ANGLICAN-ROMAN CATHOLIC DOCUMENT: "THE GIFT OF AUTHORITY"

VATICAN CITY, MAY 12, 1999 (VIS) - "The Gift of Authority (Authority in the Church III)," a document produced by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, ARCIC, was made public today simultaneously in Rome and London. A 22-page Commentary written by Fr. William Henn, O.F.M. Cap., and a 3-page Statement from ARCIC co-chairmen, Catholic Bishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Arundel and Brighton and Anglican Bishop Mark Santer of Birmingham, were also published.

ARCIC consists of 9 Anglican members and 3 Anglican secretaries, 9 Roman Catholic members and 1 Catholic secretary, and two observers from the World Council of Churches.

The 42-page document in English consists of a preface by the co-chairmen, a statement on the status of the document and four chapters: I. Introduction; II. Authority in the Church; III. The Exercise of Authority in the Church; IV. Agreement on the Exercise of Authority: Steps Towards Visible Unity.

The Statement from the co-chairmen is divided into four parts.

Part One, "The Background: Official Anglican-Catholic Dialogue at an International Level, recalls the 1966 visit by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Michael Ramsey, to Pope Paul VI. "They decided to set up an official international dialogue whose work might lead to the unity in truth for which Christ prayed. The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) took up this task in 1970. ... Three main dialogue topics were initially given to ARCIC: the Doctrine of the Eucharist, Ministry and Ordination and Authority in the Church."

"The 'Gift of Authority' which is published today is the fourth statement from (the) second phase of ARCIC's work. ... It has been sent to Anglican Primates and the Presidents of Catholic Episcopal Conferences and is being translated into several languages."

Part Two is entitled "Why has ARCIC produced another statement about authority?" This touches on the areas in which, in the "Final Report" of 1981, "considerable agreement ... (was) acknowledged by both our Churches: About how authority operates in the Church; about the particular role of bishops; and, very importantly, even about the significance of the Bishop of Rome in a reunited Church and the place his ministry has in God's providential plan for His Church." This part also states four reasons why ARCIC has returned to this issue, the first being "because the Final Report itself recognized that ... some serious issues had still to be resolved."

"What sort of statement is the 'Gift of Authority'?" is the title of Part Three. It defines the document as "the product of five years of dialogue, patient listening, study and prayer. ... The Statement builds on all the previous ARCIC work on authority."

"The title of the new document," they write, "gives a very important orientation. Rightly understood, authority in the Church is God's gift, to be received gratefully."

"Agreement about how authority is exercised at various levels in the Church's life is outlined, including how the whole people of God bears the Tradition across space and time, and the particular role bishops have in discerning and articulating this faith of the Church and ensuring that all the Churches are in communion.

"This document expresses agreement that the college of bishops can come to a judgement that, faithful to Scripture and consistent with apostolic Tradition, is free from error (No. 42). This duty of maintaining the Church in the truth is 'one of the essential functions of the episcopal college' (No. 44).

"The Statement builds on the agreement about the Bishop of Rome in ARCIC's previous work, and offers agreement about his specific ministry within the college of bishops concerning the discernment of truth, which has been such a source of difficulty and misunderstanding. It seeks to make clear how in certain circumstances the Bishop of Rome has a duty to discern and make explicit, in fidelity to Scripture and Tradition, the authentic faith of the whole Church, that is the faith of all the baptized in communion. The commission believes that this is a gift to be received by all the Churches and is entailed in their recognition of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome."

Part Four is entitled "What happens next?" The co-chairmen affirm: "The commission's task has been to enter into dialogue on an important and difficult issue. It believes it has arrived at further agreement which it offers to our Churches. It is for our authorities to decide in time if they do recognize our faith in this new Agreed Statement and how to address its consequences."

In the document itself, in Part III "The Exercise of Authority in the Church," ARCIC reviews how the bishops in both the Anglican Communion and Catholic Church exercise synodality or collegiality. It affirms that "in specific situations" bishops "may come to a judgment which ... is preserved from error. ... This is what is meant when it is affirmed that the Church may teach infallibly. Such infallible teaching is at the service of the Church's indefectibility."

Numbers 45 through 48 of Part III deal with "Primacy: The Exercise of Authority in Collegiality and Conciliarity."

"No. 45. In the course of history the synodality of the Church has been preserved through conciliar, collegial and primatial authority. Forms of primacy exist in both the Anglican Communion and in the churches in communion with the Bishop of Rome. ..."

"No. 46. ARCIC has already recognized that the 'pattern of complementary primatial and conciliar aspects of 'episcope' serving the 'koinonia' of the Churches needs to be realized at the universal level (Authority of the Church I, 23). ... In the pattern found in the New Testament one of the twelve is chosen by Jesus Christ to strengthen the others."

"ARCIC has also previously explored the transmission of the primatial ministry exercised by the Bishop of Rome. ... This gift has been welcomed and the ministry of these Bishops of Rome continues to be celebrated liturgically by Anglicans as well as Roman Catholics."

"No. 47. ... The Bishop of Rome offers a specific ministry concerning the discernment of truth as an expression of universal primacy ... (which) has been the source of difficulties and misunderstandings among the churches. Every solemn definition pronounced from the chair of Peter in the church of Peter and Paul ... is pronounced within the college of those who exercise 'episcope' and not outside that college. ... It is thus the wholly reliable teaching of the whole Church that is operative in the judgment of the universal primate."
"No. 48. ... The exercise of authority in the communion of the Church ... is exercised by fragile Christians for the sake of other fragile Christians. This is no less true of the ministry of Peter. ... Pope John Paul makes this clear in 'Ut Unum Sint'. ... Human weakness and sin do not only affect individual ministers: they can distort the human structuring of authority. Therefore loyal criticism and reforms are sometimes needed, following the example of Paul. The consciousness of human frailty in the exercise of authority ensures that Christian ministers remain open to criticism and renewal and above all to exercising authority according to the example and mind of Christ."

"The Gift of Authority" and pertinent documents will soon appear on the Holy See web site at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity: www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/index.html

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