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Richard Garrard
Anglican Bishop, United Kingdom
When Pope John Paul the Second was elected, most Anglicans had hardly heard of him, and so we waited in hope tinged with anxiety to learn what this new pontificate might mean. During the previous twenty years, we had passed through a time of huge progress in our relations with the Roman Catholic Church. The old suspicions and hatreds had receded. The two Communions were in conversations about unity through an International Commission. Instead of negativity and rejection, we had dialogue and a growing collaboration in those areas where it was possible. Above all, we had begun to pray together and to develop that spiritual union which must exist before institutional and theological agreements can have real effect. We knew that we were in the dawn of a new era of reconciliation and fellowship in Christ. We knew also that this newly-found search for unity was an essential if the Christian Faith was to offer its Good News to the world at large. This world was developing a good and healthy global consciousness which was sadly damaged and distorted by terrible injustice, greed, violence and war. The human race may have become more clever, but it had become no wiser and was increasingly disregarding God, at least in the western world. We waited in hope and with prayer. Pope John Paul the Second rapidly established himself as a strong figure for good in the world at large as well as in the Church. He clearly valued and used the results of the Second Vatican Council that had achieved so much. There were changes of emphasis, approach and style, including a mental shift, we felt, away from the west in an easterly direction. A more cautious and conservative way of speaking and acting came through to us. Yet the precious processes of dialogue went on and they have deepened and expanded. The results of the Second Vatican Council - on which Anglicans built and still build many hopes - have not been lost; they have continued to influence and shape the life not only of the Roman Catholic, but many other communions in all parts of the world. I believe that there is a long way to go in the implementing of the results of the Second Vatican Council.... the road is there, the destination is God, but the journey in between is still a mystery to be lived through with prayer and faithfulness and many surprises and painful episodes. From an Anglican point of view, we have moved from the elation of statements filled with hope about the search for unity and the opening of the serious dialogues, into the longer-term spiritual and intellectual journey of carrying them on faithfully and developing them. We are persisting in the theological conversations, now so happily enriched by the creation of a new International Commission on Unity and Mission which aims to help christian congregations everywhere to receive, understand and use the fruits of growing unity in practical ways that will make the truth and love of God known to all people. This cannot succeed without prayer.... prayer which opens us to the grace of God, calling us to change, and calling us to be more and more deeply converted to so that, as truth unfolds, we shall receive it and act upon it. We are learning to do together all that we can do together, and ,in a western cultre where faith is often drowned by material wealth, this is not merely desirable, it is vitally necessary. The relationship has been maintained despite shocks such as the Angican Communiojn's ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate. It will also, I believe, survive the future shocks of re-evaluationg the place of Mary in the scheme of salvation and christian piety, and also the discussion of the meaning and practice of universal primacy which Pope John Paul proposed in 'Ut Unum Sint'. At the very least the Pope's encyclical has give encouragement to the Anglican Communion to take up processes to discuss its own attitude to a world-wide governance if its own. When I reflect on the progress made towards unity in my own lifetime, it is prodigious. Thanks be to God! Yet we Anglicans also appreciate the Pope's role in the search for world peace and his fostering of dialogue between the various great religions. He is a much-travelled world figure and makes full use of modern technology in carrying out his mission. We realise that his strategy of loving and persistent concern for all people was a positve factor in the downfall of Marxism- a false god which had caused untold misery and injustice-. The Anglican Communion was delighted to be invited to take part in the two Inter-religious Days of Prayer for World Peace at Assisi. Dialogue may have begun for us as something that happened between christian traditions, but John Paul has played a significant role in helping all people to see how dialogue, properly understood and conducted in love and openness, is the only true way, the only true weapon to be wielded in the search for peace and reconciliation between all peoples. To listen properly to another is to understand properly. To understand properly is to love properly. To love properly is to know the heart of God. It is a beautiful irony that the Ponticial Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity not only have their offices in the same building, but they share a common doorway. Reconciliation and reliationships of every kind also have a common doorway, and that is dialogue. Rejecting nothing true and holy to be found in other religions and other christian communities, yet be aware of one's own beliefs, this is a sign-post for all the world to learn and practise. The Pope has done a great work in fostering this; he has caught the tide of the flow of the Holy Spirit, which tugs at the human soul and calls us to be ready to listen and to change. John Paul the Second has also used a wise strategy in encouraging new movements within the church. It may be that the historic religious orders have a lessening appeal. Whatever the reason, they create new streams of thinking, new ways of prayer and service, and they are a model of diversity in unity which is a profoundly important quality that all people from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures have to learn. The Sant'Egidio Community is an excellent example of this; by being true to its particular sense of vocation, it enriches all the world. There is much work left to do. There are more than enough points of disagreement and misunderstanding to be dealt with. Yet John Paul the Second has - in his own way and according to his personal gifts of character - promoted the process of searching for reconciliation and unity... a process in which we must all play a part if the world is to find peace in itself and be at peace with Our Creator.
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