The “House of Bishops” of the Church of England and the bishops of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales will meet for a bi-lateral meeting at Hinsley Hall in Leeds on 14-15 November. The two Churches report the forthcoming meeting in a joint press release. “The meeting – says the statement – will be fraternal in character, based on shared prayer, dialogue and a desire for further development of our common Christian witness”. A month after the visit that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams is due to pay to the Pope in October, the meeting is in line with the mandate of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM). The Commission was established by the Anglican Communion and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity to “find concrete ways of expressing the fruits of the dialogue between Anglicans and Catholics”. The mandate of the Commission is outlined in the “Recommendations” issued at a preparatory meeting in Malta in 1968.
