Anglican and Catholic bishops in talks on common Christian witness

|PIC1|Members of the Church of England House of Bishops and the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales are in London today for their second bi-lateral meeting on shared Christian witness.

The meeting between the bishops is taking place at Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the head of the Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, and follows a similar meeting held in Leeds in 2006.

The meeting will be chaired jointly by Dr Williams and the head of the Roman Catholic Church of England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor.

The bishops will join together in prayer and discussion as they reflect on the office and ministry of bishops as Christ’s disciples and the further development of the Churches’ shared Christian witness.

Dr Williams and Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor will address the bishops and offer Scripture readings to help guide their reflections.

In a joint statement released ahead of today’s meeting, two leaders said, “On our journey forward, though our communion remains imperfect, our partnership in mission and service to the people of our country is based on our Christian faith and rooted in our common baptism.

“Presenting our shared Christian witness to society and working together to for the common good in society continues to be crucially important for us.”

The meeting is held in line with the mandate of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, a joint commission of bishops responsible to the Anglican Communion and the Holy See for finding practical ways to express the fruits of the dialogue between Anglicans and Roman Catholics. Its mandate draws on the recommendations of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Joint Preparatory Commission in Malta, in 1968.