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Catholic-Anglican Ecumenism

by Margaret Cabaniss

11/23/09

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Pope Benedict and Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams met briefly on Saturday to discuss the recent apostolic constitution:

A Vatican statement said the two leaders reiterated "the shared will to continue and to consolidate the ecumenical relationship between Catholics and Anglicans."
And, it said, they discussed the work their representatives were to begin Nov. 23 preparing for a third round of study by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, the body for official theological dialogue.

That the ARCIC meetings are continuing uninterrupted is a good sign. As Archbishop Williams put it, "The main message [from the pope] was that the constitution did not represent any change in the Vatican's attitude toward the Anglican Communion as such."

It should also help put to rest those headlines accusing the Church of simply wanting to "steal" away Anglicans on the fence. To that charge, Archbishop Williams responded:

Archbishop Williams said he told the pope that the way the announcement was handled "put us in an awkward position," but he also said media presentations of the announcement as a "dawn raid on the Anglican Communion" were simply wrong.

"People become Roman Catholics because they want to become Roman Catholics, because their consciences are formed in a certain way and they believe this is the will of God for them. And I wish them every blessing in that," the archbishop said.

The meeting only lasted twenty minutes and was largely ceremonial, but both men seemed to be telegraphing their desire to move past the headlines of the last few weeks and continue together on the larger work of Catholic-Anglican relations. Nice to see.

(AP Photo/Osservatore Romano, HO)

Readers have left 3 comments.

Quote(1) REALITY CHECK
November 23rd, 2009 | 2:11pm

FROM: (LONDON) TELEGRAPH

Dr Rowan Williams gets 20 minutes with the Pope. They both know it's all over

By Damian Thompson Religion Last updated: November 21st, 2009

The leader of a billion Roman Catholics meets the leader of 80 million Anglicans at a moment of historic crisis between the two Communions and they spend all of TWENTY MINUTES together...

So, let’s get this straight. You have to deduct from the 20 minutes the time spent discussing “the challenges facing all Christian communities at the beginning of this millennium, and to the need to promote forms of collaboration and shared witness in facing these challenges”. That might take, what, five minutes? More likely eight, I’m guessing.

So that gives the Primate of All England about 12 minutes’ “face time” with the Supreme Pontiff to discuss the ecumenical earthquake of the Personal Ordinariates – but, in fact, it looks as if they devoted much of it to ARCIC, the official dialogue between the Communions which I thought had been wound down years ago. There’s going to be a “third phase” of this waffle? To discuss what? Tips on where to buy the tastiest organic biscuits to serve after Sunday morning services?

Pope Benedict has given up on the Church of England, in the nicest possible way. As even Dr Williams admits, he’s not interested in “poaching” Anglicans, but in making special arrangements for those who are quite determined to leave. And +Rowan, by rubbing the Vatican’s nose in the women priests issue earlier this week, showed that he has given up on the Catholics – again, in the nicest possible way.

Last year, Cardinal Kasper warned the Lambeth Conference that it had to decide whether it was Catholic or Protestant. Now we know the answer. Though some of us always did.

Written by GR

Quote(2) Benedict and ecumenism
November 23rd, 2009 | 2:54pm

Well, GR, that's certainly one way of looking at it. [smiley=wink]

I usually appreciate Thompson's insights, but I think he's wrong to say, "Pope Benedict has given up on the Church of England, in the nicest possible way." In fact, Benedict has made ecumenism one of the hallmarks of his papacy (see Father Z on the subject here: http://is.gd/522vD). Whether he thinks he will ever see real and complete unity with the Anglican communion, he is absolutely serious in his desire for it, and his efforts to that end.

Written by Margaret Cabaniss

Quote(3) funny
November 23rd, 2009 | 3:45pm

Williams throws his tantrum and chats about women priests. B16 doesn't get sidetracked.....Christian Unity is the goal. The false ecumenism of the religious left is on the respirator...

Written by Rick

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