The sixth meeting of the international and multidenominational Panel of Experts established to further what might be termed juridical ecumenism and to verify the existence of ‘Christian law’ took place in Rome. It was attended by virtually all of its members: Angela Berlis, Leon van den Broeke, John Chalmers, Norman Doe, Paul Goodliff, Mark Hill QC, Astrid Kaptijn, Leo Koffeman, Nikos Maghioros, Robert Ombres OP, Paul Rochester and Anna Trônet. We were privileged to have with us as an observer Susan Durber, Moderator of the Faith and Order Commission, World Council of Churches (WCC).
The sessions began with exchanging accounts of the local initiatives, with a focus on the published text Statement of Principles of Christian Law (2016), that had taken place in Uppsala, Cardiff and Amsterdam since the meeting of the Panel held in Geneva in 2017. Work has started on translating the Statement into Greek. In advance of our meeting, Leo Koffeman had circulated a valuable paper on the WCC Church Law Project going back to the 1970s, and we discussed why the project was abandoned. It was thought that our current initiative has a greater focus on the unifying potential of comparing church laws across a very broad denominational spectrum, with the aim of articulating shared principles.
We reaffirmed our commitment to strengthening the emerging informal partnership with the WCC Faith and Order Commission and, as well as having Susan Durber among us, the Panel has been joined by Angela Berlis, who is a Commission member and provides an Old Catholic perspective. The Panel was therefore in a good position to discuss what further possible activity might be based on the emerging partnership, in the context of the various study groups connected to the Commission. Such future possibilities, rich in potential, then led us to consider why church law is in fact seen by some as inhibiting ecumenical progress. The hope was that the testing of the Statement among different denominations and at a local level will bring out the law's positive contribution to reaching greater visible unity; indeed, the Statement could well assist churches in the process of uniting (organic unity). Mark Hill's reflection that the Statement is not a threat to ecumenism, but nor is it a panacea, and that the principles listed are a tool for identifying common ground ecumenically can be taken as a fair summary of the Panel's thought.
As well as a detailed and lengthy re-examination of selected parts of the agreed principles, time was allocated to discussing the progress being made towards the hoped-for publication, under the editorship of Norman Doe, of a volume written by members of the Panel on juridical ecumenism, provisionally entitled Comparative Church Law: a new way forward for ecumenism. This book will be an opportunity for each denomination involved to have its system of church law presented by an expert and on its own terms, and to respond to the joint Statement from its own perspective. Such a unique volume would complete and complement the already published Statement.
It was agreed that Phase One of the work of the Panel (spanning the period 2013–2018) could be taken as having now been completed, and that Phase Two should begin as a time for advocacy, testing and reception of the Statement at national and international events. Some of these events were already identified as fruitful occasions for involvement by different members of the Panel.
The Panel's fellowship was celebrated in style at the dinner graciously hosted in the Palazzo Pallavicini by the British Ambassador to the Holy See, Sally Axworthy. Among our guests were Tony Currer (Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity) and Philip Whitmore (Rector of the Venerable English College).
