ANGLICAN/ROMAN CATHOLIC CONSULTATION IN THE UNITED STATES (ARC-USA)

The Anglican/Roman Catholic Consultation in the United States (ARC-USA) is the official dialogue on the national level seeking full communion between the Roman Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church. ARC-USA is jointly sponsored by and reports to the Bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (BCEIA) of the united states conference of catholic bishops (USCCB) and the Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations (SCER) of the House of Bishops and the House of (Clerical and Lay) Deputies of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. By March 2001, the consultation had met 51 times since its initial meeting in Washington, D.C. in June 1965. Meetings include periods of shared prayer, theological discussion, and reports.

During its first few years, the theological dialogue focused on the Eucharist and its liturgical celebration, the nature of doctrinal agreements, and practical and methodological considerations and produced several agreed statements: Eucharist (1967), Progress and Practical Cooperation (1969), Doctrinal Agreement and Christian Unity: Methodological Considerations (1972), Agreed Statement on the Purpose of the Church (1975), and Where We Are: A Challenge for the Future (1977), a 12-year report. When the General Convention of the Episcopal Church was expected to consider the question of the ordination of women in 1976, ARC-USA addressed this development and related theological topics with Statement on the Ordination of Women (1975) and Images of God: Reflections on Christian Anthropology (1983). Anticipating the 100th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII's apostolic letter on Anglican orders (Apostolicae Curae ) and taking into account the considerable progress of the Anglican/Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) on eucharist and ministry, ARC-USA produced Anglican Orders: A Report on the Evolving Context for their Evaluation in the Roman Catholic Church (1990). Faced with the need to reconsider certain aspects of the agreements already reached between Anglicans and Catholics by this national dialogue and ARCIC, ARCUSA issued: A Recommitment to Full Communion (1992), How Can We Recognize "Substantial Agreement"? (1993), and Five Affirmations on the Eucharist as Sacrifice (1994). ARC-USA also turned its attention to a topic on the ongoing agenda of ARCIC by issuing Christian Ethics in the Ecumenical Dialogue: Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission II and Recent Papal (1995). At the turn of the millennium ARC-USA was engaged in the study of ecclesiology with emphasis on the exercise of authority within the Church. The first step of this project was Agreed Report on the Local/Universal Church (1999). In the "Introduction" this report is described as "a contribution to the healing of wounds and the sharing of gifts" so that both churches will "reach a more profound understanding of authority and will embody it more faithfully" and "will learn better how to learn from the other."

Bibliography: j. w. witmer and j. r. wright, eds., Called to Full Unity (USCCB Publication No. 937; Washington, D.C. 1986), includes ARC-USA's first 7 statements in chronological order. j. gros, e. r. elder, and e. k. wondra, eds., Common Witness to the Gospel (USCCB Publication No. 5-060; Washington, D.C. 1997), includes ARC-USA's next 5 statements. "An Agreed Report on the Local/Universal Church," Origins, Catholic News Service Documentary Service 30, 6 (June 22, 2000): 85–95. e. r. falardeau, ARC Soundings (NADEO, 1990). Receiving the Vision (Collegeville, Minn. 1995). j. borelli, "Renewal for Anglican-Roman Catholic Relations," America (Aug 26–Sept. 2, 2000): 12–15. g. h. tavard, "The Work of ARC-USA: Reflections post-factum," One in Christ (1993) 247–59; "Communion in a Time of Estrangement," Ecumenical Trends 22, 5 (May 1993) 1, 10–13. j. r. wright. "The Reception of ARCIC I in the USA [by ARC-USA] Latest Developments," in Communion et Reunion: Mélanges Jean Marie Roger Tillard, ed. g. r. evans and m. gourgues (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium 121; Leuven 1995) 217–230.

[j. borelli]