AUCKLAND Catholic and Anglican members of the Anglican Roman Catholic Commission of Aotearoa New Zealand (ARCCANZ) clergy and lay examined dialogue between the two denominations at their most recent meeting. Catholic Bishop Barry Jones of Christchurch and Anglican Archbishop David Moxon of Hamilton each offered quotes from this years worldwide gathering of Anglican bishops at Lambeth.
Bishop Jones quoted Cardinal Walter Kaspers address that said the ordination of women bishops in the Anglican Communion was an impediment to possible reunification because it effectively and definitively blocks a possible recognition of Anglican Orders by the Catholic Church.
However, Archbishop Moxon said that although Cardinal Kasper said full visible communion as the aim of dialogue had receded further, it has not disappeared. He also cited English Cardinal Cormac Murphy-OConnors comments at Lambeth that the path to Anglican-Catholic unity is a road with no exit, because unity is Christs will.
The October meeting was the latest in a series of semi-annual two-day gatherings that date back 20 years. Dan Stollenwerk, one of the delegates, said the meetings have built up enough trust and friendship that frank, courteous discussion is possible.
That honest dialogue has borne fruit in the pastoral realm, Mr Stollenwerk said in a report to NZ Catholic, pointing to shared Ash Wednesday services as a tangible example. At the October meeting, the commission worked on an ecumenical Advent wreath celebration and a lenten discussion resource on Church as Communion.
Archbishop Moxon, who is involved with Anglican-Catholic dialogue internationally, explained at the meeting that New Zealands experience, with an ongoing commission, prayer in common, and even shared church buildings and facilities, has become an international model for ecumenism.
