Les exigeances de la communion, Paris, 1959; Y. Congar, Diversit et communion, Paris, 1982, 239 ff. 'Subsistit in' expresses a historically concrete ecclesiology. Understood in this way, "subsistit in" assumes the essential requirement of the "est". All of these, which come from Christ and lead back to Christ, belong by right to the one Church of Christ. After taking all these factors into consideration, this Sacred Council solemnly repeats the declaration of previous Councils and Roman Pontiffs, that for the restoration or the maintenance of unity and communion it is necessary to impose no burden beyond what is essential. Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 4), and marked a decisive turning point with the creation of the "World Council of Churches" in 1948. It is right and salutary to recognize the riches of Christ and virtuous works in the lives of others who are bearing witness to Christ, sometimes even to the shedding of their blood. In the Decree Unitatis Redintegratio, the Second Vatican Council recognized that the ecumenical movement is a sign of the Holy Spirit's action and said that it considered the promotion of this movement to be one of its principal tasks. IV (1870), Constitutio Pastor Aeternus: Collac 7, 482 a. We must consequently ask ourselves: what are the Catholic principles of ecumenism as they have been formulated in the Decree Unitatis Redintegratio? It's a model prison. No. 3, 27-28 gr.). These most certainly can truly engender a life of grace in ways that vary according to the condition of each Church or Community. The Eastern schism encompasses both the ancient Churches of the East separated by the Imperial Church in the fourth and fifth centuries, and the schism between Rome and the Eastern Patriarchates, whose symbolic date has been established as the year 1054. We believe that Our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, in order to establish the one Body of Christ on earth to which all should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the people of God. The goal of this chapter is to capture some of these highlights and trace the post-conciliar legacy of Unitatis Redintegratio ( UR ), pointing to areas in which its teaching has been fruitfully received as well as calling attention to aspects of the document that still await full reception as we approach the five-hundredth anniversary of the 16, 15. Every renewal of the Church[27] is essentially grounded in an increase of fidelity to her own calling. Moreover, their form of worship sometimes displays notable features of the liturgy which they shared with us of old. LUGDUNENSE II (1274), Professio fidei Michaelis Palaeologi: Mansi 24, 71 E; CONC. They must take full account of all these factors and, where this is done, it will greatly contribute to the dialogue that is looked for. It is most important that future shepherds and priests should have mastered a theology that has been carefully worked out in this way and not polemically, especially with regard to those aspects which concern the relations of separated brethren with the Catholic Church. The Present and Future Situation of the Ecumenical Movement, in: Information Service n. 109, 2002/I-II, 11-20. All wish for unity and long for the one visible Church of God. Since there is only one Christ and only one Eucharist, each Church which celebrates the Eucharist is in a relationship of communion with all the other Churches. 1 Cor. Ut Unum Sint, n. 88). 32, Enarr. In addition, the way is prepared for cooperation between them in the duties for the common good of humanity which are demanded by every Christian conscience; and, wherever this is allowed, there is prayer in common. However, the heritage handed down by the apostles was received with differences of form and manner, so that from the earliest times of the Church it was explained variously in different places, owing to diversities of genius and conditions of life. Despite their different, often considerably differing stances, the reformers conceive of the Church as a creatura verbi whose point of departure is the Word of God24 and not the Eucharist. [10] Cf. According to the Council, these divergences partly concern the doctrines of Jesus Christ and of redemption, and especially Sacred Scripture in its relationship with the Church, the authentic Magisterium, the Church and her ministries, the role of Mary in the work of the salvation (cf. F ORTY years ago, when the Council opened its sessions, the majority of the Fathers favoured a sound Catholic ecumenism, designed as a generous and charitable invitation addressed to Christians separated from Rome to come back to the fold, to reintegrate Catholic unity.. An echo of this zeal can be found at number 2 of the conciliar Decree Unitatis redintegratio: ; 506 ff. It is a mystery that finds its highest exemplar and source in the unity of the Persons of the Trinity: the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit, one God. [7] It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the Church as a whole, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful. All Rights Reserved. Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only. Yet worship in common (communicatio in sacris) is not to be considered as a means to be used indiscriminately for the restoration of Christian unity. 20 The Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 248) also includes the filioque question among those problems that indicate a complementary rather than a contradictory difference. 24 M. Luther, De captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae praeludium (1520): WA 560 ff. Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 23). [10] Among their number He selected Peter, and after his confession of faith determined that on him He would build His Church. At these meetings, which are organized in a religious spirit, each explains the teaching of his Communion in greater depth and brings out clearly its distinctive features. In recent times more than ever before, He has been rousing divided Christians to remorse over their divisions and to a longing for unity. 3 On its part, article 18 ofthe Directoryforthe Application ofPrinciples and Norms on Ecumenism identifies some factors that necessitate the . As a spiritual movement, the ecumenical movement does not uproot Tradition. 13 On the notion of "the structures of sin", cf. It was desired to give its proper due to the fact that outside the Catholic Church there are not only individual Christians but also "elements of Church",10 and even Churches and Ecclesial Communities which, while not in full communion, belong rightfully to the one Church and are a means of salvation for their members (cf. This council wishes to set before all Catholics the ways in which they can respond and take action. Today, what point have we reached regarding ecumenism? In the great upheaval which began in the West toward the end of the Middle Ages, and in later times too, Churches and ecclesial Communities came to be separated from the Apostolic See of Rome. Council clearly makes ecumenism binding as the work of the Spirit. To the extent that we are united to Christ, we will all be united to one another as well, and will actuate in all its fullness the catholicity proper to the Church. Ecumenism, quo vadis? In this regard, the ecumenical movement is a charismatic phenomenon and an "operation of the Holy Spirit". DS 3921). Although the ecumenical movement and the desire for peace with the Catholic Church have not yet taken hold everywhere, it is our hope that ecumenical feeling and mutual esteem may gradually increase among all men. Therefore, without minimizing the differences between the various Christian bodies, and without overlooking the bonds between them which exist in spite of divisions, this holy Council decides to propose the following considerations for prudent ecumenical action. The Council candidly acknowledges that there are obstacles to full communion with the Catholic Church, caused by differences in doctrine, discipline, and ecclesiology. Baptism is evidently only the point of departure and the basis (cf. ), and in particular the "Common Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" (1999). 13. In this eschatological perspective, the ecumenical movement is closely connected to the missionary movement. But we live in a very un-ideal world. Ad Gentes, nn. This expression, still fairly vague in the Decree on Ecumenism, was taken up and developed in the Tomos Agapis,19 the exchange of Messages between Pope Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras. 9. Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio," in Decrees ofthe Ecumenical Councils, Vol. . Carl Henegan, We can spend our whole lives underachieving." Margaret Elizabeth Sangster, Approval is a greater motivator than disapproval, but we have to disapprove on occasion when we correct. This notwithstanding, it had far-reaching and important repercussions both within the Catholic Church and at an ecumenical level, and in the course of the past 40 years it has profoundly changed the situation of ecumenism .25. 9 Letter from the Holy See to the Archbishop of Boston (1949), in: DS 3866-73. CONC. This active faith has been responsible for many organizations for the relief of spiritual and material distress, the furtherance of the education of youth, the improvement of the social conditions of life, and the promotion of peace throughout the world. It was promulgated on 21 November 1964 and represented a huge shift in the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, although signs of change had been evident earlier. We should therefore pray to the Holy Spirit for the grace to be genuinely self-denying, humble. 4. 2, 2S; CONC. II, vol. However, it no longer describes the way in which the Catholic Church understands herself in terms of "splendid isolation", but takes note of the active presence of the one Church of Christ also in other Churches and Ecclesial Communities (cf. This movement was long regarded with suspicion by the Catholic Church. | Irondale, AL 35210 |. Introduction by Cardinal Kasper, Communio. but we can pray with non-Catholics in the sense of praying "in their presence.". Unitatis Redintegratio, nn. What was its effect? Already from the earliest times the Eastern Churches followed their own forms of ecclesiastical law and custom, which were sanctioned by the approval of the Fathers of the Church, of synods, and even of ecumenical councils. Cattolici e ortodossi in dialogo, Rome, 2004. The Guiding Concept of Catholic Ecumenical Theology. As the Council says, the Ecclesial Communities born from the Reformation "have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness especially because of the absence of the Sacrament of Orders" (Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 22). Incorporation into the Church reaches its fullness with the Eucharist, which is the source, fulcrum and summit of Christian and ecclesial life (cf. XII (1517), Constitutio Constituti: Mansi 32, 988 B-C. [36] Cf. The Church therefore needs purification and renewal and must ceaselessly take the way of penance (cf. The Council moreover professes its awareness that human powers and capacities cannot achieve this holy objective - the reconciling of all Christians in the unity of the one and only Church of Christ. Above all, prayer is the heart of the ecumenical movement (cf. [21] Cf. This goal has been defined theologically by the Council as unity-communio. 20 ff. It is significant that the term "dialogue" is repeated like a refrain at the end of the various parts of this section of the Decree (cf. Commitment to ecumenism responds to the prayer of the Lord Jesus that "they may all be one" (Jn 17:21). The Decree was a beginning. Sacred theology and other branches of knowledge, especially of an historical nature, must be taught with due regard for the ecumenical point of view, so that they may correspond more exactly with the facts. Unitatis Redintegratio, nn. CONC. Unitatis Redintegratio, nn. Moreover, in the East are found the riches of those spiritual traditions which are given expression especially in monastic life. Many also are the saints whose praise they sing, among them the Fathers of the universal Church. Ecumenism: expression of the Church's eschatological dynamic. . 11, 52. According to the Bishop and Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, it is God's Spirit who keeps young and fresh the apostolic patrimony that was bequeathed to us once and for all.4. The Sacred Council gladly notes all this. 10 This concept dates back to J. Calvin; but whereas for Calvin the term referred to the sad remnants of the true Church, in the ecumenical debate it is understood in a positive and dynamic sense, directed towards the future. The Catholic principles of ecumenism spelled out by the Council and later by Pope John Paul II are clearly and unequivocally opposed to irenicism and relativism, which tend to trivialize everything (cf. A series of official events, however, also prepared the ground for it. The first divisions occurred in the East, when the dogmatic formulae of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon were challenged, and later when ecclesiastical communion between the Eastern Patriarchates and the Roman See was dissolved. W. Kasper (ed. The Church will be in history what she is, what she has always been and what she always will be. Transferring this concept of unity to the ecumenical problem, the ecumenical unity to which we are aspiring means something more than a network of confessional Churches which, by entering into the communion of the Eucharist and of the pulpit, mutually recognize one another. CONC. 4, 16 ff.). Unitatis Redintegratio is Vatican II's Decree on Ecumenism. As the Decree on Ecumenism clearly recognizes, it is a matter of a complex and differentiated phenomenon, as much historical as it is doctrinal. 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