Repeating a symbol they adopted together in 2016, Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury blessed 27 pairs of bishops as part of a “Growing Together” ecumenical summit that met in Rome and Canterbury. The gathering coincided with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The gathering was convened by the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM). The meetings included Episcopal Bishop John Bauerschmidt of Tennessee and Romanian Greek Catholic Bishop John M. Botean of the Eparchy of St. George in Canton, Ohio, co-chairs of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation USA.
The most evident difference between this year’s ceremonies and those of 2016 was the presence of two Anglican women bishops from Latin America: Archbishop Marinez Rosa dos Santos Bassotto of the Amazon, primate of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil, and Bishop Alba Sally Sue Hernández García of Mexico City.
“Bishop Bassotto told Catholic News Service she believes her presence at the summit was ‘prophetic,’ especially for the Catholic bishops who are not used to working with women bishops,” Cindy Wooden wrote.
“I work in a region in the Amazon where women are very proactive,” her Catholic counterpart Bishop Teodoro Mendes Tavares of Ponta de Pedras said. “I believe the presence here of Bishop Marinez is very meaningful; it helps foster more connections toward what we do together, our mission together.”
Both Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin Welby addressed their remarks repeatedly to “brothers and sisters,” which also included women involved in the gatherings as scholars and observers, but the two bishops’ presence was treated as unremarkable.
The Catholic Church does not ordain women to the priesthood or the episcopate. Participants in the first global gathering of the Synod on Synodality last fall discussed the possibility of ordaining women as deacons, and asked for further study of the topic.
“A theme that emerged repeatedly during the days we were together was the importance of friendship,” Bishop Bauerschmidt told TLC. “Each of us, in our pairs and more widely, had an experience of deepening friendship as we talked and worshiped together. ‘I have called you friends,’ Jesus says in John’s Gospel, and I think we experienced this mutual calling while we were in Rome and Canterbury.”
Papal hospitality extended further in the early days of the gathering, which met in Rome on January 22-25. Archbishop Welby celebrated Holy Communion and preached at the ninth-century San Bartolomeo all’Isola on Tiber Island (Sanctuary of the New Martyrs).
“Earlier in the day the bishops attended an Anglican Eucharist celebrated at the Pope’s invitation at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Rome, where there is a newly dedicated shrine to modern martyrs from all over the world, including seven Anglican martyrs from Melanesia,” Bauerschmidt said. “I was reminded of the ‘ecumenism of the cross’ that our churches share through sharing the cross of Christ in so many places in the world.”
The bishops also visited the Church of San Gregorio, where Gregory the Great commissioned Augustine of Canterbury to evangelize the English in 596, and attended an Anglican Choral Evensong in St. Peter’s Basilica.
During a service of Second Vespers at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, the two conducted joint blessings of bishops.
“We must find ways of being joyful in our disagreement, generous in our disputes, hospitable in our differences with one another, in character, in appearance, in temperament and in culture,” Welby said.
He urged Christians to be “the miracle of unity amidst enormous, inhuman, unimaginable difference, which — for the world — has always been a reason to fight and conquer one another, not to love and value one another.
“Demonstrating that love amongst each other is the key that opens human hearts to the good news of Christ, and that means suffering.”
The pope cited the bishops’ communication from 2016 as he greeted Archbishop Welby.
“I am grateful to His Grace Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to Metropolitan Polycarp, who represents the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and to all of you, who make present many Christian communities,” Pope Francis said. “It is nice that today, with my brother, Archbishop Justin, we can confer on these joint groups of bishops the mandate of continuing to testify to the unity willed by God for his Church in their respective regions, as they move forward together ‘to extend the mercy and peace of God to a world in need.’”
The bishops traveled to Canterbury for the latter portion of their meetings on January 26-29. They attended Vigil Mass at the Catholic Parish Church of St. Thomas of Canterbury and a sung Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral. The bishops issued a joint statement that follows this report (and is available in multiple formats from IARCCUM).
Dr. Christopher Wells, the Anglican Communion’s director of unity, faith and order, described the importance of IARCCUM gatherings in its 24-year history.
“IARCCUM has, since its appearance in 2000, broken new ground on the ecumenical landscape, as it seeks to apply all that the theological dialogue between Anglicans and Catholics has achieved since 1967. The pairs of bishops, as they commit to shared ministry in every way possible, serve as pioneers on the way to the fullness of unity in faith, order, and witness, which is the Lord’s will.”
Wells added: “That both of our communions are investing in this practical, experimental work shows the depth of our commitment to the unflagging pursuit of full, visible unity in the body of Christ. As we pray, study, teach, and serve alongside other Christians, the Holy Spirit reshapes our hearts, and what seemed remote or unimaginable becomes real and normal. Unity is not as hard as we think. It begins and ends with love of God and one another and subsists in common prayer.”
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