| Abstract
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The article offers a Roman Catholic response to the Faith and Order convergence text, The Church – Towards a Common Vision (2013). It considers that the text is greatly to be welcomed. The document broadly reflects the ecclesiological understanding of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly with regard to the Church as participating in trinitarian communion, as essentially missionary, as sign and servant (sacrament) of God’s transformational plan of salvation, as existing at three levels, local, regional and universal, at each of which both synodality and primacy are needed, and as committed to the promotion of justice and peace. However, its understanding of ordained ministry, and of the visible structures of the Church, is still weak. The document outlines a Church which, while there is ecumenical agreement regarding many of its elements, is still not firmly held together for its effective existence in the world by a clear structure of ministry. The article offers a Roman Catholic response to the Faith and Order convergence text, The Church – Towards a Common Vision (2013). It considers that the text is greatly to be welcomed. The document broadly reflects the ecclesiological understanding of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly with regard to the Church as participating in trinitarian communion, as essentially missionary, as sign and servant (sacrament) of God’s transformational plan of salvation, as existing at three levels, local, regional and universal, at each of which both synodality and primacy are needed, and as committed to the promotion of justice and peace. However, its understanding of ordained ministry, and of the visible structures of the Church, is still weak. The document outlines a Church which, while there is ecumenical agreement regarding many of its elements, is still not firmly held together for its effective existence in the world by a clear structure of ministry.
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