Read between the lines. A case of the Anglican-RC dialogue.

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Read between the lines. A case of the Anglican-RC dialogue.

Forum: Theological Expressions
Re:

Reconciliation, Towards Unity - Anglicans: With Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Orthodox, Baptists, Pentecostals, etc (Matthew Tan Yew Hock)
Date: 2001, May 28
From: Christopher Yip CKHY

It is important to appreciate the doctrinal foundation upon which any ecumenical unity must be built.
http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/schwartz.html
Much progress has been made in all of these dialogues. Nevertheless, we should still be cautious in our expectations. The Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue which took place from 1967 to 1981 reminds us of that hard truth. Significant agreements had been achieved on the Eucharist, the pastoral office, and the authority in the church. Én its final report the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission expressed the conviction that this agreement would not only express a growing convergence but be a stepping stone on the way to organic union5. Én a joint statement at Canterbury Cathedral the Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope John Paul ÉÉ promised to establish a new commission to continue the work begun, to examine the still existing differences, and to bring them to a resolution6. The issuing of this rather promising statement of May 29, 1982 must, however, be seen in the light of previous events. One day after the Final Report was published a letter, dated March 30 and signed by Cardinal Ratzinger of the Sacred Congregation on the Doctrine of Faith and directed to the Roman Catholic co-chairman Bishop Alan D. Clark of the International Commission, claimed that the final report did not represent a "substantial agreement"7. Ratzinger objected that some Roman Catholic doctrines had only been partly accepted by the Anglicans or not at all, some formulations were ambiguous and open to differing interpretations, and others were hardly agreeable to Roman Catholic teaching. After this ominous signal the Osservatore Romano published on May 6, 1982 the official response of the Congregation to the Final Report. It had been sent to the chairmen of the Roman Catholic bishops' conferences already on April 2 and was at least as critical as Ratzinger's letter8. It criticized the statements on the Eucharistic change of the elements, the adoration of the sacrament, the ordination of women, papal infallibility, and apostolic succession.
Wolfhart Pannenberg has rightly noted that the criteria for evaluation as employed by the Congregation resembled more the tone of Vatican É and Trent than Vatican ÉÉ or more recent theological consensus9. The Anglican communion is closer to Rome than most other Protestant communions, and the talks had reached the stage at which the dialogue should have been translated into action. Many of the agreements resemble in content the Lutheran-Roman Catholic documents on the Eucharist and on the priestly office, as well as the Lima document of 1982. Many people are now rightly worried that the road toward unity has suddenly been narrowed to a winding path.
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It is people like Ratzinger who can see that there is no unity without doctrinal unity. The following Roman Catholic article also understands the same thing. To agree on generalities and insignificant traditions, to gloss over precision, to be intentionally ambiguous in theological formulations, are all a waste of precious time. It is just an exercise in futility, an outward show.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/3251/ecumen.html
CATHOLIC vs. FALSE ECUMENISM
... and the plan for Restoration
by the Abbe deNantes: (CRC July 1972)
Christopher