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The report states: " … we do not believe that Eucharistic communion should be reserved for the end point of unity already achieved between separated churches. … Anglicans have come to accept that shared eucharistic communion [in various degrees] may be an appropriate anticipation of full visible unity."

The Eucharist: Sacrament of Unity is partly a teaching document for Anglicans and partly a response to One Bread One Body, issued in 1998 by the Roman Catholic bishops of Britain and Ireland which restated the Roman Catholic ban on Eucharistic sharing—ruling out the possibility of Roman Catholics receiving non-Catholic Eucharist, and of non-Catholic Christians, except in grave or life-threatening circumstances, receiving Roman Catholic communion. One Bread One Body invited responses from other churches.

Anglican discontent over One Bread One Body was compounded by the Vatican's document Dominus Iesus, published last September, which denies that the churches of the Reformation are churches "in the proper sense." The Eucharist: Sacrament of Unity, however, seeks to correct what it describes as "erroneous assumptions" about the Church of England in One Bread, One Body. The Anglican document says that the Church of England is not correctly described as "rooted in the Reformation." The church sees itself, the document states, not as a Reformation church, but as the continuing, although reformed, church of the English as established by Augustine of Canterbury.

A high-profile casualty of the renewed prominence given to intercommunion in recent years is the British prime minister, Tony Blair, an Anglican married to a Roman Catholic, Cherie. Early in his premiership the British press reported that he had been taking Roman Catholic communion. Apparently he still attends Roman Catholic services, but no longer takes communion.

Commenting on the Anglican document, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, said Wednesday: "While it highlights the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the Church, it also underlines disagreements yet to be resolved.

"These include Church membership, ecclesial authority, Anglican orders and the different disciplines governing sacramental sharing which broadly speaking distinguish Anglican and Protestant from Orthodox and Catholic.

"It is a sign of our maturing friendship that with candor and honesty we are able to reflect on disagreements knowing that they are part of the process which will eventually lead us to full communion."

Copyright © 2001 ENI.

One Bread One Body , however, is are available online for free.

Christianity Today's earlier coverage of inter-communion and other Catholic-Protestant tensions includes:

Catholics Not to Receive Anglican Eucharist | Dublin archbishop says Catholic policy doesn't allow intercommunion. (Feb. 26, 2001)

Vatican's New Ecumenical Officer May Smooth Relations with Protestants | Walter Kasper has criticized Dominus Iesus for treating Protestant denominations as "not churches in the proper sense." (Mar. 12, 2001)

Catholics and Protestants Discuss Indulgences | Groups dialogue for further understanding of differences, not to reach a theological consensus. (Mar. 1, 2001)

Polish Lutheran Leader Wants Ecumenism | New leader aims to bridge the religious divide between Poland's Catholics and Protestants. (Feb. 19, 2001)

Leveling the Playing Field | A new law in Bolivia puts Protestants on equal footing with Roman Catholics. (Dec. 7, 2000)

Fellowship Without Borders | In Northern Ireland, a Catholic monk and a Presbyterian pastor learn to work together for peace. (Dec. 1, 2000)

Canada Meeting Gives New Hope for Unity Between Anglicans and Catholics | Churches come closer together, but not close enough to share Eucharist. (May 26, 2000)

Honest Ecumenism | The Vatican's recent statement on the nature of the church is a step forward, not backward, for Christian unity. (Oct. 23, 2000)

Poland's Catholic Bishops Reject Criticism of DominusIesus | Ratzinger's declaration that Protestant denominations are not proper churches is making waves in pope's birthplace. (Sept. 20, 2000)

DominusIesus a 'Public Relations Disaster' for Ecumenism, Say Critics | Vatican's statement reasserting itself as the one true church lamented inside and outside Catholicism. (Sept. 13, 2000)

Not All in the Family | Vatican official proclaims Protestant churches not "sister churches" to the Roman Catholic faith. (Sept. 6, 2000)

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March (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45