenty Roman Catholic and Episcopal
bishops,
scholars, priests, and lay persons in an overview of the two documents
and a
sampling of responses thus far from various institutions and groups,
ranging
from the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops and Executive Council to
the
African Anglican Bishops Conference.

Deeply impressed with the Report itself because of its ecclesiological
perspective, which has ecumenical as well as simply Anglican
implications,
four scholars -- two from each side -- agreed to produce substantive
papers
for the October 2005 meeting dealing with various aspects of the Report,
particularly as they relate to previous Agreed Statements between
Anglicans
and Roman Catholics on the relationship between communion and authority
in
the Church.

"For decades," observed Bishop Christopher Epting, deputy for ecumenical
and
interfaith relations for the Episcopal Church, "our conversations have
revolved around the balance between the centralized authority structure
of
the Roman Catholic Church and the more dispersed authority in
Anglicanism.
Our current tensions and discussions across the Anglican Communion
provide a
contemporary case study which surely has wider implications all across
the
Body of Christ today."

Other topics covered included a test group report on God's Gift of
Unity: A
Study Guide for Episcopalians and Roman Catholics on baptism and the
Eucharist which will now move toward publication and suggested use in
Roman
Catholic and Episcopal parishes, meeting jointly for a five-week study.
A
progress report on developing an agreed statement on regional authority
was
also presented and a timeline agreed to for its completion in 2007.

Throughout the meeting, participants enjoyed the hospitality of the
Virginia
Theological Seminary, using its chapel for daily eucharists by
alternating
Roman Catholic and Anglican rites and respecting the eucharistic
discipline
of both churches. The Daily Offices were also prayed using the Book of
Common Prayer and Shorter Christian Prayer, a compact edition of the
Roman
Catholic Liturgy of the Hours appropriate for parish as well as private
use.

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