The Thirteenth Colloquium of Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Lawyers met in Gladstone's Library, Hawarden, in North Wales, between Saturday 11 and Monday 13 February 2012. Those present from the Anglican Communion were the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron, Bishop of St Asaph (in whose Diocese the Colloquium met), Professor Mark Hill QC, Professor Norman Doe, Anthony Jeremy and Stephen Slack; the Roman Catholic representatives were Fr James Conn SJ, Fr Robert Ombres OP, Fr Fintan Gavin and Fr Andrew Cole.
Robert Ombres and Mark Hill presented papers on canon law and Church–state relations. Similarities between the Catholic Church and Anglican Communion are that the laws of the provinces of the Anglican Communion and the Code of Canon Law have few explicit references to Church–state relationships. Each believer is under the authority of the Church and the state in their respective spheres. Both are concerned with the common good and the welfare of individuals, and both are concerned with the furtherance of human rights.
Differences between the two are that the Church of England is entirely sui generis in its institutional relationships with the state, vis-à-vis both the Catholic Church and other Churches of the Anglican Communion, in that it alone has features of establishment within its own canonical provision. The Catholic Church has an overarching underpinning legal structure, which is lacking in the laws of provinces of the Anglican Communion. The Holy See and the Vatican City State have sovereign entity status in international law, while the Anglican Communion has observer status in the United Nations.
Fintan Gavin and Gregory Cameron looked at canon law and the public life of the Church. The public are referred to as the ‘faithful’ in the Catholic Church and the ‘community’ in the Anglican Communion; a parishioner is defined as a person with a domicile in a given parish in the Catholic Church and as every resident, irrespective of religious affiliation, in the Anglican Communion.
Stephen Slack and Andrew Cole examined canon law and private life and activity. Both communions acknowledge a right to privacy, which the Catholic Church roots in the natural law and the Anglican Communion in the civil law, although it is not an absolute right – with the exception of sacramental confession, at least in the Catholic Church. Canon law impacts on the private life of both clergy and laity, although the law of the Anglican Communion is more permissive than that of the Catholic Church, certainly as regards the laity. In both traditions, the faithful can be excluded from Holy Communion.
James Conn and Anthony Jeremy treated canon law and the spiritual. In both traditions, canon law belongs to the mystery of the Church in its divine and human reality. The law of the Church is spiritual in that it is guided by theology and derives from the divine law, which has its basis in the will of Christ; it is applied with equity and is ordered towards the salvation of souls. It promotes the spiritual welfare of the faithful by regulating the teaching, sanctifying and worshipping functions of the Church, particularly the provision of pastoral care, the administration of the sacraments, evangelisation and catechesis, all of which are directly spiritual. Other norms, including those concerning penal law, juridical and administrative procedures and the administration of property, are indirectly spiritual.
In conclusion, canon law has the concept of both public and private, and both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion have an understanding of the spiritual origin, nature and purpose of canon law.
The Colloquium enjoyed a guided tour of Gladstone's Library, given by its Warden, the Revd Peter Francis, and St Asaph's Cathedral, given by the Dean, the Very Reverend Nigel Williams – even climbing the cathedral tower, which was a tight squeeze for everyone. The Colloquium will next meet in Rome in April 2013.
