The work of the Anglican-Roman Catholic National Commission and the practical ecumenism

Abstract

Created in 1982, the Anglican-Roman Catholic National Commission (CONAC) is the result of the dialogue developed by the Synod of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Brazil (IEAB) and the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB). Its main mission is to translate, study and disseminate the texts of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), organized in 1966, from the meeting between Pope Paul VI and the Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey. Despite the efforts and the initial fruits generated by the work of CONAC, in the following years there was a stagnation of its meetings, especially during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI and the institutional crises that affected the IEAB years before. However, with the election of Pope Francis, new dialogues were established with the See of Canterbury and the Anglican Center in Rome. We took as research object the work carried out by the Anglican-Roman Catholic National Commission, using documental sources as a bibliographic review, classified as primary - ARCIC documents translated and commented on by CONAC and other documents related to the two Churches - and secondary - books on the history of the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue, at the international and national level – and tertiary – news published on the Internet, of events linked to the activities of the National Commission.