A motion endorsing the Church of Ireland’s response to the World Council of Churches Document The Church: Towards a Common Vision as been passed by General Synod this afternoon (Thursday May 12).

The motion in the name of the Honorary Secretaries asked General Synod to adopt the Church of Ireland’s response, as endorsed by the Commission for Christian Unity and Dialogue and received by Standing Committee. The document was produced by the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commission (Faith and Order Paper No 214).

The Church of Ireland’s response can be downloaded here.

Proposing the motion, Mr Sam Harper, said that the document grew out of several years of work by the Faith and Order Group of WCC.

Speaking to the motion, Joanne Martin (Connor) asked if it was an assent to the WCC and suggested if it was the case Synod should be looking at the WCC paper. She also sought clarifications on the Church of Ireland response.

Mr Harper said the Church of Ireland response to the document was to consider and work towards agreement. He added that the document was available online.

The motion was passed.