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Catholicism Opening to the World and Other Confessions pp 329–346Cite as

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Remembering the Future: Church and Churches Toward Multifaceted Unity

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Part of the book series: Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue ((PEID))

Abstract

This chapter considers the question of what the future will bring to the church(es) and how ecumenism will affect this future. It explores the role of the Church, which is described in the documents of Vatican II as effective and visible sign of unity with God, and sheds light on the embracing of ecumenism by the Church as one of the main goals set for the council. The essay also discusses some questions that remain open, such as the meaning of subsistit in, the view of the Church ad intra and ad extra, the meaning and rediscovering of catholicity, continuing divisions and their influence on mission, and Catholicism’s relationship with the churches of the Reformation as well as with evangelical and Pentecostal communities. The author then turns to reflect upon some new challenges that ecumenism has to face in our time such as neo-denominationalism and divergent models of unity, among others. Finally, the paper offers some gospel-oriented perspectives the future of ecumenism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Regarding the contemporary state of ecumenism, see: Walter Kasper , Wege zur Einheit der Christen (WKGS 14), (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2012), especially pp. 17–34; K. Koch, “Ökumene im Wandel. Zum Zukunftspotential des Ökumenismus-Dekrets Unitatis redintegratio,” in Erinnerung an die Zukunft. Das zweite vatikanische Konzil, ed. Jan-Heiner Tück et al. (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2013), 403–336; and Dirk Ansorge, “Sichtbare oder versöhnte Verschiedenheit? Unitatis redintegratio und der ökumenische Dialog,” in Das zweite vatikanische Konzil: Impulse und Perspektiven, ed. Dirk Ansorge (Münster: Aschendorf Verlag, 2013), 160–98.

  2. 2.

    See UR 2; see also John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Ut Unum Sint AAS 87 (1995): 921–82, no. 5ff; WCC Commission on Faith and Order, The Church: Towards a Common Vision (Geneva: WCC Publications, 2013), esp. pp. 1–4, among many other documents by the commission.

  3. 3.

    John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint, 7.

  4. 4.

    Gé́rard Philips, L’Église et son mystère au deuxième Concile du Vatican. Histoire, texte et commentaire de la Constitution Lumen gentium, vol.1 (Paris: Desclée, 1967), 119.

  5. 5.

    Alois Grillmeier, S.J., “Vatikan II,” in Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche Supl., vol. 1 (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 1996), 170–76; Medard Kehl, S.J., “Die eine Kirche und die vielen Kirchen,” Stimmen der Zeit 219 (2001): 3–16; Peter Hünermann, Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzil, vol. 2 (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2004), 368f.; Karl Josef Becker, S.J., “Subsistit in,” L’Osservatore Romano 5/6 December 2005, 6–7; Francis A. Sullivan, S.J., “Quaestio diputata. A Response to Karl Becker on the Meaning of ‘subsistit in,’” Theological Studies 67 (2006): 395–409; Sullivan, “Further Thoughts on the Meaning of ‘subsistit in,’” in Theological Studies 71 (2010): 133–47; Donato Valentini, S.D.B., “Subsistit in,” in Dizionario di ecclesiologia (Rome: Città Nuova, 2010), 1383–1408; Walter Kasper , Katholische Kirche. Wesen, Wirklichkeit Sendung (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2011), 234–38; Alexandra von Teuffenbach, Die Bedeutung des subsistit in (LG 8): zum Selbstverständnis der katholischen Kirche (München: Utz Verlag 2002), in connection with Sebastian Tromp, S.J., secretary of Vatican II Preparatory Theological Commission. One must also note the relevance of the opinion of the prepatory commission itself. On this, see Giuseppe Alberigo and Franca Magistretti, eds., Constitutionis dogmaticae Lumen gentium. Synopsis historica (Bologna: Istituto per le scienze religiose, 1975), 38, 440. For a different approach see: Joseph Ratzinger, “Die Ekklesiologie der Konstitution Lumen gentium,” in Weggemeinschaft des Glaubens. Kirche als Communio (Augsburg: Paulinus, 2002), 127, who tries to explain that subsistit in should be understood in the sense of scholastic subsistentia, which only exists in the singular and not in the plural. In my opinion, beside the fact that the term subsistentia is not a coherent term in scholasticism (see ‘Subsistenz,’ Historische Wörterbuch der Philosophie 10 (1998): 486–93), the word used in Lumen Gentium is not subsistentia but subsistit in. This was an ad hoc term, and from the proceedings it is not clear that the term should be understood in this technical sense; the phrase has more to do with the practical solution removing the strict identification of the Catholic Church with the one Church of Christ. See the above quote from Dirk Ansorge, pp. 179–182, referring to Karl Lehmann.

  6. 6.

    Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration Dominus Iesus, AAS 92 (2000): 742–65; “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church,” AAS 99, no. 7 (2007): 604–8.

  7. 7.

    Karl Rahner , S.J., Das Konzil—ein neuer Beginn (1965), new ed.: Karl Lehmann, ed. (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2012). On the history of this reception see Jan-Heiner Tück, Erinnerung an die Zukunft (as quoted above in footnote 1).

  8. 8.

    John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint , 10–14.

  9. 9.

    Ibid., 13.

  10. 10.

    About the re-discovery of the original meaning of catholicity by Karl Adam, Henry de Lubac, S.J., Yves Congar , O.P., Avery Dulles, S.J., and others see Walter Kasper , Katholische Kirche, 254–65.

  11. 11.

    Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyr. 8, 2.

  12. 12.

    A summary of the discussion on this issue with Joseph Ratzinger can be found in: Medard Kehl, S.J., “Zum jüngsten Disput um das Verhältnis von Universalkirche und Ortskirche,” in Kirche in ökumenischer Perspektive (FS Walter Kasper ) (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2003), 81–101; Walter Kasper , Katholische Kirche, 387–92.

  13. 13.

    Karl Lehmann, “Die Heilsmöglichkeit für die Nichtchristen und für die Nichtglaubenden nach den Aussagen des 2. Vatikanischen Konzils,” in Heil für alle?. Ökumenische Reflexionen (Dialog der Kirche 15), ed. Dorothea Sattler and Volker Leppin (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2012), 124–52.

  14. 14.

    Against this notion (rightfully) see Joseph Ratzinger’s 1995 essay “Zur Lage der Ökumene,” in Joseph Ratzinger Gesammelte Schriften (JRGS 8/2) (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2010), 744–47.

  15. 15.

    John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint, 34.

  16. 16.

    Yves Congar , O.P., Neuf cents après. Note sur le schisme oriental (Paris: Éditions de Chevetogne, 1954); German translation: Zerrissene Christenheit - Wo trennten sich Ost und West? (Wien: Herold-Verlag, 1959).

  17. 17.

    Joseph Ratzinger, “Prognosen für die Zukunft des Ökumenismus,” in JRGS 8/2, 717–30.

  18. 18.

    Walter Kasper , Barmherzigkeit: Grundbegriff des Evangeliums - Schlüssel christlichen Lebens (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2012), 105; Das Evangelium von der Familie (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2012), 55f.

  19. 19.

    For one example, see the Augsburg Confession , especially Article XXI and conclusion.

  20. 20.

    John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint , 4.

  21. 21.

    See Karl Lehmann und Wolfhart Pannenberg, eds., Lehrverurteilend kirchentrennend? Rechtfertigung, Sakramente und Amt im Zeitalter der Reformation und heute (Dialog der Kirchen 4) (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder – Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1986); The Lutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Gemeinsame Erklärung zur Rechtfertigungslehre (Frankfurt am Main: Verlag Otto Lembeck, 1999); English translation: Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000); Walter Kasper , Harvesting the Fruits (New York: Continuum, 2009); John A. Radano, ed., Celebrating a Century of Ecumenism. Exploring the Achievements of International Dialogue (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012); The Lutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, From Conflict to Communion: Lutheran-Catholic Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017 (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt GmbH, 2013); see also Footnote 18 above.

  22. 22.

    See Henk Witte, “Is Catholicity Still an Appropriate Concept in a Postmodern World?” in Catholicity Under Pressure: The Ambiguous Relationship Between Diversity and Unity. Proceedings of the 18th Academic Consultation of the Societas Oecumenica, ed. Dagmar Heller and Péter Szentpétery (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2016), 155–70.

  23. 23.

    See Dokumente wachsender Übereinstimmung, 4 vols. (Paderborn-Frankfurt am Main: Bonifatius, 1983–2012); John Borelli and John. H. Erickson, eds., The Quest for Unity. Orthodox and Catholics in Dialogue (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1996).

  24. 24.

    John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint , 41.

  25. 25.

    Harding Meyer, Ökumenische Zielvorstellungen (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1996).

  26. 26.

    For discussion, see Walter Kasper , Papst Franziskus—Revolution der Zärtlichkeit und der Liebe. Theologische Wurzeln und pastorale Perspektiven (Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2015).

  27. 27.

    Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, AAS 68 (1976): 5–76, no. 14.

  28. 28.

    Philip Jenkins, Die Zukunft des Christentums. Eine Analyse der weltweiten Entwicklung im 21. Jahrhundert (Brunnen: Brunnen-Verlag 2006); John L. Allen, The Future Church (New York: Doubleday, 2009).

  29. 29.

    Thomas Aquinas , ST I/II, Q. 106, A. 1–2. Regarding the origins of the evangelical movement, see Marie-Dominique Chenu, O.P., Das Werk des Hl. Thomas von Aquin (Heidelberg: Kerle, 1982), 39–46.

  30. 30.

    Oscar Cullmann , Einheit durch Vielfalt. Grundlegung und Beitrag zur Diskussion über die Möglichkeiten ihrer Verwirklichung (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1986). See the positive appraisal of this work in Joseph Ratzinger, “Zum Fortgang der Ökumene,” JRGS 8/2, 734–36.

  31. 31.

    Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, AAS 105, no. 12 (2013): 1019–1137, nos. 234–37.

  32. 32.

    Pope Francis refers to the image of a polyhedron only generally in Evangelii Gaudium 236, but at the encounter with one Pentecostal community in Caserta on 28 July 2014, he used it as an example for ecumenical unity.

  33. 33.

    Johann Adam Möhler, Die Einheit in der Kirche oder das Prinzip des Katholizismus. Dargestellt im Geiste der Kirchenväter der drei ersten Jahrhunderte (Darmstadt: Wiss. Buchgesellschaft, 1957), 152–57 (§ 46). See also Walter Kasper , “Einheit in versöhnter Verschiedenheit,” in Wege zur Einheit der Christen, ed. Kasper, 230–32 (including extended references).

  34. 34.

    John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint, 15–17, 33–35.

  35. 35.

    Groupe de Dombes, Pour la conversion des eglises (Paris: Centurion, 1991); English translation: “For the Conversion of the Churches,” in For the Communion of the Churches: The Contributions of the Groupe des Dombes, ed. Catherine E. Clifford (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010), 149–223.

  36. 36.

    John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint , 34. The recognition that Catholic Church bears part of the blame for the Reformation came already from Pope Hadrian VI at the Imperial Diet of Nuremberg in 1522. Pope Paul VI also offered a plea for forgiveness at the opening of the second session of Vatican II in 1963. Finally, Pope John Paul II prayed for forgiveness for sins of the Church during the great jubilee year 2000. See also the document of the International Theological Commission: Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past (2000).

  37. 37.

    Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 25ff., 30, 32, 51.

  38. 38.

    John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint , 21–24.

  39. 39.

    See International Theological Commission, Sensus fidei in the life of the Church (2014).

  40. 40.

    Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 119, 139, 198.

  41. 41.

    John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint , 95; Address of Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the Phanar on November 30, 2006, AAS 98, no. 12 (2006): 913–17. Pope Francis seems to follow the lead of Archbishop John R. Quinn on this matter. See The Reform of the Papacy: The Costly Call to Christian Unity (New York: Crossroads, 1999); see also James F. Puglisi, S.A., ed., How Can the Petrine Ministry Be a Service to the Unity of the Universal Church? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010).

  42. 42.

    This way of thinking can also be found in Enrique Dussel, Der Gegendiskurs der Moderne. Kölner Vorlesungen (Wien: Turia + Kant, 2012) who comes from Argentina, and in the German-speaking world by Wolfgang Welsch, Unsere postmoderne Moderne (Berlin: Oldenbourg Akademieverlag, 2002); Welsch, Vernunft. Die zeitgenössische Vernunftkritik und das Konzept der transversalen Vernunft (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2007).

  43. 43.

    Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 11.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., 20–24.

  45. 45.

    See the famous speech Benedict XVI delivered on December 22, 2005 on the hermeneutics of continuity as hermeneutics of reform, widely seen as a nod to John Henry Newman ’s (d. 1890) notion of the development of doctrine. Benedict XVI, “2005 Christmas Address to the Roman Curia,” AAS 98, no. 1 (2006): 40–53.

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  1. Catholic Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Rome, Italy

    H. E. Cardinal W. Kasper

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  1. University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Vladimir Latinovic

  2. Department of Theology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

    Gerard Mannion

  3. Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome, Italy

    Jason Welle, O.F.M.

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Cardinal W. Kasper, H.E. (2018). Remembering the Future: Church and Churches Toward Multifaceted Unity. In: Latinovic, V., Mannion, G., Welle, O.F.M., J. (eds) Catholicism Opening to the World and Other Confessions. Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98581-7_20

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