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Archbishop of Brisbane, John Bathersby has been appointed joint chair of the international Anglican-Roman Catholic Working Group.
Archbishop Bathersby will chair the newly
established 14-member group with South Africa’s Anglican Bishop of Highveld, David Beetge.
“I am certainly honoured by the appointment but I must admit I am also very conscious of the challenges this Working
Group will be facing,” Archbishop Bathersby said.
The group was set up in the wake of an historic week-long meeting between Catholic and Anglican representatives from 13 countries in Canada last year.
The event stemmed from a 1996 joint declaration by Pope John Paul II and the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, on the need for further consultation regarding the progression of the relationship between the two
faiths.
In a declaration following the Canada meeting, participants called for a new commission to bring about greater cooperation than is currently the case.
“Through last year’s meeting we realised
how much Catholics and Anglicans actually shared in common and this is an excellent foundation to build upon,” Archbishop Bathersby said.
Archbishop Bathersby said the preparation of a joint declaration of
agreement would be the priority of the group, which would work towards the goal of “full visible unity.”
“It is quite exciting. There was a tremendous sense of optimism and hope in Canada,” said Archbishop
Bathersby.
“We became very conscious of what we share in common … and the sense of the need to get the Good News out to a world that needs it so much.”
Fellow Australians Archbishop Peter Carnley,
Anglican Primate of Australia, and Melbourne’s Fr Peter Cross, a world-re-nown Catholic ecumenist, will join Archbishop Bathersby.
A formal mandate for the working group has not yet been announced, but the
first meeting of the group is expected to be held later this year.
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