[Apologetics] Cardinal to Lambeth Conference: "I'm Not Gloomy"

[Dianne Dawson]

Cardinal to Lambeth Conference: "I'm Not Gloomy"
Considers Progress of Ecumenical Relations

CANTERBURY, England, JULY 28, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
The archbishop of Westminster says he is not skeptical about the
ecumenical dialogue going on between the Anglican Communion and the
Catholic Church.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor affirmed this
Friday when he addressed the Lambeth Conference -- the Anglican
once-a-decade meeting under way through Aug. 4.

The cardinal
looked at the history of the dialogue between the two groups, focusing
on the work of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission.

He
acknowledged that the initial progress made by that commission brought
greater expectations than successive steps have elicited. "The initial
hope had been that some concrete intermediate steps on the way toward
full communion might result," the prelate
recalled.

When the commission met again, Cardinal
Murphy-O'Connor affirmed, the atmosphere had begun to change. The
cardinal noted, however, that an emerging sense of the importance of
ecclesiology has been key to the process.

"How do we understand
the Church? […] Is it a loose federation with a common history and
family kinship? Is it a more closely-knit body with developed
structures of authority? Moreover, with what instruments does the
Spirit enable the Churches to reach binding decisions where necessary?
[…] These, and questions like them, have emerged in most of our
ecumenical dialogues and they have become increasingly pressing within
the ecclesial lives of our dialogue partners as well," he said.

The
cardinal went on to note that such questions of ecclesiology and
communion are issues that Anglicans now face within their denomination.
Some Anglican bishops have boycotted the Lambeth conference over debate
about
homosexual bishops and marriages and the episcopal ordination of women.

The
cardinal said that the reflection from ARCIC II "touches not only on
what we need to resolve together but also on those very issues that
Anglicans are now grappling with as a communion."

Lost cause?

The
cardinal concluded his address by affirming that the ecumenical efforts
between Catholics and Anglicans have been worthwhile.

"It is 40
years since the Malta Report set Anglicans and Catholics on the way
towards unity," he said. "Throughout these years, the Catholic Church
has always sought dialogue with the Anglican Communion as a whole, with
all the challenge that your treasured diversity can sometimes bring to
the table. 

"So our Church takes no pleasure at all to see the
current strains in your communion -- we have committed ourselves to a
journey toward unity, so new tensions only slow the progress. But they
do seem to
concern matters that are very important. These discussions are about
the degree of unity in faith necessary for Christians to be in
communion, not least so that they may be able to offer the Gospel
confidently to the world. Our future dialogue will not be easy until
such fundamental matters are resolved, with greater clarity."

Cardinal
Murphy-O'Connor affirmed that the ecumenical labor is necessary, given
that it is Christ's will that Christians be united.

"I have said
many times that I believe the path to unity is like a road with no exit
for those who genuinely seek unity and are also seeking the conversion
it requires," he said. "That's because I know it is Christ's will that
we be one, and however long it takes that has to be our goal. Pope
Benedict again and again comes back to this as at the heart of what he
is working for."

"So I am not gloomy," the cardinal concluded. "Dialogue will continue in some
form. Even if we sometimes find it hard to discern just how to go forward we cannot give up on seeking the unity Christ wills."
 
Like a deer that longs for running waters so my soul longs for you, O God.
Ps 42:1


      
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