Archbishop of Canterbury's address at a Willebrands Symposium in Rome

UK: November 19, 2009, (PCTV Newsdesk)

The Archbishop of Canterbury today gave an address in Rome, as the guestof the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The address ispart of a symposium being held at the Gregorian University, to celebratethe centenary of the birth of Cardinal Willebrands, the first presidentof the Council.

The Archbishop says in his introduction:

"Since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, the Roman CatholicChurch has been involved in a number of dialogues with other churches -including with the Anglican Communion - which have produced a veryconsiderable number of agreed statements. This legacy has been broughttogether in a recent publication by the Vatican department to promoteChristian Unity, whose first President during and after Vatican II,Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, is justly and happily celebrated intoday's centenary conference.

Let me give an outline of what I want to say in the half an hour or soavailable. The strong convergence in these agreements about what theChurch of God really is, is very striking. The various agreed statementsof the churches stress that the Church is a community, in which humanbeings are made sons and daughters of God, and reconciled both with Godand one another. The Church celebrates this through the sacraments ofBaptism and Holy Communion in which God acts upon us to transform us 'incommunion'. More detailed questions about ordained ministry and otherissues have been framed in this context.

Therefore the major question that remains is whether in the light ofthat depth of agreement the issues that still divide us have the sameweight - issues about authority in the Church, about primacy (especiallythe unique position of the pope), and the relations between the localchurches and the universal church in making decisions (about matterslike the ordination of women, for instance). Are they theologicalquestions in the same sense as the bigger issues on which there isalready clear agreement? And if they are, how exactly is it that theymake a difference to our basic understanding of salvation and communion?But if they are not, why do they still stand in the way of fullervisible unity? Can there, for example, be a model of unity as acommunion of churches which have different attitudes to how the papalprimacy is expressed?

The central question is whether and how we can properly tell thedifference between 'second order' and 'first order' issues. When so verymuch agreement has been firmly established in first-order matters aboutthe identity and mission of the Church, is it really justifiable totreat other issues as equally vital for its health and integrity?"

The full text of the lecture  can be read at http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2009/11/19/ACNS4668