wfn.org | ECUMENICAL: COMMUNIQUE FROM ARCIC

[Audrey Whitefield <a.whitefield@quest.org.uk>]

Sept. 5, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.9.1.1]

ECUMENICAL: COMMUNIQUE FROM ARCIC

(ACNS) The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) met
from 26 August to 4 September at the Virginia Theological Seminary in
Alexandria, USA.  The Commission has the task of undertaking the
official theological dialogue between the Anglican Communion and the
Catholic Church.  The Commission produced agreed statements on
Eucharist, Ministry and Ordination, and Authority in the Church,
published in 1981 as The Final Report, which have received an
authoritative response from both the Anglican Communion and the Catholic
Church.  Since then, the Commission has produced three further agreed
statements: Salvation and the Church (1986), Church as Communion (1990)
and Life in Christ:Morals, Communion and the Church (1993).

The Commission is currently seeking to further the convergence
concerning Authority in the Church which was expressed in The Final
Report  of 1981. Its work has focussed on the interrelated issues of
Scripture, Tradition and the gift of authority in the Church.  The
members are heartened by the words of Pope John Paul II and the
Archbishop of Canterbury in the Common Declaration with which they
concluded their meeting in Rome in December 1996:"We encourage ARCIC to
continue and deepen our theological dialogue...in all areas where full
agreement has still to be reached". The Pope and the Archbishop drew
attention to the seriousness of the dialogue about authority in which
the Commission is engaged:"Without agreement in this area we shall not
reach the full visible unity to which we are both committed."

ARCIC has noted that The Virginia Report, recently published in
preparation for  discussions at the 1998 Lambeth Conference of Anglican
Bishops, bears upon issues being considered in this ARCIC dialogue,
particularly with regard to questions of communion, decision-making and
authority.  The 1995 Papal Encyclical Ut Unum Sint  is also relevant,
particularly the Pope's invitation to other Churches to enter into
dialogue about the office of universal primate.

ARCIC expresses its appreciation for the generous hospitality it
received from the Dean and Staff of the Seminary.  A reception was given
at which the Commission met representatives of the
Lutheran-Anglican-Roman Catholic Covenant (LARC) in the Commonwealth of
Virginia.

ARCIC will next hold a plenary meeting from 25 August to 3 September at
Villa Palazzola, near Rome, Italy.