Cardinal John Dew, the Archbishop of Wellington, says it’s everybody’s task to build up relationships that can help achieve full, visible communion between the Anglican and Catholic churches.
In an interview on Vatican Radio he said Anglican and Catholic parishes in New Zealand are already working together in many practical ways including support for refugees coming into the country.
At the recent IARCCUM meeting pairs of Anglican and Catholic bishops were sent out on mission together by the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Dew asked whether bishops in each diocese could be encouraged to adopt this model, followed by Catholic and Anglican priests with their local communities.
Reflecting on the Pope’s description of families in ‘Amoris Laetitia’, where he pointed out that “no family drops down from heaven perfectly formed”, Dew asked if we can apply this concept to the Christian family too.
Another area of discussion at the plenary has been what the cardinal calls the ‘ecumenism of humiliation’ for churches dealing with the effects of clerical abuse scandals.
By facing such difficulties together and being “united in the cross”, he says, we ask how it can enable us to journey more closely together?
Dew was being interviewed at the end of The plenary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity that concluded on Friday.
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