ARCHBISHOP John Bathersby of Brisbane will help lead the revival of a stalled international dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion in Rome from November 10-17.
Archbishop Bathersby is the Catholic co-chair of the International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), which will meet for the first time since 2003.
Talks were stood down after ecclesiological concerns were raised by the Vatican in the wake of the appointment of an openly gay Episcopal (Anglican) bishop in the United States in 2003.
A planned IARCCUM meeting in February 2004 was subsequently cancelled.
Archbishop Bathersby said the Anglican Communion had sought to resolve the internal situation and it was now possible to resume the IARCCUM dialogue.
He said president of the Vatican Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper, had given the green light for the commission’s talks to resume.
IARCCUM was established in 2001 to find practical ways to promote and improve relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.
One of the commission’s main undertakings has been to draft a statement of agreement on what the two Churches have in common.
Archbishop Bathersby hoped work on finalising the document would resume at this month’s meeting.
Another Australian Catholic member of the commission, Fr Peter Cross of Melbourne, won’t be attending the Rome meeting because of ill health.
