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Aug. 9, 2007
Ecumenism definitely alive and well
Bishop Richard J. Sklba
Bishop Richard J. Sklba
Herald
of Hope is a weekly column started by
former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland
in the Catholic Herald and written by
the bishops of the Milwaukee Archdiocese.
While blissfully engaged in some tent camping with priest friends in the Canadian Rockies last month, I was completely unaware of the publicity given to the two recent documents published in Rome during that time. Curiously, neither seemed to have caught the attention of the Canadian media, at least the ones I saw.
Upon my return to Milwaukee, however, I learned that both the pope’s extended usage of the 1962 Roman (Tridentine) Missal and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s statement on the nature of the church made headlines.
Each became a topic of discussion for my USCCB Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. The office staff was involved in countless conversations of explanation and clarification. I would like to engage in some personal musings about the clarification from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding our Catholic self understanding.
That statement, as you may now know, offered five simple questions and answers regarding the nature of Christ’s church and explained how we Catholics see ourselves in that context.
Over the years, the ecumenical dialogues of our country have explored most of the main issues of difference between the various Christian traditions and churches. Reports at the end of each round of discussion, sometimes after several years of careful study, have been published and remanded back to their respective church communities. Sometimes those statements become springboards for further serious discussion, but other times the reports sit on the shelf, at least for the time being. The process takes time for full reception by the larger church.
Periodically a dialogue ecumenical partner will pause, and ask, “Now how is it again that you consider yourself a church?” Formulating an answer enables each church to take into consideration the recent discussions, while still maintaining a sense of its individual identity and continuity with past teachings and convictions within its own tradition. It’s a good question, and one which suggests vitality.
If Catholic identity is a concern for us, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that true Lutheran identity is a concern for Lutherans, even amid their ecumenical efforts, and that fidelity to true Methodism or Presbyterianism is important for them as well! In an age of all-too-easy popular slippage from one Christian tradition to another, almost as if it didn’t matter and all were equal and alike, the question of denominational loyalty and conviction is important. Each tradition has its own gift and grace which should not be lost amid casual conversation and cheerful fellowship.
Most Christian groups feel strongly that they are a church (although a few for any number of reasons do not choose to use the word to describe themselves). The definitions vary from tradition to tradition.
We Catholics not only see ourselves as a church, but we also claim to be Christ’s church in the sense that we believe that we possess all the essential elements instituted by Christ for his church: Word and Sacrament, east and west, with so many different spiritualities (Franciscan, Dominican, Ignatian, Carmelite, etc.). During the deliberations of the bishops of Vatican II some 40-plus years ago, they chose not to make a simple equation of “is” between Catholicism and the Church of Christ, but rather to say that “the Church of Christ ‘subsists’ in the Catholic Church.” Our media struggle to comprehend the theological nuances, and our faithful don’t always understand the technicalities of such discussions.
As I understand the phrase, it suggests continuity but also recognizes the reality of human sinfulness in the Catholic Church and the distance still needed before our full and final identity can be realized.
The Congregation reaffirmed our traditional Catholic convictions. The same Congregation acknowledged that other Christian Churches may not be complete churches in our sense of the word, but recognized respectfully that they possess elements of truth and sanctification in their life. It is Catholic teaching, often affirmed by Pope Benedict XVI, that the saving grace of Christ is active in other Christian bodies.
It is also our Catholic belief that we are in communion with each other, partial though that union may be at this time, through the grace of our common baptism in Christ, our proclamation of the Gospel and our Christian lives of holiness.
Later this week I will have the privilege of attending the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, meeting in Chicago. I will offer an official greeting from the Catholic bishops of our nation to the 2,000-plus Lutheran delegates gathered for that convocation. It will be a privilege to do so, and a challenge to compress so many things of importance into the two or three minutes allotted to me.
I certainly pray that their deliberations be guided by the Spirit of Christ and that their time in solemn assembly be filled with grace. I ask you to pray for them as well. We have much work to do if we are to receive the gift of reconciled unity. Moreover, as the Second Vatican Council affirmed, “there is no ecumenism worthy of the name without change of heart.” That includes us Catholics as well!
