Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, who is Catholic co-chair of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) stressed he was expressing a "personal view".

In an interview with the Church of Ireland Gazette, he said that although the two churches now work closely together on a daily basis, it was a source of "pain" that they still could not share communion.

But he pointed to a Vatican document published in 1993 as well as a paper produced by bishops in the British Isles which already allows non-Roman Catholics to receive sacraments in very special circumstances, including if they are in danger of death.

The archbishop was asked whether he thought, given there had already been a limited relation, there could be room for further changes.

He responded: "My personal view is, you are right to draw attention to the changes which we have already seen on the basis of a deeper theological understanding of one another's churches."

"And on that basis the 1993 Ecumenical Directory made possible the reception of Holy Communion by the baptised who are not members of the Roman Catholic Church in a number of specified circumstances and with certain criteria.

"Given that that represents a change and a very significant shift away from the impossibility to the limited possibility then I could imagine and foresee one of the fruits of our ecumenical engagement as moving towards a deeper understanding of communion and a deeper sharing between our churches . . . which perhaps would lead to a reconsideration of some of the circumstances."

He added that it was impossible for him to predict the "speed of change", but that he hoped existing rules could be made use of.

The Anglican Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Rev Christopher Hill, noted that "Rome is considering updating the [1993]directory".

Archbishop Longley's remarks were warmly welcomed by leading figures in the Church of England who said it was time for closer ties.

Sources

• The Telegraph
• Image: Catholic Herald

Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham said that the 1993 Ecumenism Directory made certain relaxations in the rules for the sharing of Eucharist.

"Given that that represents a change, and a very significant shift away from the impossibility to the limited possibility, then I could imagine and foresee one of the fruits of our ecumenical engagement as moving towards a deeper understanding of communion and a deeper sharing, a deeper communion between our churches which perhaps would lead to reconsideration of some of the circumstances," he said.

Archbishop Longley is the Catholic co-chair of the Third Anglican/Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III).

He was speaking to an Anglican publication following a joint session of the National Advisers' Committee on Ecumenism of the Irish (Roman Catholic) Episcopal Conference and representatives of the Church of Ireland (Anglican) Commission for Christian Unity and Dialogue.

Asked if he felt healing on the issue would indeed come, the archbishop said, "I know that that will be the case", and described the "pain" of division at the Eucharist as "a spur" towards resolving the issue.

However, he also pointed to how, over the past several decades, "further challenges — obstacles, if you like — in the way of that have been placed before us and they also have their part to play in what holds us back from sharing the Eucharist together".

Affirming that a further relaxation in the Vatican's regulations "could happen", the archbishop added, however, that he "wouldn't like to predict the rate or the pace of change towards that".

Source:

Anglican Communion News Service

Image: MSN News

The Catholic co-chairperson, Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, speaking before the meeting said,"I do understand those doubts, misgivings, and sometimes frustrations and disappointments particularly on the part of those people who have committed many years to dialogue and who at the outset thought the prospects of unity were much more realistic than they are now. New challenges, new obstacles have come in the way in the path of unity.

"At the same time that mustn't deflect us. And it hasn't deflected the Catholic Church from our commitment to search for a way towards the unity that we believe is the will of Christ for all the baptised."

The Anglican—Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) is an organization created in 1969 which seeks to make ecumenical progress between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. The sponsors are the Anglican Consultative Council and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (formerly the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity).

ARCIC seeks to identify common ground between the two communions. In recent years internal changes in both churches has put strain on ecumenical relations.

Source

• The London Tablet
• Vatican Radio
• ENS
• Image: Anglican Communion News Service