03.12.82

Page 1

DIOCESAN NEWSPAPER FOR SOUTHEAST MASSJ, CAPE & ISLANDS Vol. 26, No.1 0

Fall River, Mass., Friday, March 12, 1982

20 cents

Anglican-Catholic ~. report aslis i~.· ' for reunion ~: i~r!,!

By Jerry FlIteau

the establishing of a new rela­ tionship between our churches NC News Service as a next stage in the journey The Final Report of the Angli­ towards Christian unity . . . can-Roman Catholic Internation­ There are high expectations that al Commission {ARCIC) calls for significant initiatives will be Catholics and Anglicans to re­ boldly undertaken to deepen our unite, out of obedience to God's reconciliation and lead us for­ will, with the bishop of Rome ward in the quest for the full recognized as the "universal pri­ communion to which we have mate" of the church. been committed, in obedience to It calls, however, for changes God, from the beginning of our in the common Catholic under­ dialogue." standing of papal authority and The Final Report - the prod­ for changes in the way that au­ uct of 12 years' work by an in­ thority is exercised, so that it ternational team of scholars ap­ will be seen more deeply as a pointed by the Archbishop of service of the "unity and har- ' Canterbury and the Vatican's mony" of the communion of Secretariat for Christian Unity ­ God's people which is the church. includes several individual re­ As of March' 8 the ARIC Final ports that ARCIC had previously Report had not yet been official­ published, plus two major new ly published - a publication documents. date of March 17 was being The earlier documents were but NC statements of agreement on the widely predicted News obtained a copy of it after Eucharist (1971), Ministry and numerous news leaks had oc­ Ordination (1973), Authority in curred and one section of the the Church I (1976), and eluci­ text was published without ap­ dations on the first two of those proval. documents (1979). The new The major new section of the texts in the Final Report, besides Final Report addresses previous­ Ii preface, introduction and con­ ly unanswered questions about clusion to the whole report, are papal primacy, authority and in­ Authority in the Church II and falibility. an elucidation on the earlier au­ On those issues, certainly thority report. among the most delicate ones It is on Authority in the facing Catholic-Anglican and Church II that most attention Catholic-Orthodox efforts at re­ will be focused as the report be­ union, the report challenges comes public and is read by mem­ popular perception of the pap­ bers of both churches. acy by both Catholics and Angli­ It addresses four key issues cans. It uses agreed language about that were left unresolvea by the previous authority report. the role and ministry of the bish­ These are: op of Rome in the universal - The interpretation of the church, which, at first sight, "Petrine texts" or scriptural many Anglicans will almost cer­ tainly consider too strong and passages about St. Peter's par­ many Catholics will think too ticular role in the church; - The meaning of the "divine weak. The introduction to the Final right" ascribed by Catholics to the primacy of the bishop of Report declares that Christ's dis­ ciples "who have received the Rome in the universal church; - The Catholic affirmation of same word of God and have been papal infallibility; and baptized in the same Spirit can­ - The nature of the jurisdic­ not, without disobedience (to Christ's will), aquiesce in a state tion, or legal authority, ascribed to the bishop of Rome as univer­ of separation." sal primate. The conclusion says, "The con­ In each of the four areas, the vergence reflected in our Final Report would I appear to call for ARCIC calls on the -world's more

than 700 million Catholics and

63 million Anglicans to over­

come polemical language of the

past and see if they can agree o~ language which adequately ex­ presses the faith of both, without requiring either Catholics or An­ glicans to compromise on what they consider essential. Underlying the theologians' discussion of all four issues is the theological idea of the the church as "koinonia" Greek term for "communion," "Fundamental to all our state­ ments is the ,concept of 'koin­ onia' .. , Although 'koinonia' is never equated with 'church' in the New Testament, it is the term that most aptly expresses

the mystery underlying the vari­

ous New Testament images of the church," says the introduc­ tion to the Final Report. As a result, it adds, the report looks at primacy chiefly "as a visible link and focus of 'koin­ onia'" - that is, as a ministry of the unity of the communion of believers. Looking at the scriptural ba­ sis of papal primacy, the report notes that the New Testament Turn to Page Six

... -~- ­<if'

• W1TH PRAYER AND PRAISE, some 700 mem­ bers of the Portuguese Charismatic Renewal of the Fall River Diocese opened their U982 Assembly, held last Sunday at New Bedford's Kennedy Center.

Mansfield businessman will head 1982 Appeal Orlando D. Souza of St. Mary's parish, Mansfield, has been named diocesan lay chairman of the 1982 Catholic Charities Ap­ peal by Bishop Daniel A. Cronin. "Your Gift Can Do So Much For So Many" is the theme for this year's Appeal. A Mansfield native, Souza is general manager of' Heritage Buick in East Providence. He has been associated with automobile sales since his discharge from the Army after World War II. He is also active in many civic and. religious groups, including

the Mansfield chapter of the Am­ parish chairman for the Charities erican Red Cross and Knights of Appeal. Columbus No. 420. He served as Souza is married to the former Red Cross chapter president and Marie J. McCarthy of Medford has also headed the Lions Club, who is assistsnt manager of the Mansfield High School Alum­ Mansfield Multiloank. The couple ni Assn., and the area YMCA. He . have been married 32 years and was for two years chairman of have four sons snd one daughter. the Mansfield Board of Select­ All the boys' were outstanding men and was a Serra Club trus­ athletes at Mansfield High tee. School. Paul, now a college jun­ ior, is a nationally ranked high The lay chairman has been ac­ tive in fundraising drives for jumper. John Blnd Rpbert, both Stonehill College, Bishop Feehan West Point graduate$, are mar­ High School and the Anawan ried and reside in St. Mary's Boy Scout Council. He was also Turn to Page Six


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03.12.82 by The Anchor - Issuu