Anglican-Catholic dialogue enters new phase

February 04, 2011

The official dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion-- the Anglican – Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC)-- will begin a new round of conversations in May, according to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

The first phase of dialogue (ARCIC I), begun following the Second Vatican Council, focused on the sacraments and the Church and concluded in 1982. The second phase (ARCIC II), which focused on the Church and the Blessed Virgin Mary, issued its last document in 2004.

ARCIC III, mandated by Pope Benedict and Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury in 2009, will begin its work in May in Bose, Italy. “The task of this 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,’” according to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Among the eight Catholic participants in ARCIC III are Auxiliary Bishop Arthur Kennedy of Boston and Janet Smith, the moral theologian renowned for her fidelity to Catholic teaching on contraception.

 

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Further information:

• Communiqué Of The Pontifical Council For Promoting Christian Unity: Dialogue Between The Catholic Church And The Anglican Communion (ARCIC III)
• Relations with the Anglican Communion (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity)