The previous sessions of the second round of talks were held at the Besson Divinity School of Samford University, Alabama, in Rome in 2007 and at Duke Divinity School, North Carolina in 2008. The Baptist delegation was headed by Prof. Paul Fiddes from the University of Oxford while the Catholic delegation was led by Bishop Arthur Serratelli.
Up till now talks have revolved round “The Word of God in the life of the Church: Scripture, Tradition, Koinonia”. The subject of the recent session was “Episcopacy and primacy in the ministry of the church”. The method adopted was the time honoured one for bilateral talks: introductory reports by experts from both denominations followed by discussion. At the end of the session a document was drawn up in which items of unity, questions open for further discussion and basic divergences were noted.
The talks were, as always, frank and fraternal. The document whose general content was agreed on by the group will be worked on by a small commission and then presented for approval and publication at the next session.
A whole morning was dedicated to an interview by Cardinal W. Kasper in which he recalls his experience in the ecumenical movement.
My impression, as the only Italian to take part in the talks, is that on a world wide scale, Baptists are becoming more open towards Catholicism including those Baptists who have historically suffered at the hands Catholic majorities. In the light of these talks it is definitely harder to uphold the caricature of Catholic theology often present in Baptist churches.
The Catholic Church, on the other hand, shows greater respect for the diversity present in the Baptist churches which cannot be summed up easily for r intrinsic ecclesiological reasons.
Furthermore, and perhaps of greater interest to the Italian reader in particular, the impression I have from the last session on the episcopal ministry and the primacy of Peter is that the Papal ministry is now looked upon with more interest to Baptists than in the past. Paradoxically the reasons for such openness are the same which tend to make our relations as Baptists, with Italian Catholics difficult and polemical: ethical questions and the opposition to secularity.