Catholics, Anglicans Meet on Debt Relief, Contraception

June 9, 2009
WASHINGTON DC

(MetroCatholic) - The second meeting of the new round of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the United States (ARC-USA) took place in Cincinnati, May 25-26. It was hosted by the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio and co-chaired by Episcopal Bishop Thomas Breidenthal of Southern, Ohio, and Catholic Bishop Ronald P. Herzog of Alexandria, Louisiana. Following the theme of this round of dialogue, “Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment: Common Ground and Divergences,” members examined two moral theology issues: debt relief and contraception.

Debt relief was addressed on the Catholic side by M. Therese Lysaught, Ph.D., of Marquette University in a paper entitled, “Reconciling All Things: An Analysis of the Roman Catholic Position on International Debt.” The question was analyzed from an Anglican perspective by Timothy F. Sedgwick, Ph.D., of the Virginia Theological Seminary in his paper, “A Case Study on Poverty: On Moral Teaching in the Episcopal and Anglican Church.” Members noted that even though they differ on sources and methodologies, the two churches have reached nearly identical conclusions on this question.

The moral aspects of contraception in the Anglican tradition were presented by Rev. Matthew S. C. Olver , Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, Texas, in his paper, “Anglican Moral Reasoning about Contraception.” The Catholic teaching on this question was expounded by Theresa Notare, Ph.D., assistant director of the Natural Family Planning Program at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in a study entitled, “The Moral Regulation of Birth: Roman Catholic Teaching on Conjugal Love and Responsible Parenthood.” Members said that in this case, the different methodologies and sources appear to explain a substantial divergence regarding the morality of the use of contraception. the rest