The Core of
Ecumenism
Catholics
regard the Orthodox as “sister
Churches”, recognizing their patrimony as part of the full Catholicity of the
Church. The real problem is the Petrine ministry and the issue of papal
supremacy, which is unacceptable to the Orthodox Churches. They propose as an
acceptable alternative that the Bishop of Rome be the Primate of the West, and
not of the whole world, thus returning to the Byzantine model. With the Reformed
Churches the theological differences are much more serious. There are
differing understandings of Christ and redemption, Scripture, Eucharistic
celebration, the meaning of church, and the role of Mary. However, a very
positive step was the signing of the Joint Declaration of the Catholic-Lutheran
Churches on the Doctrine of Justification signed in Augsburg Tiber ” will contribute considerably to the
ecumenical movement. There are, however, growing differences in ethical
questions: about abortion, contraception, homosexuality, bioethics, etc.; very
bothersome, indeed, because they present obstacles to common action and common
witness to present day society.
Cardinal Walter Kasper has stated: “In the
main, we are witnessing for the same God, we have the same belief in Jesus
Christ, who is the Saviour of all men and women, we have justification…So we
have a high level of agreement. But now we come to the question of what is the
Church? A church is a sign, an instrument of the Gospel, and there are still
different visions of Church between Churches and communions.” In practice, the
Church affirms its respect for every religious experience, and that in the many
paths that people follow in search of happiness and good, there is a common
aspiration, written in hearts and in consciences by the Creator. All true and
good aspirations must ultimately find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
From first to last, ecumenism lies in our together putting above everything else our commitment to Christ and to the cause of Christ in the world. It lies in working together in practical ways to strengthen one another in Christianity and in working together in practical ways to defend Christianity and to bring the world to Christ. It lies, in short, in an approach opposite to the kind of “ecumenism” that tries to unite Christians in an accommodation to the world and to secular goals. According to this idea, unity comes from putting aside an explicit focus on Christ and with it all the theological differences that come from disparate teaching about Christ and his work. For us, however, ecumenism should be a matter of restoring Christ to the centre as Lord and working together where and as we can until he deepens and expands our unity. The basis of cooperation is our core Christian commitment, one that Orthodox, Protestants, and Catholics have in common. In many countries, faithfulness to Christianity involves loss of wealth, position, and life. And for the most part Christians are given a choice: they can accommodate. They can compromise without giving up everything involved in Christianity, and thereby avoid personal loss and death. They are told, for instance, that if they are simply willing to work for the common good, the collective, the nation, and put aside their otherworldly preoccupations and divisive concerns, they do not have to experience any penalties. In such situations the “theological secularists” tend to find ways to accommodate. They do not die for Christ. On the other hand, true Orthodox, Evangelicals, and Catholics frequently find themselves undergoing the same persecution as one another at the hands of the same persecutors.
Facing death brings one to a realistic clarity about what is important in life. The basis for our cooperation is the willingness to die for our Lord Jesus Christ. Cannot those of us who pray for the grace to be able to die for him, if martyrdom comes our way, recognize one another as brothers and sisters in him? Can we not work together for him until such time as the world puts the final question to us too, and we are called on to witness to him with our lives?
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