The latest colloquium took place in London, and had as its theme ‘Counsel and Consent’, a clear echo of Eric Kemp's book of that title. On the Anglican side, the participants were Will Adam, Norman Doe, Mark Hill QC (in whose Inner Temple chambers we met), Anthony Jeremy and Stephen Slack. The Roman Catholic canonists were Andrew Cole, James Conn SJ, Fintan Gavin, Aidan McGrath OFM and Robert Ombres OP.

The colloquium started in Southwark in order for its members to participate in one of the ‘London Lectures’ series organised by the Ecclesiastical Law Society. This was a well-attended event, bringing together members of the Society and of the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland. It was an opportunity to present to an interested audience the genesis and methodology of the colloquium since 1999 (Norman Doe), to describe some of the opportunities and challenges brought by canon law to the ecumenical endeavour (Aidan McGrath) and to explain the nature of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, together with an account of how canon law is studied in the Roman Catholic Church (James Conn).

The methodology adopted for the colloquia has varied over the years as appropriate to the different topics studied. This time, the theme was subdivided into three broad levels: global governance, provincial and national structures, and diocesan structures. Each tradition presented on its own terms selected studies related to those levels, concentrating on legal norms while not neglecting theology and history, and adverting to various possible future developments. We noted, for example, the potential applicability of the maxim ‘what touches all must be approved by all’, derived from ancient Roman law and persisting in canonical texts. The concluding session examined in detail one canon in the 1983 Code as a pivotal norm in considering counsel and consent.

Our exploration of the meaning and operation of the concepts of counsel and consent started at the global ecclesial level, and these concepts were progressively refined and linked to related notions. From an Anglican perspective, Norman Doe outlined the instruments of unity and communion concerning governance. Having presented the established instruments (the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates' Meeting), he then proceeded to discuss possible canonical instruments of unity and communion, and finally to assess the Anglican Communion Covenant. From the Roman Catholic side, there were presentations on the Roman Pontiff and the College of Bishops as the two subjects of supreme authority of the Church (Andrew Cole) and on the canon law and ecclesial dynamics of the Synod of Bishops (Robert Ombres). This was the context for charting the law and practice of papal primacy and episcopal collegiality, also considering Ecumenical Councils, the College of Cardinals and the Roman Curia.

Moving to what we termed the provincial and national level, there were papers on provincial structures in Anglicanism (Will Adam) and in the Church of England (Stephen Slack). These were complemented by Andrew Cole's presentation of provincial and national structures, with a good deal of discussion centred on the Conference of Bishops. Although the methodology adopted did not make this explicit, we were conscious throughout both of similarities and differences, with some attempt being made in the discussion to account theologically and historically for the current laws and practices. One significant feature is the place of the laity in the giving of counsel and consent within the various structural possibilities that each tradition deploys. The paper by Aidan McGrath on chapters and councils in religious institutes drew attention to ancient and widespread mechanisms for participation in governance, operating from the extremely local to the internationally global spheres. General considerations were combined with a detailed account of the law as found in the Order of Friars Minor.

In considering diocesan structures, there were papers on synods in the Anglican tradition (Anthony Jeremy) and in the Church of England (Mark Hill), and on councils in the Roman Catholic tradition (Fintan Gavin). Of particular note were the theological and historical dimensions brought out in the presentations, including the so-called Council of Jerusalem described in the New Testament. Mark Hill's paper opened with a quotation from Kemp's Counsel and Consent to the effect that all ecclesiastical assemblies at whatever level exist for the purpose of counsel and consent: that is, to endeavour to find the will of God for his Church by bringing together the tradition, experience and insight of different sections of the Christian community. By a happy and significant coincidence, Stephen Slack used the same quotation to head his paper. From the Roman Catholic side, reference was made to a not too dissimilar text from Pope John Paul II that in the Church the purpose of any collegial body, whether consultative or deliberative, is always the search for truth or the good of the Church. Although the precise canonical terms used are not identical, there are deep convergences of ecumenical value.

By the time we reached the last paper, presented by James Conn, not only had there been several hours of fruitful discussion but we had also deepened our fellowship through shared meals and by attending evensong at Westminster Abbey, followed by a tour of the abbey given to us by the dean which occasionally acquired the tone of a pilgrimage. The following day the Master of the Temple showed us round the Temple Church. The final paper, on Canon 127 of the 1983 Code, an analytic and broad-ranging study of a complex and lengthy canon, might have started our joint reflections, yet coming last it enabled us to recall and discuss some fundamental aspects of counsel, consent and related notions. We were led, for example, to consider in the light of Canon 934§3 of the 1990 Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches the implications and consequences of the requirement that those giving counsel (consilium) or consent (consensus) be provided with the necessary information.

It was decided that the 2015 colloquium will be held in Boston (USA) on the theme of the parish.