IN THE continuing journey toward full communion, the Roman Catholic Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion have for many years prayerfully considered a number of questions concerning the faith we share and the way we articulate it in the life and worship of our two households of faith.

We have submitted Agreed Statements to the Holy See and to the Anglican Communion for comment, further clarification if necessary, and conjoint acceptance as congruent with the faith of Anglicans and Roman Catholics.

In framing this Agreed Statement, we have drawn on the scriptures and the common tradition which predates the Reformation and the Counter Reformation. As in previous Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) documents, we have attempted to use language that reflects what we hold in common and transcends the controversies of the past.

At the same time, in this statement we have had to face squarely dogmatic definitions which are integral to the faith of Roman Catholics but largely foreign to the faith of Anglicans.

The members of ARCIC, over time, have sought to embrace one another’s ways of doing theology and have considered together the historical context in which certain doctrines developed. In so doing, we have learned to receive anew our own traditions, illumined and deepened by the understanding of and appreciation for each other’s tradition.

The immaculate conception and the assumption

THE particular circumstances and precise formulations of the 1854 [immaculate conception] and 1950 [assumption] definitions have created problems not only for Anglicans but also for other Christians. The formulations of these doctrines and some objections to them are situated within the thought-forms of their time.

In particular, the phrases “revealed by God” (1854) and “divinely revealed” (1950) used in the dogmas reflect the theology of revelation that was dominant in the Roman Catholic Church at the time that the definitions were made, and which found authoritative expression in the Constitution Dei Filius of the First Vatican Council.

They have to be understood today in the light of the way this teaching was refined by the Second Vatican Council in its Constitution Dei Verbum, particularly in regard to the central role of scripture in the reception and transmission of revelation.

When the Roman Catholic Church affirms that a truth is “revealed by God”, there is no suggestion of new revelation. Rather, the definitions are understood to bear witness to what has been revealed from the beginning.

The scriptures bear normative witness to such revelation (cf. The Gift of Authority 19). This revelation is received by the community of believers and transmitted in time and place through the scriptures and through the preaching, liturgy, spirituality, life and teaching of the Church, that draw upon the scriptures.

In The Gift of Authority the Commission sought to explicate a method by which such authoritative teaching could arise, the key point being that it needs to be in conformity with scripture, which remains a primary concern for Anglicans and Roman Catholics alike.

ANGLICANS have asked whether it would be a condition of the future restoration of full communion that they should be required to accept the definitions of 1854 and 1950. Roman Catholics find it hard to envisage a restoration of communion in which acceptance of certain doctrines would be requisite for some and not for others.

In addressing these issues, we have been mindful that “one consequence of our separation has been a tendency for Anglicans and Roman Catholics alike to exaggerate the importance of the Marian dogmas in themselves at the expense of the other truths more closely related to the foundation of the Christian faith” (Authority II 30).

Anglicans and Roman Catholics agree that the doctrines of the assumption and the immaculate conception of Mary must be understood in the light of the more central truth of her identity as Theotókos, which itself depends on faith in the incarnation.

We recognise that, following the Second Vatican Council and the teaching of recent Popes, the Christological and ecclesiological context for the Church’s doctrine concerning Mary is being re-received within the Roman Catholic Church.

We now suggest that the adoption of an eschatological perspective may deepen our shared understanding of the place of Mary in the economy of grace, and the tradition of the Church concerning Mary which both our Communions receive. Our hope is that the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion will recognise a common faith in the agreement concerning Mary which we here offer.

Such a re-reception would mean the Marian teaching and devotion within our respective communities, including differences of emphasis, would be seen to be authentic expressions of Christian belief. Any such re-reception would have to take place within the context of a mutual re-reception of an effective teaching authority in the Church, such as that set out in The Gift of Authority.

Conclusion

OUR STUDY, which opens with a careful ecclesial and ecumenical reading of the scriptures, in the light of the ancient common traditions, has illuminated in a new way the place of Mary in the economy of hope and grace. We together re-affirm the agreements reached previously by ARCIC, in Authority in the Church II 30:

• that any interpretation of the role of Mary must not obscure the unique mediation of Christ;
• that any consideration of Mary must be linked with the doctrines of Christ and the Church;
• that we recognise the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Theotókos, the mother of God incarnate, and so observe her festivals and accord her honour among the saints;
• that Mary was prepared by grace to be the mother of our Redeemer, by whom she herself was redeemed and received into glory;
• that we recognise Mary as a model of holiness, faith and obedience for all Christians; and
• that Mary can be seen as a prophetic figure of the Church.
We believe that the present statement significantly deepens and extends these agreements, setting them within a comprehensive study of doctrine and devotion associated with Mary. . .

This study has led us to the conclusion that it is impossible to be faithful to scripture without giving due attention to the person of Mary.

In recalling together the ancient common traditions, we have discerned afresh the central importance of the Theotókos in the Christological controversies, and the Fathers’ use of biblical images to interpret and celebrate Mary’s place in the plan of salvation.

We have reviewed the growth of devotion to Mary in the medieval centuries, and the theological controversies associated with them. We have seen how some excesses in late medieval devotion, and reactions against them by the Reformers, contributed to the breach of communion between us, following which attitudes toward Mary took divergent paths.

We have also noted evidence of subsequent developments in both our Communions, which opened the way for a re-reception of the place of Mary in the faith and life of the Church.

This growing convergence has also allowed us to approach in a fresh way the questions about Mary which our two Communions have set before us. In doing so, we have framed our work within the pattern of grace and hope which we discover in scripture — “predestined . . . called . . . justified . . . glorified” (Romans 8.30).

AS A RESULT of our study, the Commission offers the following agreements, which we believe significantly advance our consensus regarding Mary. We affirm together:

• the teaching that God has taken the Blessed Virgin Mary in the fullness of her person into his glory as consonant with scripture, and only to be understood in the light of scripture;
• that in view of her vocation to be the mother of the Holy One, Christ’s redeeming work reached “back” in Mary to the depths of her being and to her earliest beginnings;
• that the teaching about Mary in the two definitions of the assumption and the immaculate conception, understood within the biblical pattern of the economy of hope and grace, can be said to be consonant with the teaching of the scriptures and the ancient common traditions;
• that this agreement, when accep-ted by our two Communions, would place the questions about authority which arise from the two definitions of 1854 and 1950 in a new ecumenical context;
• that Mary has a continuing ministry which serves the ministry of Christ, our unique mediator, that Mary and the saints pray for the whole Church and that the practice of asking Mary and the saints to pray for us is not communion-dividing.

We agree that doctrines and devotions which are contrary to scripture cannot be said to be revealed by God nor to be the teaching of the Church. We agree that doctrine and devotion which focuses on Mary, including claims to “private revelations”, must be moderated by carefully expressed norms which ensure the unique and central place of Jesus Christ in the life of the Church, and that Christ alone, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is to be worshipped in the Church.

OUR STATEMENT has sought not to clear away all possible problems, but to deepen our common understanding to the point where remaining diversities of devotional practice may be received as the varied work of the Spirit amongst all the people of God.

We believe that the agreement we have here outlined is itself the product of a re-reception by Anglicans and Roman Catholics of doctrine about Mary and that it points to the possibility of further reconciliation, in which issues concerning doctrine and devotion to Mary need no longer be seen as communion-dividing, or an obstacle in a new stage of our growth into visible koinonia.

This agreed statement is now offered to our respective authorities. It may also in itself prove a valuable study of the teaching of the scriptures and the ancient common traditions about the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God incarnate. Our hope is that, as we share in the one Spirit by which Mary was prepared and sanctified for her unique vocation, we may together participate with her and all the saints in the unending praise of God.

This is an edited extract from Mary: Grace and hope in Christ (Continuum, £7.99 (CT Bookshop £7.20); 0-8192-8132-8).