ARCIC Talks to Continue Says Catholic Bishop

The ARCIC talks between the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches are to continue, according to the Church of England Newspaper.

|TOP|The secretary of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity and Bishop Brian Farrell said at the Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Porto Alegre, Brazil, that there was “no question” that the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Consultation (ARCIC) would continue.

He claimed: the “decision has already been made”, saying that the general topic of ARCIC III would be the “local and universal Church.”

Farrell claimed that “we will develop this decision more concretely in the future.”

The election of the homosexual bishop Gene Robinson in New Hampshire in 2003 led to relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion being severely strained.

On February 17th the president of the Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Walter Kasper said that the homosexuality question was a “new phenomenon” in ecumenical dialogue.

|AD|He said that: “All Christian Churches had the same position on this question... now this question has come up,” and has been “divisive” in the effect of the relationship between Roman Catholics and Anglicans.

Bishop Farrell said that “new concerns in our relationship” with the Anglican Communion existed. Farrell was pleased with Archbishop Rowan Williams' invitation to take part in the process of the Windsor Report but said that “we must see what develops.”

He continued saying that: ”We are not just observers, we are participants” in the debate.

He claimed that “this is one of our ecumenical partners in difficulty and we are very concerned that they find a way out of the difficulty... However, we cannot make up their minds for them. So we have to wait,” according to the Church of England newspaper.

According to Bishop Farrell the Vatican has made no conditions for the continuation of dialogue. This was later confirmed by Deputy General Secretary of the ACC, the Reverend Canon Gregory Cameron.

Farrell continued saying that the Vatican would continue its dialogue with the Anglican Communion no matter what “shape” the Communion “might take” in the future.