The Receptive ecumenism process encourages each participant to openly put forward and discuss the most serious problems they are working through.

Unlike earlier Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue which has focussed on doctrine, receptive ecumenism starts from a position of weakness, humility, conversion, Archbishop David Moxon said.

The recent ARCCANZ meeting further studied John Paul II's 1995 apostolic letter to the Orthodox churches of the world which also called for conversion, humility.

It is only through conversion that Christianity can hope to address the serious sin of separation and only through humility can the West learn from the beauty of memory, the silence and inner quiet, the inaccessible mystery of the Holy Trinity inherent in the liturgies of the East, maintained John Paul II.

The latest meeting welcomed Father John C. O'Connor of Christchurch, who is parish priest of North Canterbury and the Chatham Islands, as its newest Catholic member.

The meeting was held at Mercy Spirituality Centre in Epsom. The purpose of this body is to further the goal of the Anglican and Catholic Churches reuniting, and to examine what this might mean in practice.

Source:

• Anglican Taonga
• Image: Archdiocese of St. Boniface