The International Roman Catholic/Old Catholic Dialogue Commission (IRAD) has concluded its second working phase. Its results were presented in book form at its concluding meeting in Paderborn in July 2017.
The Old Catholic Church grew out of a rejection of the doctrine of papal primacy and the dogma of papal infallibility as defined at the First Vatican Council in 1870. A dialogue commission set up by the Old Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches in 2004 established a common basic understanding of church as communio, enabling the question of papacy to be placed in a new light. This was addressed by the IRAD’s first report in 2009, titled “The Church and Ecclesial Communion”.
The commission’s second report, completed at the end of 2016, explores in more depth unresolved questions on authoritative teachings in the church and the office of the pope in a universal, synodically structured fellowship of local churches. It provides significant clarifications and convergences, also concerning the varying positions on the Marian dogmas of 1854 and 1950. Also addressed in the second report are the ordination of women to the priesthood and the inner relationship between the Eucharistic community and the church community.
The book, which contains both reports, is available in German from the Bonifatius-Verlag Paderborn, ISBN 978-3-89710-746-5.