First agreed report entitled “Walking Together on the Way: Learning to Be the Church — Local, Regional, Universal” released today in Rome

The first agreed statement from the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue commission’s third round of talks (ARCIC III) was released in paper form to the press today in Rome. The 34,000 word document with an introduction written by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham Bernard Longley and the former Anglican Archbishop of New Zealand David Moxon entitled “Walking Together on the Way: Learning to Be the Church — Local, Regional, Universal” has yet to appear on the Anglican Consultative Council website or the website of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Press reports from Rome note the document does not discuss the growing differences between the two ecclesial bodies, but seeks to highlight the ways in which each church structure and exercise authority along local, regional and global levels.

Once seen as a hope for achieving visible corporate reunion between the two estranged communities, ARCIC has fallen into irrelevance over the past decades due to the innovations of the ordination of women and the Anglican Communion’s shifting stance on human sexuality. The team representing the Anglican side of ARCIC has little standing among the majority within the communion as represented by its Global South and GAFCON wings, and is staffed by academics and professional ecumenists.

Details on the latest paper will be reported after they are released by the parties to the global media.