Abstract
The ecumenical movement has reached a turning point. In part, success slowed the pace of ecumenical progress as certain communities entered agreements of full communion and as sponsored dialogues absorb quantitative success, for example, for Lutherans and Catholics resolving the fundamental break on justification by faith by reaching a differentiating consensus. Once Christians cannot define themselves separately, they still require creative ways for their communities to live together and to review what continues to prevent the gospel message. In part, European and North American Christians constructed the dominant ecumenical narrative, seeking remedies for historic disputes. Christian communities, once freely outside ecumenical association, and Christian communities in Asia, Africa and the global south, influenced but not satisfied by the dominant narrative, today seek greater Christian unity in inspired and authentic ways for their conditions. Pope Francis’ pastoral emphasis on ecumenical accompaniment challenges Christians to be genuinely creative in exploring ways to live in greater unity.
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Notes
- 1.
John Borelli, “Thomas F. Stransky, CSP: A Scriptural Reflection in Memoriam,” Ecumenical Trends 48, no. 10 (November 2019): 11–15. A sample of histories include: A History of the Ecumenical Movement 1517–1948, edited by Ruth Rouse and Stephen Charles Neill (Philadelphia, the Westminster Press, 2nd ed. 1968); A History of the Ecumenical Movement, Volume 2, 1948–1968, edited by Harold E. Fey (Philadelphia, the Westminster Press, 1970); William G. Rusch, Ecumenism – A Movement Toward Church Unity (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985); Frederick M. Bliss, S.M., Catholic and Ecumenical: History and Hope (Lanham, MD, Rowman and Littlefield, 2nd ed., 2007); and The Ecumenical Movement: An Anthology of Key Texts and Voices, edited by Michael Kinnamon and Brian E. Cope (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1997).
- 2.
“Sollemnis Allocutio,” Acta Apostolicae Sedis 51 (1959): 68–69; commented on by Thomas F. Stransky, CSP, “The Foundation of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity,” in Vatican II Revisited by Those Who Were There, ed. Alberic Stacpoole (Minneapolis, MN: Winston Press, 1986), 62.
- 3.
Willebrands reviewed these developments in his Introduction to Peace among Christians (New York: Herder and Herder, 1967), co-authored by Visser ’t Hooft and Bea.
- 4.
Willem Adolf Visser ’t Hooft, Memoirs (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1973; 2nd edition, Geneva: WCC Publications, 1987), 328.
- 5.
For example, see “A Call for Unity-The Melkite Synod,” https://melkite.org/faith/faith-worship/a-call-for-unity-the-melkite-synod (accessed February 7, 2020). See also the June 11, 1997, letter in French to the Melkite Patriarch from three heads of Vatican offices laying out the lack of doctrinal agreement. An English translation is available here: https://orthodoxyindialogue.com/2017/12/12/romes-response-to-the-zoghby-initiative-by-david-brown/ (accessed February 9, 2020).
- 6.
“To the Member of the Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.” http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2019/july/documents/papa-francesco_20190705_sinodo-chiesaucraina.html (accessed February 12, 2020).
- 7.
Dale T. Irvin, “Specters of a New Ecumenism: In Search of a Church ‘Out of Joint,’” in Religion, Authority, and the State: From Constantine to the Contemporary World, edited by Leo D. Lefebure (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), 3–32.
- 8.
John Borelli, “The Dialogue of Fraternity: Evangelii Gaudium and the Renewal of Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue,” Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism, edited by Gerard Mannion (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017), 225–228.
- 9.
See, for example, World Christianity: Perspectives and Insights, Essays in Honor of Peter C. Phan, edited by Jonathan Y. Tan and Anh Q. Tran SJ (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2016).
- 10.
G. Austin OP, “Is an Ecumenical Understanding of Eucharist Possible Today?” The Jurist 48 (1988): 683.
- 11.
In an 1895 letter, with long-lasting effect, to the Apostolic Delegate in the United States, Pope Leo XII advised American Catholics no longer to hold “assemblies to which both Catholics and those who dissent from the Catholic Church come promiscuously to discuss together religion and morals.” Letter to Archbishop Satolli, 18 September 1895, Leonis XIII Acta 14, 323–324.
- 12.
Between 1968 and 1972, the Secretariat issued four separate notes and instructions with regard to sacramental sharing. See: Doing the Truth in Charity: Statements of Pope Paul VI, Popes John Paul I, John Paul II, and the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity 1964–1980, edited by Thomas F. Stransky CSP and John B. Sheerin, CSP (New York: Paulist Press, 1982), 115–130.
- 13.
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms of Ecumenism (Vatican City, March 25, 1993), §§ 116–136.
- 14.
Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, Faith and Order Paper no. 111 (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1982).
- 15.
One should point out that eight years later in 2003, Pope John Paul released his final encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, giving a more juridical approach than the pastoral approach of Ut Unum Sint. In Ecclesia de Eucharistia, the pope adds a canonical judgment: “these conditions, from which no dispensation can be given, must be carefully respected, even though they deal with specific cases.” (46)
- 16.
- 17.
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/november/documents/papa-francesco_20151115_chiesa-evangelica-luterana.html (accessed February 13, 2020). One should point out that Pope Francis began his reply noting with humor that he was expected to answer the question with Cardinal Kasper sitting in the front row.
- 18.
While the U.S. Catholic Bishops Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America unanimously endorsed the text, the U. S. Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine had not approved the text when it was submitted to both the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation. Nevertheless, on October 31, 2017, at ceremonies for the conclusion of a year of common commemoration of the Reformation, the Pontifical Council for and LWF announced that the next task of their formal dialogue commission would be “to discern in a prayerful manner our understanding on church, Eucharist and ministry, seeking a substantial consensus so as to overcome remaining differences between us.” https://cnstopstories.com/2017/10/31/vatican-lutheran-federation-announce-study-on-church-eucharist-ministry/ (accessed February 13, 2020).
- 19.
Thomas O’Loughlin, Eating Together Becoming One (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press Academic, 2019), 130.
- 20.
The Church: Local and Universal (1990), § 25 at: https://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/commissions/jwg-rcc-wcc/sixth-report-of-the-joint-working-group (accessed September 2, 2020).
- 21.
The Church: Towards a Common Vision, Faith and Order Paper No. 214 (Geneva: WCC Publications, 2013), 33ff.
- 22.
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, The Church: Towards a Common Vision, Faith and Order Paper No. 214, A Catholic Response (2019), “Conclusion.”
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Borelli, J. (2021). Liturgical Renewal and Ecumenical Progress. In: Chapman, M.D., Latinovic, V. (eds) Changing the Church. Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53425-7_22
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