Dialogue Press Release

USCC News Release: Anglican/Catholic Commission Issues Statement on Purpose of the Church (1975)

Topic
Office/Committee
Year Published
  • 1975
Language
  • English

USCC News Release: Anglican/Catholic Commission Issues Statement on Purpose of the Church by William Ryan, October 29, 1975

WASHINGTON--A group of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops and theologians, charged with pursuing the goal of organic unity between the two communions, have issued a statement expressing "substantial agreement" about the purpose of the Church.

"We have uncovered no essential points on which we differ," the statement says. It adds: "And we know, also that insofar as the Church appears visibly divided, its pur­pose is obscured, its mission impeded, and its witness weakened. We yearn, therefore, for a restoration of the unity that will serve our common purpose."

The Agreed Statement on the Purpose of the Church was issued by the Anglican/Roman Catholic Commission in the U.S.A., which has been meeting since 1965 under the auspices of the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical ana· Interreligious Affairs and the Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations of the Episcopal Church. The co-chairmen of the Commission are Rt. Reverend Arthur A. Vogel, Episcopal Bishop of West Missouri, and Most Rev. Charles H. Helmsing, Bishop of the Catholic diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo.

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