Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission
Encyclopedia
The Anglican—Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) is an organization which seeks to make ecumenical progress between the Roman Catholic Church
and the Anglican Communion
. The sponsors are the Anglican Consultative Council
and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
(formerly the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity).
ARCIC seeks to identify common ground between the two communions. Ecumenical relations have become strained, owing to the ordination of women
within the Anglican Communion and, in more recent years, the Anglican communion has internally become increasingly more divisive over issues concerning christology, biblical interpretation, the authority of scripture and holy tradition, the relevance and significance of the resurrection, and issues concerning human sexuality.
) and the Right Reverend Alan Clark
(Roman Catholic Bishop of East Anglia
). The co-secretaries were Anglicans Colin Davey and Christopher Hill
and the Roman Catholic Monsignor
William A. Purdy.
In 1970 and 1971 there were a number of meetings on eucharistic doctrine, ending with an agreed statement. An elucidation was issued in 1979.
In 1972 there was a meeting on the subject of ordination paving the way for an agreed statement from Canterbury. An elucidation was issued in 1979.
In the mid 1970s a number of meetings were held on the issue of authority culminating in a statement made at Venice. Further discussions on the subject of authority were held in 1977, 1979 and 1980 with elucidations and a further statement issued at Windsor in 1981 with the final statement.
A final statement for "ARCIC I" was issued in 1981 at Windsor. There were responses from both the Lambeth Conference and the Catholic Church. Further clarifications on the Eucharist and Ministry were issued in 1993.
, Frank Griswold and Peter Carnley
and the Roman Catholic bishops Cormac Murphy O'Connor and Alexander Joseph Brunett
. A number of Anglican and Roman Catholic clerics served as co-secretaries.
The topics covered by ARCIC II included the doctrine of salvation, communion, teaching authority, and the role of Mary the mother of God
.
In 2007 the commission issued Growing Together in Unity and Mission which stated that “The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the ministry of the Bishop of Rome [the Pope] as universal primate is in accordance with Christ’s will for the Church and an essential element of maintaining it in unity and truth.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article1403702.ece”. Not only that but the document goes on to say that “We urge Anglicans and Roman Catholics to explore together how the ministry of the Bishop of Rome might be offered and received in order to assist our Communions to grow towards full, ecclesial communion.”
in northern Italy. The third phase of ARCIC will be to consider fundamental questions regarding the Church as Communion -- Local and Universal, and How in Communion the Local and Universal Church Comes to Discern Right Ethical Teaching. The opening meeting was influenced by Catholic-Anglican tensions over the creation of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a Vatican organ established earlier the same year in order to make easier the transition to the Catholic Church by Anglicans wishing to leave their church.
The co-chairmen of this phase are Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham
and Anglican Archbishop David Moxon of the New Zealand
dioceses.
Roman Catholic members: Bishop Arthur Kennedy of Boston
• Paul Murray, professor of theology and religion at Durham University • Janet Smith
, professor of moral theology • Redemptorist Father Vimal Tirimanna, professor at Rome's Alphonsianum University • Benedictine Father Henry Wansbrough from Ampleforth Abbey • Sister Teresa Okure of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, Nigeria • Father Adelbert Denaux, former professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, (currently) dean of the School of Catholic Theology of Tilburg University.
Anglican members: Paula Gooder, canon theologian of Birmingham Cathedral • Bishop Christopher Hill of Guildford • Rev. Mark McIntosh, canon professor at the University of Durham • Bishop Nkosinathi Ndwandwe of Natal, Southern Africa • Area Bishop Linda Nicholls in the Diocese of Toronto
• Rev. Michael Poon from the Trinity Theological College in Singapore • Rev. Canon Nicholas Sagovsky, retiring canon at Westminster Abbey
• Rev. Peter Sedgwick, principal of St. Michael's College.
Rev. Charles Sherlock, former registrar of the Melbourne College of Divinity in Australia, will serve as a consultant to the ARCIC.
suspended official talks between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, owing to the consecration of Gene Robinson
, a homosexual man in a non-celibate relationship, as a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States. Moreover, the ordination of women
, especially to the episcopacy, has repeatedly been questioned by the Roman Catholic Church leadership as harmful to Christian unity. Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, put it this way: The ordination of women to the episcopate "signified a breaking away from apostolic tradition and a further obstacle for reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Church of England." He also seemed more upset about the warring parties within Anglicanism: "He described the legislation for those opposed to women's ordained ministry in the Church of England as the 'unspoken institutionalism' of an 'existing schism
.'" At the opening of the May 2011 meeting, British journalist William Oddie claimed that ARCIC activities were useless, as only the Catholic side had a clear agenda and described all ecumenical activity as leading to a dead end.
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
. The sponsors are the Anglican Consultative Council
Anglican Consultative Council
The Anglican Consultative Council or ACC is one of the four "Instruments of Communion" of the Anglican Communion. It was created by a resolution of the 1968 Lambeth Conference...
and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity origins are associated with the Second Vatican Council which met intermittently from 1962–1965.Pope John XXIII wanted the Catholic Church to engage in the contemporary ecumenical movement...
(formerly the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity).
ARCIC seeks to identify common ground between the two communions. Ecumenical relations have become strained, owing to the ordination of women
Ordination of women
Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...
within the Anglican Communion and, in more recent years, the Anglican communion has internally become increasingly more divisive over issues concerning christology, biblical interpretation, the authority of scripture and holy tradition, the relevance and significance of the resurrection, and issues concerning human sexuality.
Joint Preparatory Commission: 1967-68
In 1967 there were three meetings, a preparatory meeting in Italy, a meeting on the place of scripture in England and culminating in a meeting in Malta culminating in the Malta Report.First phase: 1970-1981
The first phase of ARCIC was held under the aegis of the Most Reverend Henry McAdoo (Anglican Archbishop of DublinArchbishop of Dublin (Church of Ireland)
The Archbishop of Dublin is the title of the senior cleric who presides over the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough in the Church of Ireland...
) and the Right Reverend Alan Clark
Alan Charles Clark
Alan Charles Clark was the first Roman Catholic Bishop of East Anglia in the Ecclesiastical Province of Westminster, England.-Early life:...
(Roman Catholic Bishop of East Anglia
Bishop of East Anglia
The Bishop of East Anglia is the Ordinary of the modern Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia in the Province of Westminster, England.At present the see is vacant...
). The co-secretaries were Anglicans Colin Davey and Christopher Hill
Christopher Hill (Anglican divine)
Christopher John Hill , is the Bishop of Guildford and the Clerk of the Closet in the Ecclesiastical Household of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom from 2005....
and the Roman Catholic Monsignor
Monsignor
Monsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...
William A. Purdy.
In 1970 and 1971 there were a number of meetings on eucharistic doctrine, ending with an agreed statement. An elucidation was issued in 1979.
In 1972 there was a meeting on the subject of ordination paving the way for an agreed statement from Canterbury. An elucidation was issued in 1979.
In the mid 1970s a number of meetings were held on the issue of authority culminating in a statement made at Venice. Further discussions on the subject of authority were held in 1977, 1979 and 1980 with elucidations and a further statement issued at Windsor in 1981 with the final statement.
A final statement for "ARCIC I" was issued in 1981 at Windsor. There were responses from both the Lambeth Conference and the Catholic Church. Further clarifications on the Eucharist and Ministry were issued in 1993.
Second phase: 1983 - 2011
In the second phase the Co-Chairs were the Anglican bishops Mark SanterMark Santer
Mark Santer is an Anglican bishop in the last decades of the 20th century and the very early part of the 21st.Santer was educated at Marlborough College and Queens’ College, Cambridge before his ordination in 1964....
, Frank Griswold and Peter Carnley
Peter Carnley
Peter Frederick Carnley AC is a retired Australian Anglican bishop. Carnley was the Archbishop of Perth from 1981 to 2005 and was Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia from 2000 until July 2005...
and the Roman Catholic bishops Cormac Murphy O'Connor and Alexander Joseph Brunett
Alexander Joseph Brunett
Alexander Joseph Brunett is a retired American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the Bishop of Helena from 1994–1997 and as the immediate past Archbishop of Seattle from 1997–2010....
. A number of Anglican and Roman Catholic clerics served as co-secretaries.
The topics covered by ARCIC II included the doctrine of salvation, communion, teaching authority, and the role of Mary the mother of God
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
.
In 2007 the commission issued Growing Together in Unity and Mission which stated that “The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the ministry of the Bishop of Rome [the Pope] as universal primate is in accordance with Christ’s will for the Church and an essential element of maintaining it in unity and truth.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article1403702.ece”. Not only that but the document goes on to say that “We urge Anglicans and Roman Catholics to explore together how the ministry of the Bishop of Rome might be offered and received in order to assist our Communions to grow towards full, ecclesial communion.”
Third phase: 2011 - present
The new phase of Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue started from May 17-27, 2011 at the ecumenical Monastery of BoseBose Monastic Community
The ecumenical Monastic Community of Bose was established by Catholic layman Enzo Bianchi in 1965 at Bose, a frazione in the commune of Magnano ....
in northern Italy. The third phase of ARCIC will be to consider fundamental questions regarding the Church as Communion -- Local and Universal, and How in Communion the Local and Universal Church Comes to Discern Right Ethical Teaching. The opening meeting was influenced by Catholic-Anglican tensions over the creation of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a Vatican organ established earlier the same year in order to make easier the transition to the Catholic Church by Anglicans wishing to leave their church.
The co-chairmen of this phase are Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham
Bernard Longley
Bernard Longley is an English prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was named the Archbishop of Birmingham on 1 October 2009, and installed by Bishop David McGough and presented with his crozier by Archbishop Vincent Nichols, his predecessor, in St Chad's Cathedral at a Solemn Mass on 8...
and Anglican Archbishop David Moxon of the New Zealand
David Moxon
David Moxon is the Bishop of Waikato, Senior Bishop of the New Zealand Dioceses, Co-presiding Bishop and Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.-Education:...
dioceses.
Roman Catholic members: Bishop Arthur Kennedy of Boston
Arthur Kennedy (bishop)
Arthur Leo Kennedy is a Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, in Boston, Massachusetts.-Background:...
• Paul Murray, professor of theology and religion at Durham University • Janet Smith
Janet E. Smith
Janet E. Smith is a professor of moral theology and the Fr. Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Issues at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. She previously taught at the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Dallas...
, professor of moral theology • Redemptorist Father Vimal Tirimanna, professor at Rome's Alphonsianum University • Benedictine Father Henry Wansbrough from Ampleforth Abbey • Sister Teresa Okure of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, Nigeria • Father Adelbert Denaux, former professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, (currently) dean of the School of Catholic Theology of Tilburg University.
Anglican members: Paula Gooder, canon theologian of Birmingham Cathedral • Bishop Christopher Hill of Guildford • Rev. Mark McIntosh, canon professor at the University of Durham • Bishop Nkosinathi Ndwandwe of Natal, Southern Africa • Area Bishop Linda Nicholls in the Diocese of Toronto
Diocese of Toronto
Diocese of Toronto may refer to:*Anglican Diocese of Toronto*Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto...
• Rev. Michael Poon from the Trinity Theological College in Singapore • Rev. Canon Nicholas Sagovsky, retiring canon at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
• Rev. Peter Sedgwick, principal of St. Michael's College.
Rev. Charles Sherlock, former registrar of the Melbourne College of Divinity in Australia, will serve as a consultant to the ARCIC.
Controversy
ARCIC has met with some hostile reaction from traditionalist Roman Catholics. Although ARCIC had just completed the major document on Marian theology in 2003, Pope John Paul IIPope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
suspended official talks between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, owing to the consecration of Gene Robinson
Gene Robinson
Vicki Gene Robinson is the ninth bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Robinson was elected bishop in 2003 and entered office in March 2004...
, a homosexual man in a non-celibate relationship, as a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States. Moreover, the ordination of women
Ordination of women
Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...
, especially to the episcopacy, has repeatedly been questioned by the Roman Catholic Church leadership as harmful to Christian unity. Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, put it this way: The ordination of women to the episcopate "signified a breaking away from apostolic tradition and a further obstacle for reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Church of England." He also seemed more upset about the warring parties within Anglicanism: "He described the legislation for those opposed to women's ordained ministry in the Church of England as the 'unspoken institutionalism' of an 'existing schism
Schism (religion)
A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...
.'" At the opening of the May 2011 meeting, British journalist William Oddie claimed that ARCIC activities were useless, as only the Catholic side had a clear agenda and described all ecumenical activity as leading to a dead end.