From Mr Bernard Cartwright
Sir, - Recently reported comments on the irrelevance of the
Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) by Lord
Carey are rudimentary and incomplete, and yet contain a hidden
truth.
Perhaps if he had heeded the overture by Cardinal Hume at the
time to suspend the ordination of women, ARCIC would have found the
traction it needed to go forward towards some form of organic
union.
If the Vatican response to ARCIC had not been spun out over
years, it might have helped to stop the Church of England from
falling quite so far into the arms of the feminist lobby, in the
way it did.
Yet Lord Carey's alarm call could give the new ARCIC process a
boost if it could return to first principles: the nature of God's
covenant with people, and the theology of healing itself.
If ARCIC could see the Reformation (and, dare I say, Bultmann)
against this backdrop, we might return to spirit of the first Roman
Catholic co-chairman of ARCIC, Bishop Alan Clark of East Anglia:
"If we have not moved forwards to organic union by the year 2000 I
will be an unhappy man."
BERNARD CARTWRIGHT,
(Former Director of the Churches' Council for Health and
Healing)
30 Castle Grove
Oldswinford
Stourbridge DY8 2HH