Joint Anglican-Catholic statement on moral teaching highlights differences
"The absence of an authoritative universal magisterium among the churches of the Anglican Communion marks a signal difference in the structure of teaching authority," the statement added. "Without such a universal teaching authority it is difficult to state definitively the teaching Anglicans hold on many specific matters, beyond the governing documents and prayer book of each particular church. This fact marks a signal difference in the structure of teaching authority from the Roman Catholic Church and helps to explain a significant tension in the relationship between Anglicans and Roman Catholics."
In examining same-sex unions, the joint statement said that "the teaching of the Episcopal Church on same-sex sexuality may be said to accept an unresolved tension between primary textual authorities on the one hand and local councils (both General Convention and diocesan conventions) on the other."
"It is hard to see how our differences in moral theology and ecclesiology will be resolved, and it is not clear to many whether they should be," the authors of the statement said in their conclusion. "The ecumenical movement teaches that legitimate diversity has its place in the Church, and history demonstrates that this is true."
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