IN MARCH 1966 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Michael Ramsey, came to Rome to meet Pope Paul VI. It was an historic occasion, especially when they prayed together in the Basilica of St Paul’s Outside the Walls. There they renewed their commitment to work for the reunion of the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church. The occasion was made particularly memorable by Pope Paul’s gift to Archbishop Michael of the ring that he was wearing.

Grand declarations, however, need to be reflected in action. And so it was. From this meeting the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission was established to study past controversies. But its approach was not to be a mere revisiting of old arguments; it was instructed to go back to a time when there was common ground and explore new ways forward that would avoid division, acknowledge authentic developments, and discover a unity of faith once more.

Since then a series of agreed statements has been produced on, for example, the Eucharist, ministry, and on authority. It has at times been a hard journey; not everyone has concurred with the level of agreement that has been claimed. But these documents are still substantial achievements. Most recently, in May, the commission published an agreed statement Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ. It has not shied away from difficult questions, such as the status of the Catholic doctrines about Mary as conceived without sin and assumed into Heaven.

During those historic days in 1966 I was a student at the English College in Rome, where Archbishop Ramsey was staying. One evening he came to the students’ common room and spent time answering our questions. He was asked, of course, where he thought the great obstacles to reunion lay. If I remember correctly, he replied that it was not so much the issue of authority or papal infallibility; it was rather the defined status given to those teachings about Mary, her immaculate conception and assumption into Heaven.

As we approach the Feast of the Assumption on Monday, it seems natural to ask how the commission has risen to the challenge which the Archbishop identified.

Those for whom a secure scriptural basis for teaching is only satisfied by a plain statement need continue no further. We know there are no texts which declare simply that Mary was “conceived without sin” or “assumed body and soul into heaven”. But those who recognise that our biblical heritage is far richer than that will warm to the sensitive way this account of Mary’s role in the mystery of our salvation has been presented. Like a mosaic it has been put together with perceptive skill.

What was suggested and anticipated in the Old Testament and made real in the New has been contemplated afresh in the life of the Church and pruned of excess, so that the Mother of Jesus is proclaimed as the Mother of God, as the perfect disciple who is utterly faithful, and so is acclaimed as the model of Christian discipleship for each of us and for the community as a whole. Belief in her being prepared for her divine calling from the moment of her conception and her destiny in glory are embedded inextricably in this understanding of Mary. She is gift for us all. Here is a faith in the Blessed Virgin which we can hold in common.

So where does that leave the status of the papal definitions which Archbishop Ramsey identified as obstacles? Are they to be imposed on Roman Catholics, but not on Anglicans? The controversies surrounding these definitions make such questions inevitable, but it may be that, in the light of this statement, the obstacle is not as formidable as before.

Dogmatic definitions articulate the mysteries of faith but do not exhaust them. What we believe is more profound than the way it is expressed. Definitions call for respect; they should not create anxiety. The reality of the faith shared is what matters. So Anglicans may recognise that what has been defined is what they already hold, while Roman Catholics should recognise that they need not fret over formulaes.

We seek our reunion by deepening our faith.

Monsignor Roderick Strange is the Rector of the Pontifical Beda College, Rome.