February 4, 2011 - Bishop Arthur Kennedy Appointed Member of The Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission

Communiqué Of The Pontifical Council For Promoting Christian Unity: Dialogue Between The Catholic Church And The Anglican Communion (Arcic Iii) , 03.02.2011

The official dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion is undertaken by  the Anglican – Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and the Department for Unity, Faith and Order of the Anglican Communion. The dialogue has taken place over forty years, in two phases of the Commission.

The co-Chairmen and co-secretaries of the new phase of the Anglican – Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC III) have drawn up a plan for the first meeting of the Commission. This will be hosted by the Monastery of Bose, northern Italy, from 17 to 27 May 2011. The new phase of ARCIC’s work was mandated by Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, at their meeting in Rome in November 2009.

The co-Chairmen are the Most Reverend Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham, England (Roman Catholic) and the Most Reverend David Moxon, Archbishop of the New Zealand dioceses (Anglican).

The task of this third phase of ARCIC will be to consider fundamental questions regarding the ‘Church as Communion - Local and Universal’, and ‘How in communion the Local and Universal Church comes to discern right ethical teaching’. These interrelated topics emerged from the Common Declaration of the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The international membership of this new phase of ARCIC represents a wide range of cultural settings, and brings to the Commission a variety of theological disciplines.

Anglican Members of Arcic

The Most Reverend David Moxon, co-Chair, is the Bishop of Waikato and Archbishop of the Dioceses of New Zealand in the Province of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.

Dr. Paula Gooder, biblical scholar, is Canon Theologian of Birmingham Cathedral, Visiting lecturer at King's College, London, Associate lecturer at St Mellitus College, London, an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Birmingham and Senior Research Scholar at the Queen's Foundation, Birmingham, England.

The Rt Reverend Christopher Hill is the Bishop of Guildford and the Chair of the Council for Christian Unity of the Church of England.

The Reverend Dr Mark McIntosh is Van Mildert Canon Professor of Divinity in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Durham in England.

The Rt Reverend Nkosinathi Ndwandwe is Bishop Suffragan of Natal, Southern Area, in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.

The Rt Reverend Linda Nicholls is Area Bishop for the episcopal area of Trent-Durham in the Diocese of Toronto, Anglican Church of Canada.

The Reverend Dr Michael Poon is director and Asian Christianity coordinator of the Centre for the Study of Christianity in Asia at Trinity Theological College in Singapore, Province of South-East Asia.

The Reverend Canon Nicholas Sagovsky is retiring as Canon Theologian at Westminster Abbey in the Church of England. An ecclesiologist, he served on ARCIC II.

The Reverend Dr Peter Sedgwick is Principal and Warden of St Michael’s College in Llandaff in the Church in Wales, where he teaches theology and social ethics.

The Reverend Dr Charles Sherlock is a consultant to ARCIC III. He has recently retired as Registrar of the Melbourne College of Divinity and lives in the Diocese of Bendigo, Anglican Church of Australia.

Roman Catholic Members of Arcic

The Most Reverend Bernard Longley, co-Chair, is Archbishop of Birmingham, England, and  has previously served as Moderator of the Steering Committee of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, as well as Assistant General Secretary of Catholic Bishops' Conference with responsibilities for Ecumenism and Interfaith Affairs.

The Right Reverend Arthur Kennedy is auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts, and rector of St John’s seminary. He has previously been executive director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Professor Paul D. Murray is professor in the department of Theology and Religion at Durham University, and is a major proponent of receptive ecumenism.

Prof Janet E. Smith is professor of moral theology and the Fr. Michael J. McGivney Chair of Life Issues at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan, and is a consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family.

The Reverend Vimal Tirimanna CSsR, from Colombo, Sri Lanka, is professor of systematic moral theology at the Alphonsianum University in Rome

The Very Reverend Dom Henry Wansbrough OSB, from Ampleforth Abbey, England,  is a biblical scholar, and was General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible.

Sister Teresa Okure SHCJ is academic dean and professor of New Testament studies at the Catholic Institute of West Africa, based in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Fr Adelbert Denaux  is professor emeritus at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, where he taught biblical studies and ecumenism. He served on ARCIC II.

The work of the Commission is supported by the Co-Secretaries, Monsignor Mark Langham (PCPCU) and Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan (Anglican Communion Office) and by Canon Jonathan Goodall, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Secretary for Ecumenical Affairs.