[Episcopal Church Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations] The Anglican-Roman Catholic Theological Consultation in the United States of America (ARCUSA) met December 16-18 to continue conversations toward an agreed statement about reconciliation. The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Lee, Bishop of Chicago, also offered greetings to the gathering, which met at the Nicholas Center, the diocese’s conference center in downtown Chicago.

Five members of the dialogue teams presented papers on aspects of reconciliation in biblical, liturgical, ecclesiastical, sacramental, social and theological contexts. The Roman Catholic presenters were Dr. Barbara Sain, associate professor at the University of St. Thomas; and the Rev. Dr. Thomas Rausch, SJ, professor at Loyola Marymount. Presenters from the Episcopal Church were the Rev. Dr. Michael Cover, assistant professor at Marquette; Dr. John Kiess, associate professor at Loyola of Maryland; and Dr. Christopher Wells, publisher of The Living Church.

The consultation also reviewed progress on drafting a response to the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission’s 2017 statement on the doctrine of the church, Walking Together in the Way: Learning to be the Church — Local, Regional, Universal. Richard Mammana of the Episcopal Church’s Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations also briefed the body on two ecumenical proposals that will be considered by the 2021 General Convention, a full communion agreement with the United Methodist Church and a four-way mutual recognition of full communion agreements between the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

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