KOWLOON, Hong Kong, MAY 11, 2012 (Zenit.org).- The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) completed the second meeting of its third phase in Hong Kong this week.
The commission met at the Mission to Seafarers in Kowloon, an ecumenical community run by Anglican, Roman Catholic, Danish and German Lutherans.
Created in 1966, the ARCIC is co-sponsored by the Anglican Consultative Council and Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. It is currently chaired by Anglican Archbishop David Moxon of the New Zealand Dioceses, and Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, England.
The group was charged with considering the Church as communion, local and universal, and how in communion the local and universal Church comes to discern right ethical teaching. They were also asked to examine how commitment to restoring full visible unity is to be understood and pursued today.
The ARCIC is also preparing case studies regarding theological matters on differing issues such as divorce, remarriage, and contraception. They also will set out to discuss evolving issues such as the economy and the theology of work. The ecumenical commission has made it clear that they do not intend to seek to resolve disputed ethical questions. Rather, its purpose is to “analyze the means by which our two traditions have arrived at or are currently determining right ethical teaching.”
The commission stated that it planned to share its developing work in a series of joint meetings of bishops with local and regional dialogues between Roman Catholics and Anglicans.
ARCIC III plans on preparing further case studies for its next meeting, which be held April 29-May 6, 2013.
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On the Net:
Final communique: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2012/5/10/ACNS5104
