Peter - "bearing witness to the truth, he serves unity"

In the week in which we celebrate the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, it is appropriate to reflect on words from Blessed John Paul II's encyclical Ut unum sint on the Petrine primacy:

The Bishop of Rome is the Bishop of the Church which preserves the mark of the martyrdom of Peter and of Paul: "By a mysterious design of Providence it is at Rome that [Peter] concludes his journey in following Jesus, and it is at Rome that he gives his greatest proof of love and fidelity. Likewise Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, gives his supreme witness at Rome. In this way the Church of Rome became the Church of Peter and of Paul" (90) ...

With the power and the authority without which such an office would be illusory, the Bishop of Rome must ensure the communion of all the Churches. For this reason, he is the first servant of unity. This primacy is exercised on various levels, including vigilance over the handing down of the Word, the celebration of the Liturgy and the Sacraments, the Church's mission, discipline and the Christian life. It is the responsibility of the Successor of Peter to recall the requirements of the common good of the Church, should anyone be tempted to overlook it in the pursuit of personal interests. He has the duty to admonish, to caution and to declare at times that this or that opinion being circulated is irreconcilable with the unity of faith. When circumstances require it, he speaks in the name of all the Pastors in communion with him. He can also—under very specific conditions clearly laid down by the First Vatican Council— declare ex cathedra that a certain doctrine belongs to the deposit of faith. By thus bearing witness to the truth, he serves unity (94).

Mindful of the crisis of orthodoxy and orthopraxis within contemporary Anglicanism, we can see with a renewed vision the evangelical vocation of the Petrine ministry to build up the Church's unity and communion.  It is precisely the absence of this Petrine ministry within Anglicanism which has created the circumstances which have given rise to a succession of ecclesiological crises, led to impaired communion and resulted in significant divisions (Continuing, AMiA, CANA, GAFCON, and now AMiE). We have cut ourselves off from Peter and his vocation to build up the Church's unity and communion.

Those Anglicans prayerfully reflecting on Anglicanorum Coetibus can then re-receive the truth that, as Ut unum sint proclaims, the Petrine primacy has its foundation in the Gospel:

In the New Testament, the person of Peter has an eminent place. In the first part of the Acts of the Apostles, he appears as the leader and spokesman of the Apostolic College described as "Peter ... and the Eleven" (2:14; cf. 2:37, 5:29). The place assigned to Peter is based on the words of Christ himself, as they are recorded in the Gospel traditions.

This Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, I continue my journey towards reconciliation with the See of Peter, mindful of the commission given to Peter and his successors by the Incarnate Word, the Crucified and Risen Lord.