30/06/2004

Fr Paul McPartlan, the noted English Catholic Sacramental Theologian, will be visiting Brisbane from July 5 – 24.

His visit comes at the invitation of Archbishop John Bathersby, the co-chair of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM), a body to which Fr McPartlan consults.

At the 2003 Archdiocesan Synod Archbishop Bathersby announced he would ask Fr McPartlan to visit the Brisbane diocese and present a series of lectures on the relationship of the Eucharist to the Church and the Kingdom of God.

Fr McPartlan is a priest of the diocese of Westminster and a lecturer in systematic and pastoral theology at Heythrop College in London.

Pope John Paul II has only recently appointed him to the International Theological Commission. (The Commission helps the Holy See examine doctrinal questions of major importance and comprises no more than 30 theologians eminent for their knowledge and fidelity to the teaching authority of the Church)

His principal research interests lie in ecclesiology, ecumenism
and the Second Vatican Council.

Amongst his published works are The Eucharist makes the Church and Sacrament of Salvation. An Introduction to Eucharistic Ecclesiology. He is currently writing a book on Vatican II in its context.



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