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The Rt. Revd. Graham James |
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The Rt. Revd. Graham James |
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In April 1879 John Henry Newman was preparing to go to Rome to receive his Cardinal's hat. He cleared his desk of letters before he left. With one correspondent he was discussing the search for truth. Newman wrote "paper argument is most disappointing", a bit surprising for someone addicted to paper arguments himself. Then he said "Men must have chronic familiarity to understand each other, for truth slowly sinks into the mind...".
Pope Benedict's visit reaches a climax with Newman's beatification on Sunday. But today's events in London show that Newman was on to something important all those years ago.
The last six Archbishops of Canterbury have visited successive Popes in Rome - chronic familiarity may overstate it, though not much - but today will be the first time the Pope has returned the favour at Lambeth Palace. Outside the Great Hall where Pope and Archbishop will meet is the fig tree planted by Cardinal Pole, the last Roman Catholic occupant, Mary Tudor's Archbishop. It's still producing figs. A good sign.
Less fruitful than many hoped has been the joint Commission first set up by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey more than forty years ago. Paper arguments were gradually replaced with paper agreements - on the Eucharist, Authority and other contentious issues. But the outcome has been disappointing. Truth isn't all in the head. As Jesus said "You are my friends if you do what I command you... love one another as I have loved you". (John 15.14, 12). Jesus didn't give priority to paper arguments.
I will be at Lambeth today when the Pope will meet the Roman Catholic and Anglican diocesan bishops in England and Wales. We're not strangers. Local familiarity has deepened in recent years. The two sets of bishops now talk together in a way unthinkable a couple of generations ago.
When the Pope speaks later to members of Parliament and various other guests, what he says will be important. But his sheer presence in Westminster Hall will really speak volumes. There Thomas More and John Fisher were condemned to death in 1535 for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII's headship of the Church of England. This invitation to the Pope was imaginative. Its acceptance seals the reconciliation. Symbolic gestures often mean more than lengthy documents. That's why people remember back in the 1960s Pope Paul VI taking off his episcopal ring and giving it to Archbishop Michael Ramsey as one brother in Christ to another. Rowan Williams will wear that ring today. Chronic familiarity? Jesus called it friendship. Truth isn't abstract. We discover it in each other.