Yes to the dialogue on Mary

With the adoption of the motion based on the report from the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC): Mary – Grace and Hope in Christ the General Synod of the Church of England welcomes dialogue and study on the figure of Mary. Follow excerpts of the speeches delivered at the Synod by auxiliary Catholic bishop of Westminster George Stack and by Anglican Bishop of Guildford Christopher Hill, focused on the questions regarding the figure of the Mother of Jesus in the framework of Anglican-Catholic understanding. The dogmas of Immaculate Conception and the Assumption are the most controversial issues in the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue on Mary.The document. “Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ” is a joint Anglican-Catholic statement on the role of Mary in Church life and doctrine, presented for the first time in Seattle (United States) in 2005. Also called The Seattle Statement – taking after the name of the city where it was completed -, the joint document draws together the fruits of six years of work by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), a dialogue officially sponsored by the Anglican Consultative Council and by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The Document is not an authoritative declaration by the Roman Catholic Church or by the Anglican Communion, who will study and evaluate the document in due course. It is “a major result of the ARCIC dialogue commitment on doctrinal aspects of faith”. The Document examines the figure of Mary according to the Scriptures and to the “ancient common heritage”, namely, in early Church Councils – authoritative sources for Anglicans and Catholics alike – and in the writings of “Church Fathers”, eminent theologians of early Christianity. Indeed document does not provide an answer to a number of controversial issues, notably those regarding the authoritativeness of the two Marian dogmas adopted by the Catholic Church in 1800, which the Anglican Church does not recognize as such.Yes to the dialogue on Mary. Ongoing dialogue aimed at discovering mutual beliefs. Exploring the figure of Mary in the religious and spiritual traditions of Anglicans and Catholics. Studying the problem of the authoritativeness and status of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption Catholic dogmas for the Anglican Church. These issues were addressed in the motion approved by the Synod of the Church of England. The Document equally refers to a report drawn up by the Faith and Order advisory group of the Church of England, which deals with theological questions.The words of the Catholic bishop. In his address, the Auxiliary Catholic bishop of Westminster George Stack quoted several times from the speeches of John Paul II, noted for his total devotion to Mary, and recalled that the late Pope wrote in the 1995 ecumenical document ‘Ut unum sint’: … “the Virgin Mary, as Mother of God and Icon of the Church (….) is one of the areas in need of fuller study before a true consensus of faith can be achieved”. “This was one purpose of the ARCIC Commission”, Stack told the Anglican Synod, “its latest phase concluded in 2005 with the Seattle Agreement “Mary Grace and Hope in Christ”. “The sentence which brought joy to my heart said, “We have sought to embrace one another’s way of doing theology” because it invites each of our communities to move away from static historical positions”. “That is why, as a Catholic bishop, I welcome the properly “critical” nature of the series of essays by the Faith and Order Group of the Church of England.The two Marian dogmas. Speaking of the neuralgic points of the Catholic doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mentioned in the Faith and Order Group Response, Stack said that these need to be explored in the historical context in which the dogmas were proclaimed and the degree to which these dogmas have affected an understanding and role of women in the life of the church. The debate, continues Bishop Stack, is even more significant in the light of the announcement that the third phase of the ARCIC dialogue will begin May 17 to 27 in the monastery of Bose on the subject of “The Church as Communion – Local and Universal”.The words of the Anglican bishop. According to bishop Christopher Hill, who presented the Marian document after bishop Stack, “the reference to a common Christian truth behind dogmatic definitions” is “worthy of attention”. “This is ARCIC’s true methodology”, said bishop Hill, “to go beyond conflicting language and set expressions. We agree “that Mary was prepared by divined grace to be the mother of our Redeemer”, “by whom she herself was redeemed and received into glory”. “ARCIC has sought to get behind opposed or entrenched positions to discover and develop our common inheritance of faith”, concluded Hill.