On 13 November 2013 an invited Symposium took place at the Venerable English College in Rome under the chairmanship of Professor Mark Hill QC, recently appointed Ecumenical Fellow in Canon Law. The participants attended in their personal capacities and were not representative of their denomination but each was an expert in the church law or church order (the terminology differs, but not the substance) of particular Christian Churches. These included Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Reformed, Lutheran, Orthodox and Presbyterian. The lead paper, entitled ‘Toward the category of “Christian law”’, was given by Professor Norman Doe, Director of the Centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff University. This was followed by two thematic plenary explorations, the first on the sources and the second on the purposes and subjects of church law or church order. The concluding session, entitled ‘Shared principles and their ecumenical value’, took a broad overview of the subject but also identified a number of practical steps which might be taken in the future.

The purpose of the Symposium was to explore the extent to which different Christian Churches share common principles in their laws and other instruments of internal governance. A considerable degree of homogeneity was noted and the panel of experts resolved to continue its dialogue through further collaboration. The participants were able to find broad consensus on the following general principles of universal application, as ventured by Professor Doe in his recent book, Christian Law (Cambridge University Press, 2013):

1. i. There are principles of church law and church order common to the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, Reformed, Presbyterian and Baptist traditions and their existence can be factually established by empirical observation and comparison;

2. ii. The churches of each Christian tradition contribute through their own regulatory instruments to this store of principles;

3. iii. These principles have a strong theological content and dimension of weight and are fundamental to the self-understanding of Christianity;

4. iv. These principles have a living force and contain within themselves the possibility of further development and articulation; and

5. v. These principles demonstrate a degree of unity between the Churches, stimulate common Christian actions and should be fed into the global ecumenical enterprise to enhance fuller visible unity.

Implicit in or underlying their respective regulatory instruments were the understandings that church law and church order exist to serve a Church in its mission and in its witness to Christ; laws are necessary to constitute the institutional organisation of a Church and to facilitate and order its public activities but cannot encompass all facets and experiences of the Christian faith and life; laws are the servant of the Church and must promote the mission of the Church universal; theology shapes law, and law implements theological propositions in the form of norms of conduct; and church laws should conform, and are subject ultimately, to the law of God, as revealed in Holy Scripture and by the Holy Spirit. The participants were generally of the view that a consideration of church law and church order may provide a new image, perhaps within the context of receptive ecumenism, for the ecumenical enterprise.

It is hoped that the pioneering work begun at the Symposium on common principles of Christian law will provide an additional dimension to concepts of ecclesiology and church polity which will be of lasting value to the ecumenical movement. It was thought best to harness collective expertise by constituting the participants as a panel of experts who can provide detached scholarly opinions on the value of Christian law to the ecumenical movement without purporting to speak on behalf of individual Churches. It was agreed that the panel would continue to communicate among themselves and that a further meeting of the panel would be held in Rome on Wednesday 1 October 2014. The panel will work on drafting a formal response to the consultation document of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, and its Working Paper No 214: ‘The Church: towards a common vision’ (2013). The submission would focus on the contribution which church law can make to ecclesiology and to the self-understanding of what it is to be the Church.

The chairman and participants wish to record their thanks to the staff and students of the Venerable English College in Rome for accommodating the Symposium, and to His Excellency Nigel Baker, British Ambassador to the Holy See, who hosted a dinner at his residence.