Mixed messages ....

I looked this morning at the texts of Cardinal Dias and Cardinal Murphy O'Connor's addresses to the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops. My quotations from the texts of the two addresses are taken from Zenit.

Cardinal Dias subject was "Mission, social justice and evangelisation". The full text is wide ranging, spreading from the missionary mandate, via spiritual warfare to inculturation and inter-religious dialogue as aspects of the Church's evangelising work. It is hard hitting, and the language is not always comfortable to an English sensitivity. However, when it is read as a whole, and the hard hitting paragraphs are seen in the context of the whole rather than in the isolation that is typical of media coverage, it is a very thoughtful presentation.

Cardinal Dias' references to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases caught some adverse coverage in the British media. I offer the full paragraph here, to demonstrate that the analogy was presented more gently than the media coverage suggested, and also because of the contrast that it presents to some of what Cardinal Murphy O'Connor said at the Lambeth Conference later:

Much is spoken today of diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. By analogy, their symptoms can, at times, be found even in our own Christian communities. For example, when we live myopically in the fleeting present, oblivious of our past heritage and apostolic traditions, we could well be suffering from spiritual Alzheimer's. And when we behave in a disorderly manner, going whimsically our own way without any co-ordination with the head or the other members of our community, it could be ecclesial Parkinson's.

Cardinal Dias ended his address by a very generous invocation of God's blessing on the Lambeth conference, quoting Cardinal Newman:

In communion with the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the Angels and Saints, I commend this Lambeth Conference to God Almighty, and I pray that, through it, He may shower countless blessings on the Anglican Communion all over the world. With Cardinal John Henry Newman, an important figure for Anglicans and Catholics alike, I join you in praying the Holy Spirit:

Lead, kindly Light, amid th'encircling gloom,Lead Thou me on!The night is dark, and I am far from home:Lead Thou me on!Keep Thou my feet: I do not ask to see the distant scene:One step enough for me.

Cardinal Murphy O'Connor was reflecting on the progress of Anglican-Catholic doctrinal/theological dialogue, in which he has been very much involved during his priestly life. He does note the "major stumbling blocks" to unity represented by the ordination of women as priests and bishops in the Anglican communion, and the difficulties represented by moral issues, noting that no-one can now be under any illusion that these issues have ecclesiological significance. In being fair to him we should recognise this. However, some other observations seem to contradict these parts of his address.

One thing we have gradually come to realise is that the reception of any dialogue document involves far more than just its publication or even an official response. It takes time and discussion at every level of the life of the Church, as the path taken by your own 1997 Virginia Report and its proposals shows. And some or all of the contents can prove not to be accepted or received. I know some of our Christian partner communions have had anxieties when the Catholic Church has closely analysed or even questioned some of what has been proposed in dialogue statements. But that has to be an integral part of the process of receiving what a dialogue commission may propose.

The difficulty with this paragraph is its apparent acceptance of a theology that teaching gains authoritative status when it is "received" by the people. This does not sit readily with Catholic teaching on the Magisterium, though I am sure some in the Catholic Church would like to apply it to Humanae Vitae. Perhaps the underlying issue is one of how dialogue statements relate to the authoritative teaching of the different Christian denominations - and a theory of "reception" may be comfortable for Anglicans in their system of things, but for the Catholic Church it will become a question of acceptance or rejection by the Magisterium.

Cardinal Murphy O'Connor devotes part of his address to discussing the idea of the Church as communion, showing how this theme is represented across a range of recent documents of dialogue. I found this useful - because the idea of what "communion" is underlies a whole range of issues in Anglican-Catholic dialogue, including the very practical one of inter-communion. However, whether a real common understanding of the term exists is something that I doubt, and the definition cited by Cardinal Murphy O'Connor from the documents appears incomplete from a Catholic point of view.

Moreover, I am sure that the dialogue Statements of ARCIC, whether or not they are accepted in their entirety, do signal real convergence. We now have the substantial consensus between us on Eucharist and about Ministry, indicated by ARCIC’s work.

I find it difficult to agree with this statement, given some of the observations made by Cardinal Murphy O'Connor earlier in his address about the obstacle to unity represented by the ordination of women in the Anglican communion.