THE GENERAL SYNOD
COMMITTEE FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY
REPORT 2000
1.	MEMBERSHIP OF the COMMITTEE
The Archbishops and Bishops	Rev Iain Knox	
Ms Janet Barcroft	Rev Canon Walter Lewis	
Rt Hon David Bleakley	Ven Gregor McCamley	
Very Rev Herbert Cassidy	Mrs Roberta McKelvey	
Mr George Clarke	Dr Kenneth Milne	
Rev Canon David Crooks	Mr Trevor Morrow	
Rev Dr Ian Ellis	Rev Daniel Nuzum	
Very Rev Leslie Forrest	Rev Gillian Wharton	
Very Rev David Godfrey	Rev Trevor Williams	
Rev Robert Gray (Honorary Secretary)	Mrs Andrea Wills	
Mrs Ruth Heard		
		
2.	The Irish Council of Churches/The Inter-Church Meeting
A gathering of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting took place at the Emmaus Centre, Swords, Co Dublin from 23-24 April 1999.  The main themes of the meeting were Moving beyond Sectarianism, facilitated by Dr Joseph Liechty and Dr Cecilia Clegg of the Irish School of Ecumenics and the plight of refugees in Ireland.  The Church of Ireland was well represented both days of the meeting.
During 1999, the Irish Inter-Church Meeting submitted its proposal for its reconstitution under the new name of the Conference of Churches in Ireland.  This was approved by all member churches, with the exception of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.  In recent months, the Review Group has been reconvened in an effort to find a way forward and it will make its recommendations in due course.  In the mean time, the structures of the Irish Council of Churches and the Irish Inter-Church Meeting continue as before.  The Committee for Christian Unity views this situation with disappointment and regret and urges all traditions to re-examine the situation so that real movement can be made towards the establishment of one and inclusive ecumenical body for Ireland.
A copy of the annual report of the ICC will be made available at the General Synod.
3.	Churches Together in Britain and Ireland
The Bishop of Kilmore and the Rev Robert Gray are the Church of Ireland’s delegates to the CTBI Church Representatives Meeting.  The meeting in May 1999 was dominated by the crisis in Kosova and a hard-hitting statement was issued.  The implications of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry were discussed and it was acknowledged that racist attitudes within churches must be addressed.  At the November 1999 meeting, the Rev Dr Ian Ellis attended in place of the Rev Robert Gray, who was representing the Church of Ireland at a WCC ecumenical officers meeting.  Delegates were given an update on the CTBI project Building Bridges of Hope, which involves 43 parishes and congregations throughout Britain and Ireland being observed as they strive to become missionary congregations.  The CRM is to ask member churches to highlight the issues raised by survivors of sexual abuse and to set up appropriate structures to deal with it.
Seven priorities have been outlined for CTBI: 1) Taking sufficiently seriously the fact that we are churches engaged together across four nations; 2) Engaging young people fully in the life of CTBI; 3) Finding and using appropriate models for ecumenical action; 4) Developing a strategy for communication; 5) Developing and sustaining ecumenical learning and formation; 6) Working for a just and inclusive society and 7) Developing relations with people of other faiths.
The Committee for Christian Unity congratulates the Bishop of Cashel and Ossory on his appointment as a President of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
4.	The Conference of European Churches
CEC issued a number of letters to the churches in Ireland during 1999 and 2000, offering their prayerful support and encouragement to the people of Northern Ireland as the political situation developed.
Dr Kenneth Milne attended the first meeting of the CEC Church and Society Commission in Finland in May 1999, as an observer on behalf of the Irish Council of Churches.  Once again, the conflict in Kosova was a dominant issue, as was the challenge posed by differences in outlook between the churches of the east and those of the west.
In the autumn of 1999, CEC and CCEE (the Roman Catholic European Bishops Conference) produced the Charta Ecumenica, a blueprint for good ecumenical practice.  It is currently being considered by the Committee.
5.	The World Council of Churches
The Bishop of Cashel attended the Central Committee meeting in Geneva at the end of August 1999.  This meeting was characterised by a sharing of concerns and genuine attempts to overcome some of the difficulties that have been experienced by the WCC in recent years.  The proposal that a Forum be established to encourage participation with non-WCC members such as the Roman Catholic Church and evangelical and pentecostal churches is continuing to be explored.  The WCC has declared the next ten years to be a Decade to Overcome Violence and the churches will be receiving details of the programme over the coming months.  Crises in Kosova and central Africa were discussed, as was the issue of national identity and its importance in the modern world.
The Rev Robert Gray attended the third meeting of ecumenical officers held in Morges, near Geneva, in November 1999.  Approximately forty churches were represented from all corners of the world.  Much of the meeting was spent sharing information regarding ecumenical relationships and the socio-political situation in the delegates’ home countries.  Orthodox difficulties with the WCC and relations with non-member churches were also discussed.  Delegates were updated on the various bilateral and multilateral conversations that are currently taking place throughout the world, the extent of which is truly remarkable as genuine ecumenical progress is made.
6.	Relations with the Roman Catholic Church
The Study Group established to consider the document One Bread One Body has made its response, which was presented to an Inter-Church Consultation hosted by the Irish Inter-Church Meeting.  The text has also been forwarded to the Irish Episcopal Conference Advisory Committee on Ecumenism and to the Bishops’ Conferences of England, Scotland and Wales for information.  It appears as Appendix A.
A Study Group has been convened to respond to the ARCIC document The Gift of Authority and is in the process of finalising its response, which will be presented to the Standing Committee shortly.
7.	The Reuilly Common Statement
The Reuilly Common Statement, an agreement between the British and Irish Anglican Churches and the French Lutheran and Reformed Churches, was published in the autumn of 1999 under the title Called to Witness and Service.  It is being brought before General Synod for approval this year.  The Declaration may be found in Appendix A to the Standing Committee Report.
8.	The Church of Ireland/Methodist Church Joint Theological Working Party
The report appears as Appendix B.
9.	The Inter-Church Consultative Committee for Local Schemes of Co-operation
The report appears as Appendix C.

Appendix A
RESPONSE OF THE CHURCH OF IRELAND
GENERAL SYNOD COMMITTEE FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY
TO THE DOCUMENT ONE BREAD ONE BODY
PRODUCED BY THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS' CONFERENCE
OF ENGLAND & WALES, IRELAND, AND SCOTLAND 1998
Introduction
There is much in One Bread One Body to be welcomed, although we have certain critical comments to make.  We welcome the constantly reiterated desire to achieve the unity of the Church and the highlighting of those aspects of eucharistic teaching which represent what is held in common between the Anglican and Roman Catholic communions.
One Bread One Body is essentially a teaching document for Roman Catholics on these islands, but is also offered to fellow Christians of other traditions.  But it is not only offered for study to other Christians, it writes its theology with a constant awareness of ecumenical reception and of the changing and indeed encouraging ecumenical scene in which it is being issued.  This explicit awareness of the ecumenical context is all too seldom found in any of our traditions.  It is helpful that important ecumenical work is recognised in the document, not least the fact that it draws on the Agreed Statements of the Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC).
It is helpful that the document places so much emphasis on the doctrine of the church and on the communion that we already share as Christians.  There is no doubt that there is a clear recognition that the basic problem is the disunity of the church, and not simply the difficulties surrounding admission to Holy Communion.  There is a very clear commitment to the ecumenical challenge and vision on every page.  
With regard to unity, the Church of Ireland at its General  Synod in May 1999 reaffirmed its commitment to the goal of the visible unity of Christ's Church and, without altering its formularies, distanced itself from certain uncharitable expressions contained in certain of the Articles of Religion (including some which related to the doctrine of the eucharist).  In producing this response to One Bread One Body it is intended to make a contribution to the “continuing dialogue” that is called for in the document.
The church and the churches
It has to be said at the outset that members of the Church of Ireland question what appears to be a presupposition of the document, namely that the Roman Catholic Church is in some sense to be identified as “the church”.  We believe that, rather than being referred to as a “Christian community,” the Church of Ireland should be referred to as a church.  Belief in the church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic is a matter of faith and is an essential part of the Christian religion.  Particular churches, whether the Roman Catholic, the Anglican, the Reformed, the Lutheran or the Orthodox (to give several examples) are not the whole church although they may well claim to be legitimate embodiments of it in history.  The Church of Ireland, as a body which is “ancient, Catholick and apostolic” as well as “Reformed,” is authentically part of the church universal.
Diversity in eucharistic faith
If the universal church itself is greater than any of its partial realisations in history (including the Roman Catholic Church and the provinces of the Anglican Communion) then it is congruous with this that the mystery of the eucharist transcends any particular expressions of eucharistic theology.  The “comprehensiveness” of Anglicanism, including the diversity of the teaching of its various schools of thought on the eucharist, springs not from indifference or confusion, but from at least an implied recognition of this.  However, there is a certain basic eucharistic understanding, represented for example in the Church Catechism, the Book of Common Prayer and elsewhere, which is shared by all church members.  This may be understood as a microcosm of the situation in the world church in which there is an identifiable common faith in the eucharist in spite of the diversities of particular traditions.  It may be said therefore that, given that common core of faith, there is also a legitimate diversity of teaching and practice in today's church just as there appears to have been in the church of the New Testament.
The Church of Ireland recognises the Roman Catholic Church as an authentic part of the church universal, its ministry as a true ministry, and its sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion as authentic sacraments of the Gospel, notwithstanding dogmatic differences, some of which are of a serious nature.  For this reason, from the standpoint of their own tradition, members of the Church of Ireland would receive Holy Communion in the Roman Catholic Church.  It is a matter for profound regret that the occasions when this can  officially  be allowed are so severely, and it would appear, unnecessarily, restricted by the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church.  We would be particularly critical of the treatment of this matter in paragraph 106ff of the document in which it is stated that when applying the norms to a particular case, there is no intention to present that case as a type or precedent for other apparently similar cases.  This would be likely to lead to inconsistency.
The Church of Ireland, by resolution of Synod, welcomes baptised and communicant members of other Christian churches to receive Holy Communion.  This implies that there is sufficient agreement on eucharistic teaching between the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions for this to be meaningful (this has been expressed with some clarity by ARCIC I).  The criterion, it is felt, must be that of “sufficient” agreement; “total” agreement not being attainable.  To put it another way, there needs to be agreement at the level of faith if not necessarily at the level of theology.  It is on this basis that Anglicans invite Roman Catholics to receive Holy Communion (cf “substantial” agreement on eucharistic doctrine achieved in ARCIC I).
Anglican Orders
The denial of the reality of Anglican ordinations (and of the sacramental ministrations which flow from them), however tactfully stated, is totally unacceptable to the Church of Ireland.  Being described as “communities rooted in the Reformation” ignores the fact that our roots lie in the primitive church.  It is a matter of great concern that such a proposition has been re-stated recently in Cardinal Ratzinger's commentary on the Pope's apostolic letter Ad Tuendam Fidem, issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  In the commentary it appears that the declaration of Pope Leo XIII in the apostolic letter Apostolicae Curae on the supposed invalidity of Anglican ordinations is to be regarded as a truth connected to revelation by historical necessity and which is to be held definitively.
Dialogue and context
We regret the fact that there was no ecumenical consultation prior to the publication of the document, as in fact was required in the Vatican’s 1993 Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, paragraph 130.  It would appear that the document was drawn up with the ecclesiastical situation in England and Wales rather than Scotland or Ireland primarily in mind.  The effects, insofar as it is possible at this stage to assess them, seem to have been negative.  Particular pain has been experienced by inter-church families and in those areas where ecumenical activity was already marked.
There are also problems concerning the interpretation of the document that become more pressing as it is carefully examined.  It appears that the practical instruction on communion and inter-communion (which are at the conclusion of One Bread One Body) was the first part of the work to be completed, and that the more free-flowing and constructive discourse on the Eucharist itself, which forms the opening chapters, actually followed later.  This seems to have led to a kind of dislocation between the devotional opening sections of One Bread One Body and the two final sections which seem to be different in tone and are concerned almost entirely with a justification for the strictness of the regulations of the Roman Catholic Church.  In effect there are indeed two documents, the second one conceptually pre-dating the first.  This greatly affects any 'reading' of the document and goes some way in accounting for the use of the ARCIC documents without drawing out the consequences of the conclusions reached.  It is clearly stated that “the eucharist is a hallowed means toward healing the divisions and deepening the unity of those who take part in any way” (paragraph 57).  But this is not the way forward that is offered.
Eucharistic Hospitality
It is important in the area of this discussion to make a distinction between inter-communion and eucharistic hospitality.  Inter-communion in the full sense, implying complete inter-church recognition and exchangeability of ministries (such as exists between the four Anglican churches in Britain and Ireland and the Nordic/Baltic Lutheran Churches under the Porvoo Agreement), is a long-term goal for the ecumenical movement as a whole including Anglican-Roman Catholic relations.  Eucharistic hospitality, in which members of one church are able on particular occasions to welcome members of another with which they are not necessarily in full communion, has a primarily pastoral dimension and can be practised (as it currently is by the Church of Ireland) without any diminution of commitment to the long-term goal.  What this involves is that we must all be brought to the point where we truly recognise that the eucharist is not ours but Christ's, and that the invitation to receive the sacrament is ultimately his invitation not ours, while continuing to grasp that the eucharist exists within the context of a visible community, and that the Church is not yet that single visible community.  Eucharistic hospitality, where it exists, must be extended in such a way as not to put pressure on those who may wish to be present without receiving.  At the same time it is unacceptable to us that the Roman Catholic Church should absolutely prohibit its members from receiving Holy Communion in the Church of Ireland and to suggest (as seems to be done in One Bread One Body paragraph 99) that other churches should actively discourage Roman Catholics from receiving Communion in their churches.
Conclusion
We believe that a continuation of this dialogue is essential; first of all because of the real pastoral needs of Christian people and second, because of the concerns we have identified, from our perspective, in One Bread One Body.  We hope that this dialogue could be deepened on the basis of the agreed common ground of the Scriptures - the Table of the Word - and our common baptism.

appendix b
METHODIST / CHURCH OF IRELAND
JOINT THEOLOGICAL WORKING PARTY
report to 
the METHODIST CONFERENCE 
and 
the GENERAL SYNOD OF THE CHURCH OF IRELAND
Membership
Church of Ireland
Rt Rev Harold Miller, Bishop of Down and Dromore (Co-Chair)
Very Rev Peter Barrett
Rev Canon Virginia Kennerley
Rev Canon William Marshall
Rev John Rutter
Very Rev Robert Townley
Methodist Church in Ireland
Rev Dudley Levistone Cooney (Co-Chair)
Rev Ian Henderson
Rev Donald Ker
Ms Gillian Kingston (Secretary)
Rev John Stephens
Rev Kenneth Thompson
In 1999, the General Synod of the Church of Ireland and the Conference of the Methodist Church in Ireland endorsed the measure of agreement reached by the Joint Theological Working Party, and encouraged it to hasten forward with its work.  This the Working Party has sought to do, meeting five times during the intervening year, once in residential session.
•	A residential meeting of the full Working Party was held at the Orlagh Centre, Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin on January 25/26, 2000.  The major session of the meeting was attended by the Primate of All Ireland, Most Rev Dr Robin Eames, and the President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Rev Dr Kenneth Wilson.  Following lengthy discussion, both as a Working Party and with the church leaders, we believe that we are in a position to affirm that, to quote the Primate, ‘There exists a special relationship between our two churches’.
•	Having considered a number of other covenant relationships, we wish to present the draft of a Covenant for the consideration of our two churches, with the request that this should be discussed at all levels within the churches (Appendix One).  We ask that comments be returned to the Secretary of the Joint Theological Working Party by January 31, 2001, so that a final form of the Covenant may be prepared for presentation to the General Synod and the Conference of 2001 for ratification and for signing in due course.  We have prepared notes to accompany the draft text to elucidate the clauses in the covenant.  We hope that these will be useful in initiating discussion at local and other levels.  Such discussion might include the invitation to members of the other church to participate.
•	Having considered further the theological issues outlined on the Report of 1999, we have concluded that the principal issue to be addressed is that of the nature of oversight in our churches.  Believing that many other issues fall into place when that issue is resolved, models for the reconciliation of our ministries are being explored.  For the context of this debate, we would draw the attention of our churches to the report of 1999.
•	As a step towards closer working relationships between our churches we believe that it will be necessary to widen the membership of the Joint Theological Working Party to include, at various stages, those with specific areas of expertise in our churches.
•	In an effort to gain a clearer picture of how our churches relate to each other in places where we share buildings, we have conducted a survey of joint ventures.  This survey is in the process of analysis. The following are the joint ventures concerned -
Carnalea
Christ Church, Leeson Park / Centenary
Monkstown, Newtownabbey
Movilla
Primacy
Shannon
Strathfoyle
Resolution
The Synod receives the Report of the Joint Theological Working Party and encourages the study and discussion of the draft covenant at local level, where possible, alongside members of the Methodist Church in Ireland.

appendix ONE
DRAFT COVENANT between
The Methodist Church in Ireland 
and the Church of Ireland
1	We acknowledge one another’s churches as belonging to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ and as truly participating in the apostolic mission of the whole people of God.
2	We acknowledge that in each of our churches the Word of God is authentically preached and the sacraments of baptism and holy communion duly administered.
3	We acknowledge that both our churches share in a common faith set forth in the scriptures and summarised in the historic creeds.
4	We acknowledge our common inheritance in traditions of spirituality and liturgy .We  rejoice in our diversity from which we may mutually benefit as we continue to develop appropriate patterns of worship.
5	We acknowledge each other’s ordained ministries as given by God and as instruments of his grace by which our churches are served and built up.  As pilgrims together, we look forward to the time when our churches are visibly united and our ministries fully interchangeable.
6	We acknowledge that personal, collegial and communal oversight is embodied and practised in both churches, in continuity of apostolic life, mission and ministry.
Therefore:
We believe that God is calling us into a special relationship in which we commit ourselves
•	to share a common life and mission.
•	to work towards visible unity.
As the next steps towards that goal, we agree:
1	to worship together and pray for and with one another;
2	on the basis of our common baptism and faith in Christ, to welcome one another’s members to receive holy communion and other  ministry, as appropriate;
3	to share resources in order to strengthen the mission of the Church;
4	to help our members to appreciate and draw out the gifts which each of our traditions has to offer the whole people of God;
5	to encourage the invitation of authorised persons of each church to minister in the other church, as far as the current disciplines of both churches permit;
6	(a)	to encourage united Methodist/Church of Ireland congregations
(i)	where there are joint church schemes,
(ii)	where new churches are to be planted,
(iii)	where local congregations wish to move in this direction;
(b)	to encourage united Methodist/Church of Ireland chaplaincy work;
7	to ensure an appropriate measure of joint training of candidates for ordained and lay ministries of our churches and to encourage mutual understanding at all levels in our churches;
8	to establish appropriate forms of consultation on matters of faith and order, mission and service;
9	to participate as observers by invitation in each other’s forms of oversight;
10	to pursue a deeper understanding of each other’s practices of oversight with a view to a fuller reconciliation of ministries at a later stage of our relationship.

APPENDIX C
INTER-CHURCH CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
1.	The Committee met in January 2000.  The members of the Committee are:
Church of Ireland	Methodist 	Presbyterian	
The Rt Rev EF Darling, 
Bishop of Limerick (Chairman)	
Rev DC Bain	
Rev AD Davidson	
Rev IJE Knox	Rev TM Kingston	Rev R Herron	
Ven GA McCamley	Rev ETI Mawhinney	Mrs E Cobain	
Canon J Mayes	Mrs H O’Neill	Rev RFS Poots OBE	
			
2.	The Rev Dr RWJ MacDermott has retired from the chaplaincy at the Adelaide and Meath Hospital.  His successor is the Rev R Donaldson Rodgers.
3.	The Presbytery and the Lisburn Circuit will be asked to advise about the relevance of the Methodist/Presbyterian Scheme at St Columba’s, Lisburn.
4.	Reports were received from a joint Methodist/Presbyterian Scheme and an Alternating Ministry Scheme.
(a)	Knockbreda/St Andrew’s, Belfast
The Church property sits on the edge of a large housing estate and is also bordered by an area of private housing.  The congregation faces the physical challenge of property refurbishment or replacement, in a style more appropriate to contemporary needs, and the spiritual challenge of making an evangelistic impact on a community which is largely untouched by the Church.
There is one joint evening service and worship at holiday periods is fully united.  Both congregations co-operate in evangelistic training and outreach events such as The Walk of a Thousand Men.  Regular evening services for mutual encouragement are held jointly with the local Church of Ireland and Elim Pentecostal Churches.  The employment of a youth and community worker has been made possible by European funding.
(b)	St Patrick’s, Waterford
The members of St Patrick’s worship in old Church buildings on an historic site near the city centre, which is incapable of being redesigned to meet modern requirements and is so restrictive that only a mothers and toddlers group can meet in it, apart from Sunday worship.  It is planned to dispose of the property and build a modern church, which would be open to the community, on a ring-road site which the Corporation is expected to make available for purchase.  The local residents groups are enthusiastic about the proposed development.
5.	A relationship is growing between the Methodist and Church of Ireland Churches at Brownlow, Lurgan.  The Inter-Church Relations Committee of the Methodist Church is discussing the possibility of developing even closer relationships.