In Rome on 24–27 September 2024, the Colloquium of Anglican and Roman Catholic Canon Lawyers met for the twenty-third time to mark its twenty-fifth anniversary. The subject for study was canon law and synodality. This was chosen for its importance and topicality. The 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church concludes in October 2024 – known as ‘the Synod on Synodality’, its theme is ‘For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission’. The Synod understands synodality to involve Christians journeying together, listening to each other, and discerning how God might be speaking to all the faithful. The Colloquium explored the extent to which ‘synodality’ is present in the laws of the two communions.

The Anglican team consisted of Norman Doe KC, the Rev’d Russell Dewhurst, the Rev’d Stephen Coleman (Cardiff University); Mark Hill KC (Chancellor, Dioceses of Chichester, Leeds, and Gibraltar in Europe); Edward Dobson (Legal Office of the Church of England); and a new member of the Colloquium, Morag Ellis KC (The Dean of Arches and Auditor). The Catholic team consisted of Robert Ombres OP (Blackfriars, Oxford), Helen Costigane SHCJ (St Mary’s University, London), Ben Earl OP (Procurator General, Order of Preachers), Luke Beckett OSB (Ampleforth Abbey), and the Rev’d Andrew Cole (Holy Trinity, Grimsby).

The Colloquium was hosted by the Angelicum Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas in Rome on the basis of a collaboration with Hyacinthe Destivelle OP, the Director of the Institute for Ecumenical Studies of the Angelicum, and Loïc-Marie Le Bot OP, Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law and the Prior of the Convent of the Dominican Friars at the Angelicum University.

On the first evening of the Colloquium, Cardinal Kurt Koch (Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity) launched a book edited by the Angelicum Institute for Ecumenical Studies: Listening to the West: Synodality in Western Ecclesial Traditions (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2023). Following this, Norman Doe delivered a public lecture entitled ‘Canon Law, Ecumenism, and Synodality’ on the concept of synodality in the Statement of Principles of Christian Law (Rome 2016) and laws within ten Christian families worldwide. Sister Nathalie Becquart (Under-Secretary of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops) responded to the lecture with insights into the actual and potential role of comparative church law in Catholic debate on synodality.

The second day saw Colloquium working sessions and, to celebrate the Jubilee of the Colloquium, a performance of the play Thrice to Rome at the Palazzo della Cancelleria which houses the three highest law courts of the Catholic Church: Penitentiary; Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signatura; and Roman Rota. This ‘community play’, written by Norman Doe, is about the three appearances of Gerald of Wales (d. 1223) before the Papal Court of Innocent III (1200–3) to confirm Gerald’s election as Bishop of St Davids and Metropolitan status for St Davids and its freedom from Canterbury. The cast consisted of Colloquium members who were honoured to be joined by Monsignor David-Maria Jaeger OFM (Prelate Auditor of the Roman Rota) who played Innocent III. The play was interspersed with plainsong sung by Francis Bushell (Director, Campanile Chamber Choir) and Edward Dobson (Parliament Choir). On arrival, the audience (which included the Dean of the Roman Rota) was welcomed front-of-house by the Rev’d Tony Bushell, St Albright’s Church, Colchester.

On the third day, there were further working sessions, one at the Dominican convent of Santa Sabina (on the Aventine) where the members had a short tour to see the basilica, one of the earliest depictions of the Crucifixion on a fifth century door panel, the cope of Pope Pius V who excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I, and the cells of St Dominic and St Thomas Aquinas. This was followed by a jubilee dinner generously hosted by the British Ambassador to the Holy See, Christopher Trott, at the ambassadorial residence near the Vatican. The final morning consisted of work on an Agreed Statement of Principles of Law.

Guided by the opening public lecture given by Norman Doe, the Colloquium members ventured into new conceptual territory, searching in an ecumenical context for canonical exemplifications and potential applications of the recently coined term ‘synodality’. The term turned out to be of value and interest as is demonstrated by the agreed shared principles listed below.

The Colloquium’s well-tested methodology was adopted once again. The overall theme, ‘Canon Law and Synodality’, was analysed into five component parts and each was examined by means of previously circulated papers written by an Anglican and a Roman Catholic member. During the Colloquium, the papers of each ecumenical pair were briefly presented by them and then fully discussed by everyone. As the last phase of the Colloquium, a list of agreed principles was arrived at after searching discussions. Because the concept of synodality, unlike the ancient practice of holding synods and similar gatherings, is not in the received Christian tradition there had to be much fruitful dialectic.

The outcome combines an exploration of the different levels at which synodality can be said to operate with a study of the main categories of those involved. The levels were identified as those which are universal, regional, local or parish. The chief categories of those most directly involved were bishops, other clergy and lay persons. It was fascinating to see how some of the notions and processes we had originally identified were refined and modified as the Colloquium unfolded. It was, after all, an exploration in some measure of new territory and a reconsideration of received perspectives.

Stephen Coleman (Anglican) and Benjamin Earl (Roman Catholic) took as their focus the differentiated contributions to synodality of bishops, other clergy and lay persons. The important point was made that synodal structures, although of obvious attraction for canonists, must be combined with a more diffuse yet real awareness of the emerging synodal culture. Turning to the different ecclesial levels involved, Russell Dewhurst (Anglican) and Andrew Cole (Roman Catholic) dealt with the universal level. Finding himself unable to attend in person, Cole’s paper was presented by James Conn SJ (Roman Catholic). It was striking to hear that the second Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission said in 1998 that in the Anglican Communion as a whole the Primates’ Meeting, the Anglican Consultative Council, the Lambeth Conference, and the Archbishop of Canterbury ‘serve as instruments of synodality’. The Roman Catholic contribution was of course able to rely a good deal on the structure of the Synod of Bishops which was about to begin its second session on synodality in Rome.

Edward Dobson (Anglican) and Luke Beckett (Roman Catholic) covered what was termed as the regional level. The former combined examination of the General Synod of the Church of England with the tikanga system in New Zealand, showing the need for all denominations not to be overly limited by their historical inheritances and to think increasingly with wide horizons. There are signs that the vision of synodality emerging from recent Holy See documents suggests that considerable legal reform can be expected in supra-diocesan structures. This reflection comes after a close look at particular councils and episcopal conferences.

The operation of synodality at the local level was taken by Mark Hill (Anglican) and Helen Costigane (Roman Catholic) to mean chiefly at the diocesan level. It was soon stated, and this would surface at various points in the discussions, that given the diversity of practice amongst each of the autonomous provinces of the Anglican Communion, in many ways the Church of England is ‘an outlier’. From the Roman Catholic side, some pressure was noted for change in terms of participation, transparency and accountability. Synodality at the parish level, that is, close to the centre of the daily Christian experience, was examined by Morag Ellis (Anglican) and Robert Ombres (Roman Catholic). As a way of keeping the scope at the level of Anglicanism, rather than only of the Church of England, a number of observations were made concerning the Church in Wales. Various issues concerning finance were also considered. As for the corresponding Roman Catholic position, the lead given by the International Theological Commission in 2018 was followed, and therefore the focus was on the twin synodal structures of the parish Pastoral Council and its Economic Council (not accurately translated as ‘the finance committee’).

As the Colloquium progressed in reflecting on canon law and synodality, it was of course itself engaging synodally.