Joint Anglican, Catholic Statement on Mary Marks Global Launch
Some Anglican and Roman Catholic leaders celebrated the global launch of the joint publication on the Virgin Mary’s role in the church.
The joint statement, “Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ,” essentially upholds the Catholic dogma on the Immaculate Conception – a belief that the mother of Jesus was born free of original sin – and the Ascension of Mary into heaven without dying.
The 81-page booklet is the fruit of five years of ecumenical talks between the two largest Christian bodies, and represents the first joint Anglican-Catholic statement on Mary.
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The principal launch of the document took place at the Cathedral of St James (Roman Catholic) in Seattle, but the global launch was held in London on May 19 at the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey.
During the London launch, Abbey Canon Nicholas Sagovsky – one of the Anglican members of the commission that drafted the report – said the report does not speak on behalf of the two church bodies since top authorities must first recognize and give credence to the work.
However, Sagovsky said that even if the authorities decide not to affirm it, the statement shows “a remarkable convergence amongst Roman Catholic and Anglican theologians on issues which have long been painfully divisive.”
Sagovsky also recognized that the study of Mary has “been an obvious area of division between our two Communions.” However, he said his group tried to answer two key questions: can such devotional practices and dogmas be reconciled with the Scripture? And would Anglicans need to agree to those teachings before sharing communion with Catholics?
“What we have achieved, we suggest, is an answer to the first question and a partial answer to the second,” he said during the vespers, according to Anglican Communion News. “We have shown that our two traditions are nothing like so far apart on Mary as we might have thought.”
He explained that the Marian devotion comes from the belief that God has graced the Virgin Mary by blessing her life from the beginning.
“This was our way of approaching the two Marian doctrines in the light of our reading of Scripture. If we are right - that it is legitimate to approach the dogmas in this way - then Anglicans should not reject Roman Catholic Marian doctrine out of hand as 'unscriptural,’” he said.
The booklet, which received much criticism from evangelical and protestant-leaning Anglicans, has yet to be affirmed by the top Anglican and Catholic authorities.
