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The Oct. 30 edition of The Living Church is available online to registered subscribers.
In the cover story, Zachary Guiliano and Matthew Townsend write:
Fifty years ago a thaw emerged after centuries of chilled relations between the Roman Catholic and Anglican communions. Michael Ramsey, the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury, came to Rome to meet with Pope Paul VI. The historic meeting saw the two men address one another as peers, with Pope Paul presenting his episcopal ring to Ramsey. Out of this relationship grew the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), with subsequent iterations that explored the differences and similarities between the churches.
… Catholics and Anglicans came together again this year — this time proceeding from Canterbury to Rome in a pilgrimage of ecumenical discussion, prayer, and mission celebrating the jubilee anniversary of ARCIC, the Centre, and the meetings between Pope Paul and Abp. Ramsey. Along the journey, participants reflected on the affection that has developed since that time and the challenges that still exist in furthering ecumenical bonds between the two churches. now, as then, the desire for unity is strong and relationships are improving, but important differences suggest that full communion is not waiting around the next corner.
Notable progress, mutual respect, and shared global concerns were clear during the pilgrimage, especially in an Oct. 5 service of Vespers at Rome’s Church of Santi Andrea e Gregorio al Celio. Pope Francis presided at the service and exchanged gifts with Archbishop Justin Welby. The pope gave Welby a crozier modeled after that of St. Gregory the Great, while Welby presented Francis with his pectoral cross, the Coventry Cross of nails. In an embrace, the pope and the archbishop smiled at one another in joyful recognition. Afterward, the two commissioned 19 pairs of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops who will work together on new ecumenical projects.
News
- Communal Affection
- Ecumenism that Transforms
- Karl Barth and Vatican II
Features
- The Politics of Jesus Today | By Philip Turner, Fleming Rutledge, Eugene Sutton, and Charles Pinches
- Necessary or Expedient? | Prayer Books Ancient and Modern | By Andrew McGowan
Editorial
- A Wounded Unity
Other Departments
- People & Places
- Sunday’s Readings
