CONTENTS

January 2001

After more than 30 years of work by the theological commission set up by ARCIC, the RomanCatholic and Anglican bishops decided to take stock of what had been achieved and to consider the two Churches' relations from a specifically pastoral standpoint. Thirteen pairs of bishops from different parts of the world met for a week in May last year at Mississauga in Canada. Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, and John Hind, bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, represented England and Wales. We publish here a slightly adapted version of the article written by Bishop Hind for Unity Digest, in which he gives an account of the meeting of bishops. Archbishop Murphy-O'Connor, who gave one of the presentations at the meeting, then adds a comment on that report.

When the bishops wrote their teaching document on the Eucharist One Bread One Body the press gave it a critical reception. Bernard Longley, who is Secretary to the Committee for Christian Unity of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, reflects, after two years, on some of the responses and shows how the document was intended to be a resource. It also offers an opportunity 'to face together the serious matters that still divide us'.

Paul Avis is General Secretary of the Church of England's Council for Christian Unity. Here he outlines the Anglican vision of unity and the ways this has been worked out in different policies. The Anglican-Roman Catholic relationship in England has grown strong but the recent 'Dominus Iesus has had a devastating effect on the morale of Anglican-Roman Catholic relations.'

Jenny Carpenter, a Methodist local preacher, spent ten years as Field Officer (North and Midlands) of Churches Together in England (1990-2000). She offers a Free Church understanding of unity and then draws upon her extensive experience to show how Christians are working together in local schemes. 'We must value the past and present experiences while daring to explore new ways of being Church together.'

How does the theory of Christian unity work out in pastoral practice? William Boxall, a priest of the Cardiff archdiocese, is chaplain at the University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, in the Rhondda Valley. He shows how he and his Anglican colleague together live out their 'oneness of baptism' in an ecumenical chaplaincy setting.

Peter Turbitt, parish priest of St John Vianney, Wantage in the Portsmouth diocese, offers these reflections on the readings for the Sundays of February.

The bishops of England and Wales produced a document in 1998, Valuing difference, about adopting more inclusive approaches to people with disabilities. Not every parish has studied the paper, so we offer here an 'encouraging word'. Michelle Scott is a writer of children's religious books, a tutor and a psychiatric nurse and has worked with many people with different abilities.

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Books

Sing a New Song: the Christian vocation
Timothy Radcliffe OP
Dominican Publications, , £9.99
Tablet Bookshop Price: £ Tel: 01420 592 974


The Teaching of the Catholic Church: a new catechism of Christian doctrine
Herbert McCabe OP
Darton, Longman and Todd, £4.95
Tablet Bookshop Price: £ Tel: 01420 592 974

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