Anglicans, Catholics working for agreement on Virgin Mary

Our Lady was never a centre of devotion in the Anglican Church and it is no exaggeration to say that a few centuries ago she was the subject of a violent division between the Catholic Church and the Church of England. Ruined shrines and empty niches across Britain show the effort to destroy the Marian devotion of the English people and of those who followed the 39 articles that founded the emerging Protestant Church.

The ARCIC (Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission) set up in 1970 after a meeting between Pope Paul VI and Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, fostered practical initiatives for unity. This was followed by another commission IARCUM (International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission) established in 2001. Both of them fuelled enthusiasm and hard work on both sides of the fence. They played a key role in overcoming many obstacles in grim situations.

A lot of work had to be suspended because the Holy See grew frustrated when Bishop Frank Griswold, a chairman of the ARCIC, presided over the consecration of Bishop Robinson, a divorced father of two sons who shared his home with Mark Adams, his partner. This event almost caused the collapse of the ecumenical dialogue. The Vatican suspended the work of this ecumenical body.

It was only Bishop Griswold's resignation last November that salvaged the whole issue when the Vatican announced a U-turn on the suspension of the ecumenical dialogue. Besides, the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion declared that after a pause of reflection they have decided to press ahead with a proposed joint agreement on a long-awaited statement on the Virgin Mary.

The John XXIII Peace Lab of Hal Far noted with great joy the emergence of Mary as a point of ecumenical convergence and is celebrating the event by mounting an exhibition of icons illustrating the place of devotion to Our Lady with their complex liturgical forms. These icons, a subtle and expressive work of art, were brought from Greece with the help of Magdalene and John Schirò of Rabat.

This exhibition in the main hall of the Peace Lab is a small token of gratitude to the Catholic and Anglican churches for sparing no efforts to draft the document over the identity and role of the Virgin Mary. "We welcome this document with joy," says Fr Dionysius Mintoff, OFM, the Peace Lab's founder and director. "It comes at a time of crisis in relations between the two communions and it is remarkable that it is an ancient source of controversy which has emerged as a new source of unity."