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Runcie favours papal primacy — Page 12 Flashback! The pope and Archbishop Runcie kneeling together at their 1982 meeting in Canterbury.
"Fa Its a '
... ALTHOUGH ORDINATION OF WOMEN HAS BEEN A SETBACK
CITY VATICAN (CNS): Although the ordination of women in some Anglican churches has complicated AnglicanCatholic Roman relations, the dialogue must and will continue, said a Vatican official. Christian unity, especially in Europe, is vital to evangelisation "and ultimately for peace", said Father Kevin McDonald, an official of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He was speaking days before the meeting this weekend between Pope John Paul II and Archbi-
shop Runcie of Canterbury. The meetings take place "in the context of an increasingly open and frank relationship between the two parties, which is evident in the correspondence on women's ordination," Father McDonald wrote. When some member churches of the AngliCommunion can began ordaining women in the 1970s, Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Donald Coogan, then archbishop of Canterbury, exchanged a series of letters on the issue. In the latest
exchange of letters between Pope John Paul and Archbishop Runcie, the pope said the ordination of women and the consecration of the first woman Anglican bishop seem to "effectively block the path to the mutual recognition of ministries". Roman Catholics and Anglicans view their own bishops as successors to the Apostles, ordained by other bishops in an unbroken line. The promulgation of Pope Leo XIII in 1896 that Anglican holy orders were null and void "has inevitably shaped the agenda" of
official AnglicanRoman Catholic dialogue since the Vatican Second Father Council, McDonald wrote. The ordination of women not only complicates discussions on the validity of Anglican orders, but "uncovers serious ecclesiological and, indeed, sacramental differences between Catholics and Anglicans both in theory and in practice," he said. With women celebrating the liturgy in some Anglican Cornmunion churches, the sacramental differences between Angli-
cans and Roman Catholics also are highlighted. Catholic teaching holds that the priest-celebrant acts "in the person of Christ" at the Eucharist and that the priest must be male, as Jesus was.
Another area of disexpected cussion between Archbishop Runcie and the pope is the nature and exercise of papal primacy. After Pope John Paul hosted a 1986 interfaith day of prayer in Assisi, Italy, Archbishop Runcie "was among the first to attempt a theological reflection on this IM111011.1•11•0.
Glemp changes his mind
Cardinal Glemp.
• See page 6 for earlier developments
LONDON: In a dramatic shift in his implacable stance, Cardinal Glemp now says that it is "essential that the Carmelite sisters' convent be now moved from its present location at Auschwitz". "Auschwitz should never be a place of controversy," says the Polish primate who until recently vowed to defend the nuns if they chose to stay in their present quarters. It is not known how much Cardinal Glemp has been influenced by Vatican moves (see page 6).
Cardinal Glemp's new approach to the problem came after a London meeting with Sir Sigmund Sternberg, chairman of the international Council of Christians and Jews. In a following letter to Sternberg Cardinal
Glemp said "the best solution would be for work to start as soon as possible". "The Geneva declaration of 1987 should be implemented and I am therefore keen to work on a friendly dialogue between Christians and Jews," he added.
Cardinal Glemp had drawn criticism from Jews and Catholics for his angry demand for renegotiating the accord and his assertion that Jewish-controlled media were creating anti-Polish feelings abroad. He quoted a letter to Sternberg from Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, referring to "the untold suffering of the Jewish people" which was "unequalled among all martyrised nations". Cardinal Glemp also cited Pope John Paul H's comments on the suffer-
ing of Jews in Poland and added that until he had received Sir Sigmund's message: "I was unaware of the moderating voices." He said he was glad that some of the "shrill voices" of Jewish protest in the convent issue "do not reflect the feeling of world Jewry and aggression is not part of the Jewish philosophy". "There has been a great deal of ill feelings and misunderstanding which we would like to clear up," the cardinal said in his message. "We are a people of our word and we understand that the implementation of the declaration can only take place in a tranquil atmosphere. "It is essential not only to move the convent outside the perimeter of the site, but also to set up the new cultural centre," he said.
initiative," Father McDonald wrote. The archbishop had said the meeting was "an exercise of primacy of a kind that 'only one church and only one bishop' could make," said the article in L'Osservatore Romano. Father McDonald also said the importance of the pope's meeting with Archbishop Runcie must be seen "in the context of the Holy Father's ecumenical vocation." "Unity and reconciliation among European Christians for the re-evangelisation of Europe" has been a recurring theme in
papal addresses, he said. As Europeans prepare for economic unity in the European community in 1992, there is a need for spiritual unity to combat materialism, the pope has said. "In the face of the failure or inability of many Europeans to acknowledge the reality of God, Christians would do well to face up to how much they have in common with each other," Father McDonald wrote. To effectively evangelise, the Christian denominations must work together, he said.