Further reading
See also the sermon
preached by Archbishop Carey at the ecumenical vespers on May 17th, and the press release issued at the end
of the consultation.
Anglican-Roman Catholic statement from Mississauga meeting, May 2000
1. This meeting of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops from 13 countries, convened by
His Eminence Edward Cardinal Cassidy and His Grace Archbishop George Carey, gathered at
Mississauga, near Toronto, Canada, from 14-20 May 2000. Our meeting was grounded in prayer
and marked by a profound atmosphere of friendship and spiritual communion. We began on
Good Shepherd Sunday, conscious of our common vocation as shepherds of the Good Shepherd,
with a responsibility to lead God's people forward in active hope towards that unity in
truth and holiness which our Lord wills for his Church.
2. We came together to address the imperative for Christian reconciliation and healing,
in a broken and divided world. We were also conscious of the fact that Christian people
around the world are celebrating two thousand years since the birth of Jesus Christ. In
this year of Great Jubilee, in which the churches are acting co-operatively for the
remission of unpayable Third World debt, we are aware of the need to leave behind all past
deficits with which our churches have themselves been burdened, so as to enter the new
millennium renewed in deepening unity and peace.
3. At this meeting we have naturally focussed on the special relationship between the
Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as expressed in the Decree on Ecumenism
of the Second Vatican Council. We also recognised the progress which has been made in our
relations with other Christians and we recommit ourselves to the ecumenical endeavour with
all Christian churches.
4. As day by day we prayed together and meditated on scripture in the chapel of Queen
of Apostles Renewal Centre, we realised afresh both the degree of spiritual communion we
already share in the richness of our common liturgical inheritance, but also the pain of
our inability to share together fully in the eucharist. As we listened to experiences from
the different regions we were struck by the extent of interchurch collaboration,
particularly common action for social justice and joint pastoral care in which Anglican
and Roman Catholic clergy and lay people are involved. We noted with concern some of the
problems our disunity causes to the mission of the Church, and recognised the
opportunities for shared endeavour presented to us in the service of our fragmented world.
As we reviewed the results of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission
(ARCIC), we came to appreciate the very impressive degree of agreement in faith that
already exists. This alerted us to the serious obligation to intensify the process of
reception of those agreements at the local level.
5. There is one specific point that has been driven home to us during the meeting. Over
the last thirty years we have become familiar with the concept of 'degrees of communion'.
Despite our acknowledged differences, we have regularly affirmed that we share in the
fundamental communion of a common faith and a common baptism. This degree of communion
holds within it the promise of the full visible communion to which God is calling us. Our
experience at Toronto encourages us to believe that we have reached a very significant new
place on our journey. We feel compelled to affirm that our communion together is no longer
to be viewed in minimal terms. We have been able to discern that it is not just formally
established by our common baptism into Christ, but is even now a rich and life-giving,
multifaceted communion.
6. We have come to a clear sense that we have moved much closer to the goal of full
visible communion than we had at first dared to believe. A sense of mutual interdependence
in the Body of Christ has been reached, in which the churches of the Anglican Communion
and the Roman Catholic Church are able to bring shared gifts to their joint mission in the
world.
7. We appreciate that there are as yet unresolved differences and challenges which
affect both Communions. These have to do with such matters as: the understanding of
authority in the Church, including the way it is exercised, and the precise nature of the
future role of the universal primate; Anglican Orders; the ordination of women; moral and
ethical questions. Though interchurch families can be signs of unity and hope, one
pressing concern has to do with addressing the need to provide joint pastoral care for
them. Sometimes those in interchurch families experience great pain particularly in the
area of eucharistic life.
8. However, we believe these challenges are not to be compared with all that we hold in
common. The communion constituted by what we already share has within it an inner dynamic
which, animated by the Holy Spirit, impels us forward toward the overcoming of these
differences. Indeed, we have become conscious that we have embraced what may be described,
not only as a new era of friendship and co-operation, but as a new stage of 'evangelical
koinonia'. By this we mean a communion of joint commitment to our common mission in the
world (John 17. 23).
9. The marks of this new stage of communion in mission are: our trinitarian faith
grounded in the scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds; the centrality of Christ,
his death and resurrection, and commitment to his mission in the Church; faith in the
final destiny of human life; common traditions in liturgy and spirituality; the monastic
life; preferential commitment to the poor and marginalised; convergence on the eucharist,
ministry, authority, salvation, moral principles, and the Church as communion, as
expressed in agreed statements of ARCIC; episcopacy, particularly the role of the bishop
as symbol and promoter of unity; and the respective roles of clergy and laity.
10. We believe that now is the appropriate time for the authorities of our two
Communions to recognise and endorse this new stage through the signing of a Joint
Declaration of Agreement. This Agreement would set out: our shared goal of visible unity;
an acknowledgment of the consensus in faith that we have reached, and a fresh commitment
to share together in common life and witness. Our two Communions would be invited to
celebrate this Agreement around the world.
11. As our meeting proceeded we became increasingly aware that as bishops we ourselves
have a responsibility to guide, promote, and energise the ongoing work of unity in our
churches. We commit ourselves wholeheartedly to this task. Our action plan is appended to
this statement.
12. The first recommendation of our action plan is that a Joint Unity Commission be
established. This Commission will oversee the preparation of the Joint Declaration of
Agreement, and promote and monitor the reception of ARCIC agreements, as well as
facilitate the development of strategies for translating the degree of spiritual communion
that has been achieved into visible and practical outcomes.
13. It is important to be clear that this new stage on our journey is but a step on the
way to full and visible unity. Our vision of full and visible unity is of a eucharistic
communion of churches: confessing the one faith and demonstrating by their harmonious
diversity the richness of faith; unanimous in the application of the principles governing
moral life; served by ministries that the grace of ordination unites together in an
episcopal body, grafted on to the company of the Apostles, and which is at the service of
the authority that Christ exercises over his Body. The ministry of oversight has both
collegial and primatial dimensions and is open always to the community's participation in
the discernment of God's will. This eucharistic communion on earth is a participation in
the larger communion which includes the saints and martyrs, and all those who have fallen
asleep in Christ through the ages.
14. However, the shape of full visible unity is beyond our capacity to put into words.
"God will always surprise us," as we were reminded in a meditation shared with
us: "God cannot be understood through our human system or correspond to our positive
or negative predictions for the future. .. In our ecumenical efforts we should keep in
mind that one day we will rub our eyes and be surprised by the new things that God has
achieved in his Church."
Action Plan to Implement Communion in Mission
A. Joint Unity Commission
Membership
The membership of the Commission to be predominantly bishops, to be appointed by the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the Anglican Communion
Office.
Accountability
The Joint Unity Commission will report to the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity and the Inter Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations.
The mandate of the Commission will include the following functions:
- to prioritise the ongoing work;
- to oversee the preparation of a Joint Declaration of Agreement and to plan the signing
and celebration of the same;
- to promote and monitor the formal response and reception of the agreed statements of the
Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC);
- to promote the coherence of other bilateral dialogues that Anglicans and Roman Catholics
are involved in;
- to examine the range of possible ways, within current canon law provisions, to deal
generously and pastorally with situations of
inter-church marriages involving Anglicans and Roman Catholics;
- to explore ways of communicating the results of the Toronto Meeting to provinces and
episcopal conferences not represented;
- to commission the production of resources (bible studies, videos, CD-ROMs, etc) to
assist in making the work of ARCIC known throughout the churches;
- to encourage Anglican provinces and Roman Catholic episcopal conferences to set up
national Anglican-Roman Catholic (ARC) dialogue groups where they do not exist;
- to invite one or two national ARCs to study the implications of our common baptism for
the roles of men and women in the Church, the results of which to be shared at all levels
of the churches;
- to promote co-operation locally on clergy formation, education, and other pastoral
matters;
- to promote collegiality through:
- encouraging episcopal participation in each others' meetings at the international,
national and local levels;
- encouraging a joint meeting of bishops at the level of provinces and episcopal
conferences within 2 years;
- examining ways of ensuring formal consultation prior to one Church making decisions on
matters of faith and morals which would affect the other Church, keeping in view the
agreed statements of ARCIC;
- planning for a future review consultation of bishops within 5 years.
B. Follow up by Pairs of Bishops
The pairs of bishops from 13 countries present at this meeting will endeavour:
- to report back to the bishops of the province / episcopal conference within 6 months;
- to share the results of this meeting with the clergy and laity at the national and local
church level.
C. Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission
ARCIC is invited to consider the following possible agenda items:
- the drafting of a document to link all the agreed statements produced by ARCIC, which
would be a coherent summary of the work thus far. The papers produced for this meeting may
form the basis of this work;
- a study of the place of Mary in the life and doctrine of the Church. ARCIC is urged to
consider commissioning a volume of the agreed statements produced since The Final
Report which would include introductory essays and selections of relevant responses
to the texts.
D. Annual Informal Talks
The Annual Informal Talks is a meeting of staff of the PCPCU, the Anglican Communion
Office, Lambeth Palace, the Anglican Centre in Rome and the ARCIC co-chairmen. The next
meeting in November will consider how the Joint Unity Commission and ARCIC will relate to
each other.
E. The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Anglican Communion
Office
Staff from these offices will explore the publication in book form of appropriate
papers, presentations, sermons, the liturgy Celebration of Common Baptism, and
other documents from this Anglican-Roman Catholic Bishops' Meeting.
Mississauga, 19 May 2000