After a six-year hiatus, the official Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue began a new phase in May, looking at unity within the church and at the way Christian communities deal with moral questions.

The third phase of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, known as ARCIC III, met May 17-27 at an ecumenical monastery in northern Italy.

Pope Benedict XVI and Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams authorized the new phase of the dialogue, which is focusing on “the church as communion, local and universal, and how in communion the local and universal church come to discern right ethical teaching.”

Since ARCIC II finished its work in 2005, the Anglican Communion has been experiencing strong internal tensions over the ordination of women as priests and bishops, the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of openly homosexual clergy. Differing positions on those issues also has created a sense that Anglicans and Roman Catholics are growing further apart, rather than approaching unity.

A statement issued at the end of the meeting said the commission hopes to use the “receptive ecumenism” approach in its discussions, an approach “which seeks to make ecumenical progress by learning from our partner, rather than simply asking our partner to learn from us. Receptive ecumenism is more about self-examination and inner conversion that convincing the other,” the statement said.

The commission is expected to work for several years before issuing a document on the themes.

The commission, the statement said, “will analyze particular (ethical) questions to elucidate how our two communions approach moral decision making, and how areas of tension for Anglicans and Roman Catholics might be resolved by learning from the other.”

The statement did not say whether commission members had identified the specific ethical questions they would explore.