Louvain Studies 38 (2014): 269-288 doi: 10.2143/LS.38.3.3105908 © 2014 by Louvain Studies, all rights reserved

The Many Facets of Worldwide Bridge-Building between the Vatican and the World Council of Churches

Annemarie C. Mayer

Abstract. — The Roman Church is not a member church of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Nevertheless, ever since Vatican II the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) has been working closely with different bodies of the WCC on a continuous basis. Taking as its point of departure the latest Assembly, this article investigates the roots of the cooperation between the WCC and the Roman , has a closer look at the institutional bridges between the two partners, highlights some specific features shaping their cooperation, and reflects on the status quo of the ecumenical movement in light of the contempo- rary challenges that both partners in this ongoing cooperation have to face. Bodies with Catholic cooperation like the Joint Working Group, the Faith and Order Commission, and the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism man- aged to present major results of their work during the months leading up to the 10th Assembly of the WCC in 2013. Yet through these institutional bridges also the Catholic Church is currently challenged to take into account the many facets of worldwide ecumenism in order to start new ecumenically ground-breaking initia- tives together with her multilateral ecumenical partner, the WCC.

On the evening of October 25, 2013 eighteen people were waiting at Fiumicino Airport for the night flight of Korean Air from Rome to Seoul. They were the so-called ‘delegated observers’ from the Vatican who were travelling to the 10th Assembly of the WCC in Busan. In Korea, the group was joined by six ‘local delegated observers’, and together with Cardinal Koch, who was invited as a guest of the WCC, these twenty-five people formed the largest delegation that the Vatican ever sent to one of the WCC assemblies. This happened exactly 85 years after the Mortalium Animos in which Pius XI explicitly warned against any Catholic participation in the modern ecumenical movement: some are more easily deceived by the outward appearance of good when there is question of fostering unity among all Christians. […]

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Is it not right, it is often repeated, indeed, even consonant with duty that all who invoke the name of Christ should abstain from mutual reproaches and at long last be united in mutual charity? […] These things and others that class of men who are known as pan-Christians continually repeat and amplify; and these men, so far from being quite few and scattered, have increased to the dimensions of an entire class […] Who then can conceive a Christian Federation, the members of which retain each his own opinions and private judgment, even in matters which concern the object of faith, even though they be repug- nant to the opinions of the rest? And in what manner, We ask, can men who follow contrary opinions, belong to one and the same Fed- eration of the faithful? […] it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics.1 Given such a verdict, how did it ever happen that the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the World Coun- cil of Churches (WCC) came to work together? In order to answer this question, first I want briefly to introduce the dramatis personae, so to speak, while retracing the roots of the cooperation (I). Then I will move on to the institutional bridges between the WCC and PCPCU, present- ing also some fruits from the most recent ecumenical cooperation (II). In addition, a few brief comments will characterize the special features of the cooperation (III). I shall conclude with a look at the current state of the worldwide ecumenical movement (IV).

I. The Roots of the Cooperation

Attempting to answer the question of how the collaboration between PCPCU and WCC ever came about despite an assessment like that of Mortalium Animos requires us not only to look back at the Sec- ond Vatican Council, but to go even further back and actually ask two related questions: How did the WCC come into being? And, since when and in what form has the Catholic Church cooperated with the WCC?

1. How Did the WCC Come into Existence? In 1910, the first World Missionary Conference was held in Edin- burgh. This event is commonly regarded as the beginning of the modern ecumenical movement. More than 1200 participants met under the

1. Pius XI, Encyclical Mortalium Animos, On Religious Unity (January 6th, 1928) http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xi//documents/hf_p-xi_ enc_19280106_mortalium-animos_en.html (accessed September 24, 2014).

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chairmanship of the American Methodist John Mott (1865-1955). Only seventeen delegates came from mission areas. No Catholic and Orthodox representatives were present, despite the conference’s global claim. Only Geremia Bonomelli (1831-1914), at that time the Catholic Bishop of Cremona, sent a personal message. The most important result of this first World Missionary Conference consisted in combining ecumenical and international concerns.2 These were programmatically formulated as three basic ecumenical concerns: the evangelisation of all humankind, commitment to peace and social justice, and the unity of the Church itself. In the following decades, these concerns were pursued by the International Missionary Council and the Movements for Life and Work and for Faith and Order, respectively. In Mortalium Animos Pius XI makes implicit reference to the first official meetings of these move- ments. In the beginning decades these three movements evolved further as three parallel strands of the ecumenical movement. In the International Missionary Council, the legally independent missionary societies worked together with the churches. In the orbit of imperialist colonial policy, the modern missionary movement had exported Western denominationalism to Asia, Africa, and Latin America and partly caused a local denominational confusion which had grown unmanageable. Rather than reproducing the confessional divisions or competing with each other and poaching converts, the common aim now was one interdenominational commitment to evangelising the whole world in the present generation.3 The understanding of mission, which has since been developed by the World Mission Conferences, is holistic and does not only aim at the conversion of individuals, but also at social commitment in order to change the world and at a common Christian witness to other religions. Even during the turmoil of the First World War the bonds of con- tact were not severed, due to common initiatives to promote peace. One of the main organizers of such initiatives was the Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala, Nathan Söderblom (1866-1931). In 1919, he suggested cre- ating a “World Council of Churches”4 representing all Christians.

2. These two aims were combined by the mission societies even before the League of Nations was established in 1920. 3. Cf. the influential book by John R. Mott, Evangelization of the World in This Generation (New York: Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 1900). 4. In choosing this name actually a suggestion made by Samuel McCrea Cavert was followed, cf. “Report of the Committee of Thirty-Five (Westfield College, Lon- don),” in Willem A. Visser ’t Hooft, The Genesis and Formation of the World Council of Churches (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1982), 104.

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In 1925, this proposal led to the first World Conference on Life and Work, which took place in Stockholm. Chaired by Söderblom, 661 del- egates from 37 countries (among them now also some Orthodox) worked in seven “sections” on peace-related political, economic, and social issues. The message of this conference emphasizes that “The nearer we draw to the Crucified, the nearer we come to one another, in however varied colours the Light of the World may be reflected in our faith.”5 Furthermore, as another direct result of the Edinburgh 1910 World Mission Conference – at the initiative of the Anglican Mission Bishop Charles H. Brent (1862-1929) – the American churches invited to a world conference: Similarities and differences in faith and church order should be assessed by comparing the churches based on their commitment to Jesus Christ. The Movement of Faith and Order was about to address these issues consciously in contrast to the Life and Work Movement, in which questions of faith and ecclesial ministry tended to be postponed while in their place common witness prevailed according to the watchword ‘doctrine divides while service unites’. Yet it was only after the First World War that a meeting became possible. Above all the Orthodox churches now also affirmed their willingness to cooperate; in 1920, the Ecumenical Patriarchate sent an encyclical Unto the Churches of Christ Everywhere,6 which encouraged the churches to establish a federation along the lines of the League of Nations founded in Geneva in the same year. The first World Conference on Faith and Order took place in Laus- anne in 1927. With 394 participants from 108 countries, it stood for a global concept of ecumenism. The preamble proves the optimism to achieve church unity: “We thank God and rejoice over agreements reached; upon our agreements we build. Where the reports record dif- ferences, we call upon the Christian world to an earnest reconsideration of the conflicting opinions now held, and a strenuous endeavour to reach the truth as it is in God’s mind, which should be the foundation of the Church’s unity.”7 The course for establishing a World Council of Churches was thus set. But only after the Second World War, in 1948, 361 delegates from 147 churches in 44 countries assembled in Amsterdam to initiate the World

5. George K. A. Bell, ed., The Stockholm Conference 1925: The Office Report of the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work held in Stockholm, 19-30 August, 1925 (London: Oxford University Press, 1926), 716. 6. Constantin G. Patelos, ed., The Orthodox Church in the Ecumenical Movement: Documents and Statements 1902-1975 (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1978), 40-44. 7. Herbert Newell Bate, ed., Faith and Order: Proceedings of the World Conference August 3-21, 1927 (London: SCM Press, 1927), 459.

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Council of Churches (WCC). After the Stuttgart Confession of 1945, a Ger- man delegation could also participate. However, the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church were not represented at that meeting – the Soviet Union had refused the Russian delegates permission to leave the country. Representatives of the Greek Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, however, were able to be present. Their del- egation was led by Patriarch Germanos Stenopoulos of Seleucia (1872- 1951), who already had had a hand in the encyclical of 1920. The first Assembly of the WCC in Amsterdam chose the theme “Man’s Disorder and God’s Design.”8 In addition to an ecclesial contribution to the ordering of the world and to a ‘responsible society’, its deliberations focused on the consolidation and self-organization of the newly founded WCC. Its name ‘World Council’ designates that it conceives of itself not just as a (further) merger of Protestant churches, but as a global and in this sense ‘catholic’ movement. Nathan Söderblom had already years ago summarized this as follows: “The Catholic Church has three main branches: the Orthodox- Catholic, the Roman Catholic and the Evangelical-Catholic.”9 As its basis the WCC took up a formula, which the Faith and Order Movement had already adopted: “The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which accept our Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour.” The Third Assembly at New Delhi (1961) expanded this still valid formula to “[...] which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfil together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”10 According to the Second Assembly at Evanston in 1954 this basis is not quite a common confession, but nevertheless more than a mere formula of agreement. Through its clear Christological and

8. Willem A. Visser ’t Hooft, The First Assembly of the WCC (London: SPCK, 1949); cf. also William G. Rush, A Movement Toward Church Unity: Ecumenism (Phil- adelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1985), 29. 9. Nathan Söderblom, Einigung der Christenheit: Tatgemeinschaft der Kirchen aus dem Geist werktätiger Liebe (Halle: Ed. Müller 1925), 209: “Die katholische Kirche hat drei Hauptabteilungen: die orthodox-katholische, die römisch-katholische und die evan- gelisch-katholische.” Cf. also Söderblom’s Nobel Prize speech: “two of the main divisions of the Holy Catholic (General) and Apostolic Church: the Greek and Russian Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Evangelical Western Church which, even in its creed, con- fesses to believing in and thus belonging to ‘The Holy (General) Catholic Church’. The third main denomination, the Roman, has not considered it possible to take part offi- cially in this ecumenical work because of the traditions of the Papal See and of the ever increasing demarcation and isolation resulting from the Vatican Concilium of 1870.” http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1930/soderblom-lecture.html (accessed September 24, 2014). 10. Willem A. Visser ’t Hooft, The New Delhi Report (New York: Association, 1961), 426.

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Trinitarian structure, on the one hand, a sharp boundary is drawn toward sects or non-Christian religions, while on the other hand, it also allows for the membership of churches with different understandings of Church. Such membership does not automatically include recognition of all other member churches as churches in the full sense;11 it merely means to concede that in other churches at least elements of the true Church are realised. Thus, for example, the Orthodox Church does not conceal its conviction that it is the only member church of the WCC which has fully respected and preserved the early Church’s faith. The WCC has no authority over its member churches. It does not see itself as a “super church,” but as a “fellowship of churches,” as a tool which serves the unity of the Church of Jesus Christ as it is stated in the Creed. Therefore it is important to note that a majority of the WCC member churches neither practices pulpit sharing nor Eucharistic sharing with each other. At its meeting in Toronto in 1950, the Central Committee declared that the WCC is so to speak ‘ecclesiologically neutral’. If a church seeks membership, either an assembly that takes place approxi- mately every seven years or the Central Committee that meets every 18 months decide on the membership of this church in the WCC. The conditions on the side of the applicant church are that it accepts the basis and counts at least 50,000 members, and on the side of WCC that at least two-thirds of its member churches agree. In 2010, 349 member churches of the Anglican, Orthodox, and Protestant denominational families belonged to the WCC, in addition to the Old Catholics. Thus, the WCC represents more than 560 million Christians worldwide. Cur- rently, in October 2014, it counts only 345 member churches. We shall reflect further on this ‘church shrinkage’ under point III. What is impor- tant to keep in mind is this: The WCC itself is not a church, it is a platform, a forum facilitating ecumenical cooperation and dialogue among its member churches.

2. Beginning Cooperation of the Catholic Church with the WCC The Catholic Church, however, is a church, and unlike most of the WCC member churches it is a worldwide church. Given the strong initial reluctance of Catholic Church officials to get involved in the

11. Cf. World Council of Churches, Toronto Statement: The Church, the Churches and the World Council of Churches, IV.4: “membership does not imply that each church must regard the other member churches as churches in the true and full sense of the word.” http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/central-committee/1950/ toronto-statement (accessed September 10, 2014).

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modern ecumenical movement which today is associated with the WCC, it is all the more surprising what changes grass root ecumenical initiatives at local and national levels as well as informal discussions with Rome were able to initiate. As examples I only list the initiative of the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity,” promoted by the French priest Paul Cou- turier (1881-1953). This initiative was approved by Rome as early as 1908 and has been celebrated annually since 1940. Further, the Una Sancta Movement in Germany during Hitler’s dictatorship, which with the help of ecumenically minded bishops like Archbishop Lorenz Jaeger of Paderborn (1892-1975) was being influential in Rome, is to be noted as well as the initially Protestant, then cross-denominational brother- hood of Taizé, which was founded during World War II by the Swiss Reformed theologian Roger Schutz (1915-2005). Following the announcement in 1959 that a Council was to be held, everything happened very quickly. In 1960 the Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity was established, the predecessor of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. It was at that time under the leadership of Cardinal (later followed by Cardi- nals Willebrands, Cassidy, Kasper, and Koch). It is divided into two sections: East and West. It also comprises the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. One year after its formation, in 1961, for the first time four Catho- lic ‘delegated observers’ were sent to the third Assembly of the WCC in New Delhi. In 1962, the began – one of the most important events of the history of ecumenism in the 20th century. During the time of the Council the most important task of the Secre- tariat for Unity was to look after the non-Catholic observers at Vatican II and to introduce ecumenical concerns in the debates of the Council Fathers. The Second Vatican Council for the first time held debates De Oecumenismo that resulted in a decree on ecumenism and pleaded for an ecumenical way in treating topics like ecclesiology and mission. In November 1964, it formally adopted the Decree on Ecumenism, Unita- tis Redintegratio, which emphatically supports the ecumenical endeavours for unity. “The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council.”12 It recognized the faithful from other churches as sisters and brothers in Christ who are not alone to be blamed for the divisions and underlined: “It is the Holy

12. Second Vatican Council, Decree on Ecumenism , no. 1, in Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, ed. Austin Flannery, vol. 1 (Northport, NY: Costello Pub. Co., 1975, reprint 2010), 408-424; 408.

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Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faith- ful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that he is the principle of the Church’s unity.”13 It is further stated: “The concern for restoring unity involves the whole Church, faithful and clergy alike. It extends to everyone, according to the talent of each, whether it be exercised in daily Christian living or in theological and historical studies.”14 That ecumen- ism is not a private luxury but a task for the whole Church, also finds favour in the post-conciliar code of canon law.15 Unitatis Redintegratio is not isolated, but to be seen in conjunction with other Council statements, especially with the Constitution on the Church, and the Pastoral Constitution . None of these documents repre- sents an exclusivist ecclesiology. The true Church of Jesus Christ “subsists in” the Catholic Church. But this does not exclude that there may also be forms of realisation and elements of the Church outside the Catholic Church. Baptized Christians of other churches or ecclesial communities are by their baptism in a certain communion, even though this commu- nion is imperfect.16 In addition, the hermeneutics of a “‘hierarchy’ of truths”17 offers a scope for discussion. The ecumenical influence at the Council extends to some documents and manifests itself as an ecumenical influence on the Council. Let me give a concrete example: The scheme of the text on mission was not deemed satisfactory. Therefore the missionary Father Johannes Schütte, SVD from Steyl was entrusted with the task of submitting a new draft. Time was running short because the Council was supposed to be completed within three years. In April 1965, a small informal gathering took place at Crêt- Bérard in Switzerland in which Fr. Schütte participated.18 It brought together at one table experts in mission from the Catholic side and from the WCC and centred on what was to become Ad Gentes. Its goal was the mutual exchange of the respective positions on theory and practice of mis- sion. Since New Delhi (1961) the International Missionary Council was an integral part of the WCC in the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. Traces of this background can still be found in the text of

13. Unitatis Redintegratio, no. 2, Flannery, 409. 14. Unitatis Redintegratio, no. 5, ibid., 414. 15. Codex Iuris Canonici/Code of Canon Law, Latin-English translation (Washing- ton, DC: Canon Law Society of America, 1999), can. 755 §1. 16. Unitatis Redintegratio, no. 3, Flannery, 410. 17. Unitatis Redintegratio, no. 11, ibid., 417. 18. On more details cf. Basil Meeking, “After Vatican II,” International Review of Mission 73 (1984): 57-65; 59.

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Ad Gentes. When Ad Gentes 6 addresses the difference between missionary, pastoral, and ecumenical activity of the Church, it emphasises how impor- tant common witness is: Missionary work among the nations differs from the pastoral care of the faithful and likewise from efforts aimed at restoring Christian unity. Nevertheless, these two latter are very closely connected with the church’s missionary endeavor because the division between Christians is injurious to the holy work of preaching the gospel to every creature, and deprives many people of access to the faith. Because of the church’s mission, all baptized people are called upon to come together in one flock that they might bear unanimous wit- ness before the nations to Christ their Lord. And if they cannot yet fully bear witness to one faith, they should at least be imbued with mutual respect and love.19 This ecumenical tenor that speaks of unity, or at least mutual respect and love, suggests a very different note than Mortalium Animos thirty-seven years earlier. After the Second Vatican Council a Catholic ‘ecumenism of return’ is out of question. Rather an ‘ecumenism of inte- gration’ is predominant which finds itself committed to the ‘fullness of catholicity’.

II. The Institutional Bridges between WCC and PCPCU

The establishment of the Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches took place during the time of the Council. It was founded in May 1965 at the Ecumenical Institute of the WCC in Bossey, 17 km outside of Geneva. It is therefore the oldest bilateral dialogue group of the Catholic Church. To date each side appointed seventeen members.20 On the part of the WCC they represent the entire WCC fellowship with various church traditions, regions of the world, and different categories such as clergy and laity, men and women, and young people. When appointing their members, the PCPCU also takes into account various traditions, regions and cat- egories. The Joint Working Group is international and collaborates with regional and local ecclesiastical institutions. It forms the framework in which the Roman Catholic Church and the WCC can discuss important

19. Second Vatican Council, Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity Ad Gentes, no. 6, in Vatican Council II: Constitutions, Decrees, Declarations, ed. Austin Flannery (Northport, NY: Costello Pub. Co., 1996, reprint 2007), 443-497; 450. 20. The tenth Joint Working Group will only comprise eight regular members from each side.

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issues concerning their mutual relations and exchange experiences that the WCC member churches and their communities have with Roman Catholic communities at the local level. The work of the Joint Working Group “is intended to examine possibilities in the field of dialogue and cooperation. Moreover, it has no power to take decisions. Its business is the joint study of problems, and thereafter to report to the competent authorities on both sides.”21 The Joint Working Group meets annually. Its peculiarity is that it is not specialised in just one field, but that it discusses theological, social, and pastoral dimensions of ecumenism alike. Its mandates extend from one WCC Assembly to the next. Before each Assembly a report on the work in the present mandate is completed. In its long history, the Joint Working Group covered topics such as common prayer at ecumenical gatherings; common witness and proselyt- ism; catholicity and apostolicity; ecumenical dialogue on moral issues; and the meaning and purpose of ecumenical dialogue in general. The most recent Ninth Report (October 21, 2013) is entitled “Receiving one another in the name of Christ” and contains among other study docu- ments one on the important issue of ecumenical reception.22 Since 1968, the Catholic Church has been a full member of the WCC’s Commission on Faith and Order. This means that since 1968 twelve of the 120 members of the Commission were appointed by the Catholic Church. In September 1969, Pope Paul VI visited the WCC. In the course of these two events, joining Faith and Order and the Pope’s visit, it was hoped that the Catholic Church might join the WCC. How- ever, in 1972, Rome decided against membership in the WCC as such. The main reason was not that the WCC member churches are represented according to the quantity of their members and Rome thus would have automatically always had the majority of votes, as is often purported. This problem could have been handled, but the Catholic Church is composed hierarchically and not democratically, and hence cannot readily endorse the plural models of unity represented in the WCC.23 Precisely for this reason, however, its full collaboration in the Com- mission on Faith and Order is so important from an ecumenical point of

21. Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches, “First Official Report” (on the meetings at Bossey, May 1965 and Rome, November 1965), reprint from The Ecumenical Review 18 (1966/2): 1. 22. Joint Working Group, Ninth Report 2007-2012 “Receiving one another in the name of Christ” (Geneva: WCC Publications, 2013), Appendix A: “Reception: A Key to Ecumenical Progress,” 41-102. 23. Cf. Peter Neuner, Ökumenische Theologie: Die Suche nach der Einheit der christlichen Kirchen (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1997), 69-71; e.g. 69: “Sache des Rates ist es nicht, Einigungsbemühungen zu initiieren.”

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view. For here decisive steps are taken towards a mutual understanding of the respective appreciation of unity and the Church. Already in 1982, Faith and Order achieved a first breakthrough with the convergence text “Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry” (BEM). This was the first ever conver- gence text on such issues in ecumenical history. The text was sent to the churches requesting comments. The total of 186 comments collected by Faith and Order and edited by Max Thurian filled six volumes.24 As might be expected, the convergences towards a mutual recognition of Baptism were larger among the churches than with regard to Eucharist and Minis- try. But even in these difficult questions, there was a surprisingly large consonance and especially the remaining differences were brought to light very clearly. On this background, the Plenary Commission on Faith and Order decided in 1989 to launch a further study on what was then called “The Nature and Mission of the Church: Ecumenical Perspectives on Ecclesiology.”25 In 1994, Günther Gaßmann, then director of Faith and Order, stated regarding the aim of this project: The study should identify and formulate the main agreements, con- vergences, legitimate diversities and remaining differences which have emerged in ecumenical ecclesiological discussions, especially in Faith and Order and in bilateral dialogues. In this sense it should neither be a ‘new study’ nor should it aim at an ‘ecumenical ecclesi- ology’ – rather, the study should seek to clarify and formulate com- mon or converging or different ecumenical perspectives on ecclesi- ology.26 In 1998 the outcome of the ensuing work was published in a first study text called “The Nature and Purpose of the Church.”27 After the churches had responded to this text and their answers had been taken into account, in 2005 a subsequent study text entitled “The Nature and Mission of the Church”28 was released. This document was also commented

24. Cf. Max Thurian, ed., Churches Respond to BEM: Official Responses to the “Bap- tism, Eucharist and Ministry” Text, vols. 1-6 (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1986-1988). 25. Cf. Günther Gaßmann, “The Nature and Mission of the Church: Ecumeni- cal Perspectives on Ecclesiology: Background Paper,” in Faith and Order 1985-1989: The Commission Meeting at Budapest 1989, ed. Tom F. Best (Geneva: WCC Publica- tions, 1990), 202-204. 26. Günther Gaßmann, “Ecumenical Perspectives on Ecclesiology,” in Minutes of the Meeting of the Faith and Order Standing Commission 4-11 January 1994, Crêt-Bérard, Switzerland, Faith and Order Paper 167 (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1994), 28-29; 29. 27. The Commission on Faith and Order, The Nature and Purpose of the Church: A Stage on the Way to a Common Statement, Faith and Order Paper 181 (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1998). 28. The Commission on Faith and Order, The Nature and Mission of the Church: A Stage on the Way to a Common Statement, Faith and Order Paper 198 (Geneva: WCC Publications, 2005).

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on by the churches and after further consultation and work, in Septem- ber 2012, the result of the whole project was adopted as the second Faith and Order convergence document in ecumenical history, “The Church: Towards a Common Vision.”29 For the Commission itself it provides a major breakthrough in the common understanding of the Church; the document has now been translated into several languages and been sent to the churches. It is to be hoped that the reception process and the incoming responses from the churches will be just as fruitful as those to the BEM document. The churches were asked the following questions: 1. “To what extent does the present text reflect the ecclesiological under- standing of your Church?”30 – Reference point is therefore one’s own church, not any abstract entity such as the church at the time of the apostles or of the Creed. 2. “To what extent does this text offer a basis for the growing unity among the churches?” This fundamental question is concretised in the following questions and should lead to ecumenical action: 3. “To what kind of adjustments or kind of renewal does this statement challenge your Church?” 4. “To what extent can your Church enter a closer relationship in the life and mission with those churches that can in a positive way rec- ognise the description of the Church in this statement?” 5. “Which aspects of church life could require further discussion and what advice would your Church give the Commission on Faith and Order for further work in the area of ecclesiology?” Faith and Order is in no way so naïve as to believe that the present convergence text has settled the multilateral discussion concerning the understanding of the Church once and for all. There are still plenty of open questions, differences, and new challenges which need to be faced, e.g., in view of a common Christian witness over against other religions or concerning the potential of division between the churches that moral and ethical questions have developed anew in recent decades. One of the strong points of Faith and Order is especially the mul- tilateral discussion of ecclesiological questions. The fact that the Com- mission focuses on spiritual and theological ‘ecumenism of unity’ pro- vides a balance and forms a counter-point to the diaconal-political

29. The Commission on Faith and Order, The Church: Towards a Common Vision, Faith and Order Paper 214 (Geneva: WCC Publications, 2013). 30. All these questions can be found ibid., 3.

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‘ecumenism of justice’ of other facilities and programmes in the WCC. For the relations with the Catholic Church such a balance of scopes is immensely important. Therefore, the latest development is regrettable: For financial rea- sons the Commission on Faith and Order is in the future obliged to limit its membership to forty members. However, this means that in this global body only four persons can represent the Catholic Church. Since the plenary sessions in the future will be held annually, it is, however, to be hoped that all commissioners will engage more intensively with the chosen topics and be able to identify with them. The Commission on Faith and Order is thus being shrunk to almost the present size of the Commission on World Mission and Evan- gelism (CWME), the direct heir of the World Mission Conference in Edinburgh in 1910. This Commission consists of only thirty people. Ten percent of its representatives are Catholics as well and are appointed by the PCPCU. Currently these are one woman and two priests, a mis- siologist from the United States, and a Missionary of Africa from Uganda. In CWME the Catholic Church as such is not a member, but analogous to Protestant missionary societies there are Catholic mission- ary orders among its stakeholders. Since an amendment to its constitu- tion in 1973, it is possible for CWME to accept so-called ‘affiliated bodies’. This paved the way that since 1974 on behalf of the Congrega- tion for the Evangelisation of Peoples and in coordination with the PCPCU four Catholic missionary orders work closely together with the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. At present these are the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles, the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary, the Missionaries of Africa (popularly called the White Fathers), and the Society of the Divine Word. How was this possible? In 1974, the general secretary of the WCC at the time, the Methodist pastor Philip Potter – until 1972 Director of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism – addressed the Synod of Bishops on Evangelisation in the Modern World. In his memo- rable speech, Potter said at that time: Evangelism is the test of our ecumenical vocation […] The challenge facing the churches is not that the modern world is unconcerned about their evangelistic message, but rather whether they are so renewed in their life and thought that they become a living witness to the integrity of the gospel.31

31. Philip Potter, “Evangelization in the Modern World,” in Monthly Letter about Evangelism of WCC/CWME (January 1975), 2; http://www.citeulike.org/user/jflett/arti- cle/11983466 (accessed September 11, 2014).

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These words of Potter find a direct echo in , the post-synodal of Paul VI: Indeed, if the Gospel that we proclaim is seen to be rent by doctrinal disputes, ideological polarizations or mutual condemnations among Christians, at the mercy of the latter’s differing views on Christ and the Church and even because of their different concepts of society and human institutions, how can those to whom we address our preaching fail to be disturbed, disoriented, even scandalized? (EN 77)32 To Potter’s remark that evangelisation is the test of our ecumenical vocation, the Pope replied: “Yes, the destiny of evangelization is certainly bound up with the witness of unity given by the Church. This is a source of responsibility and also of comfort” (EN 77). In 2012 the CWME Commission, on behalf of the WCC member churches, declared its witness to unity and mission in a mission statement, adopted by the Central Committee. Analogous to Faith and Order, the 2012 document “Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Chang- ing Landscapes”33 was only the second instance of a mission statement in the history of the ecumenical movement, after the 1982 statement “Mission and Evangelism: An Ecumenical Affirmation.”34 This second policy state- ment on mission was unanimously adopted by the WCC Central Com- mittee at its meeting in Crete on September 5, 2012. Its goal was to create a vision, concepts, and directives for a new understanding and renewed practice of mission and evangelism to be unfolded in the changing ecclesial landscapes of today’s world. In particular, the priority of Missio Dei, God’s mission, and the role of the Holy Spirit are emphasised. With regard to the emphasis and critical points which has underlined during his pontificate, the concept of a “mission from the margins” developed in that text is especially interesting. In no. 41 it reads self-critically: 41. The dominant expressions of mission, in the past and today, have often been directed at people on the margins of societies. These have generally viewed those on the margins as recipients and not

32. All references to Evangelii Nuntiandi are taken from http://www.vatican.va/ holy_father/paul_vi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii- nuntiandi_en.html (accessed October 10, 2014). On the follow-up of the Bishops’ Synod on the Catholic side cf. Roger P. Schroeder SVD, “Catholic Teaching on Mission after Vatican II: 1975-2007,” in A Century of Catholic Mission, ed. Stephen B. Bevans (Oxford: Regnum Books, 2013), 112-120. 33. Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, “Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes,” International Review of Mission 101 (2012): 250-283. 34. Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, “Mission and Evangelism: An Ecumenical Affirmation,” International Review of Mission 71 (1982): 427-451.

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active agents of missionary activity. Mission expressed in this way has too often been complicit with oppressive and life-denying systems. It has generally aligned with the privileges of the centre and largely failed to challenge economic, social, cultural and political systems which have marginalized some peoples.35 With the CWME Commission the position of the Catholic consult- ant is located. It was created in 1984. So far it has been filled only by women. Most of my predecessors, five in number, were sisters of mission- ary orders and had practical mission experience. With my appointment the emphasis was placed on the cooperation of CWME with the Com- mission on Faith and Order. Furthermore, one of my main tasks consisted in building bridges between the various departments of the WCC and the thematically corresponding bodies of the Roman Curia. As another institutional bridge one may mention the position of the Catholic professor for Biblical Hermeneutics at the Ecumenical Insti- tute at Bossey. Thus the Catholic Church is also involved in the training and formation of ecumenical experts by the WCC.

III. Some Specific Features Shaping the Collaboration

When the term ‘ecumenism’ is mentioned in Western Europe, we automatically think of the bilateral aspect ‘Protestant-Catholic’. I have entitled this article “The Many Facets of Worldwide Ecumenism,” since the multilateral dialogue is the crucial feature in the collaboration with the WCC. In its ecumenical work the Catholic Church prefers bilateral discus- sions with individual churches, or more precisely with Christian World Communions. Thus, for example, the official worldwide dialogue with the Lutheran World Federation has been taking place since 1967.36 The PCPCU is currently involved in fifteen different dialogues. This exten- sive network of bilateral dialogues has changed the image of the ecu- menical movement. The Christian World Communions have gained significance since all traditions attribute more importance to the Chris- tian witness on a global level. The Lutheran World Federation and the World Communion of Reformed Churches today are important global players in the ecumenical movement.

35. “Together towards Life,” 260. 36. The fruits of this work with the churches of the Reformation was examined by the PCPCU and published as Walter Kasper, Harvesting the Fruits: Basic Aspects of Christian Faith in Ecumenical Dialogue (London and New York: Continuum, 2009).

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However, in the case of the WCC, the PCPCU cooperates bilater- ally with a multilateral partner. The joint multilaterally-oriented instru- ments of cooperation have already been described above. The WCC and the PCPCU are two fundamentally different partners; one represents a global church, the other a worldwide fellowship of churches. This means for example that never are all of its member churches represented in the commissions set up by the WCC; and the same is of course true in the cooperation bodies with the Catholic Church. These factors do not necessarily make cooperation easier. Further- more, the WCC undergoes regular restructuring phases – at least every seven years after the Assemblies of the WCC. As between these, World Conferences on Faith and Order and World Mission Conferences are taking place, such phases may occur more often. Moreover, not all subjects are equally interesting for both partners. On the Catholic side certain discussions on the Church, mission, inter- religious dialogue, conversion, and peace are high on the hit list of top- ics. But I have already earlier mentioned the necessary balance between an ‘ecumenism of unity’ and an ‘ecumenism of justice’. Among the WCC member churches there is increasingly a trend which is leading away from the theological discussion that is commonly associated with an ‘ecumenism of unity’. And there is yet one more point which needs to be considered: When I began my work in Geneva in January 2011, the WCC still numbered 349 churches; at the Assembly in Busan there were only 345. Not that churches deserted the WCC, there were even two new member churches added! However, some churches have already reached the objectives of Lausanne 1927, namely mutual recognition and full sacra- mental communion. Thus there was a change in their status from ‘unit- ing churches’ into so-called ‘united churches’.

IV. On the Status quo of the Ecumenical Movement

The heading of my last point implies actually a contradiction in itself: The ecumenical movement is supposed to be moving, not to remain at its status quo and thus be at a standstill! However, I see the current phase of ecumenism not as stagnation but as a phase of consoli- dation and transition leading to future renewal. From the present point of view, we have first of all reason for a grateful review. The ecumenical movement was one of the formative phenomena of the 20th century. Much of what has been achieved with

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difficulty during the past hundred years37 we take for granted today. And so it should be. Various dialogues and consensus documents have emerged as an expression of a new and much closer relationship between the churches. One would wish them sometimes wider reception. Where church unions were concluded, they are lasting. However, the fact that much has already been achieved does not spare us a critical look at the present situation. Ecumenism must take new facts seriously: Many churches find themselves in a dilemma; they are tempted to classify ecumenism as secondary in the face of far more urgent problems internally as well as globally; on the other hand they are confronted with an ‘ecumenism of life style’ which feigns a stunning success of unification beyond theo- logical subtleties. Ecumenism today has to do with an ambivalent phenomenon: on the one hand there is the growing indifference towards religious practice according to the motto ‘Anything goes’;38 on the other, there is the excessive assertion of religious identities, following the so-called TINA principle, the acronym for: ‘There is no alternative!’39 In each church family there are anti-ecumenical tendencies. There is not only a growth in agreement,40 but also in division and fragmentation. It cost a tremendous effort every morning on the way to BEXCO, the huge convention centre in Busan, to pass by the large group of Korean Presbyterians (Reformed Christians) who protested against ecumenism. Their criticism of the theology, the policy, and the institu- tions of ecumenism, especially the WCC, was based on the conviction

37. E.g., that a dispensation by the pastor in inter-church marriages is sufficient. 38. Cf. e.g. Geiko Müller-Fahrenholz, “Zwischen Fundamentalismus und Beliebigkeit,” Ökumenische Rundschau 55 (2006): 68-76, as well as Fritz Erich Anhelm, “Fundamentalismus und Beliebigkeit – pathologische Begleiterscheinungen der Mod- erne?,” Ökumenische Rundschau 55 (2006): 77-79, or Annemarie C. Mayer, “Was liegt heute prospektiv für Theologie und Kirche in ökumenischer Hinsicht an?,” in Das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil: Programmatik – Rezeption – Vision: Tagung der Arbeitsge- meinschaft der Dogmatiker und Fundamentaltheologen im deutschsprachigen Raum, Freising 17. bis 20. September 2012, ed. Christoph Böttigheimer, Quaestiones disputatae 261 (Freiburg i. Br.: Herder, 2014), 238-254. 39. The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu coined this slightly ironic acronym for a certain pattern employed by politicians to justify their decisions in public. Especially Margaret Thatcher’s speeches contained that phrase to a significant amount. Therefore her biographer choose this title, cf. Claire Berlinski, There Is No Alternative: Why Mar- garet Thatcher Matters (New York: Basic Books, 2010). 40. Cf. the meanwhile three volumes of the same title: Harding Meyer, et al., eds., Growth in Agreement: Reports and Agreed Statements of Ecumenical Conversations on a World Level (New York and Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, vol. 1: 1984, vol. 2: 1992, vol. 3: 2007).

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that ecumenism is a betrayal of Christ and his Church. Religious syn- cretism and ethical relativism were considered to be the driving force behind it. This shows clearly the increasing weight which ethical issues received in ecumenical discussion. The shift of emphasis from political ethics and social ethics to individual ethics leads to new differences of enormous emotional explosiveness. It is getting increasingly important to discuss the underlying differences in anthropology and the notion of the human person on an ecumenical and multilateral level. Globally, however, the division of the churches seems irrelevant to the growth of world Christianity as the number of churches is growing exponentially. We already talk of a ‘third wave of Christianisation’.41 Charismatic and (neo-) Pentecostal communities represent some 400 million members worldwide and are now the second largest Christian group. This development is radically intensifying. Daily new commun- ions, so-called ‘independent churches’, come into being which do not want to define themselves according to the older evangelical or Pente- costal churches. They are even in opposition to those churches from which they have grown. Some are not anxious to being part of a larger church family, let alone a global ecumenical community. Some are con- vinced that their form of charismatic faith can be lived within different churches (including also many Catholics). This phenomenon is not only to be seen in a negative way, it expresses also a desire for spiritual expe- rience in spite of all the detailed problems it carries with it. On the other hand, it cannot be overlooked that many of these communities apply aggressive missionary methods or have become a religion of worldly prosperity.42 What impact does this new increasing inter-Christian disagreement on global ecumenism have? Does it mean that the ecumenical movement must stay with the status quo? On the contrary, “[w]hen the full com- munion is not yet within tangible reach, the more urgently the question needs to be asked how in this time of partial understanding a common witness can be borne ‘to the world’.”43

41. Cf. as early as 1988 C. Peter Wagner, The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications, 1988). 42. Cf. e.g. Joseph Udo Effiong, “Secularism and Pentecostalism,” Missionalia 40 (2012): 132-153 for Africa, and Giancarlo Collet, “Pentekostaler Frühling im katho- lischen Winter: Zum pfingstkirchlichen Aufbruch in Lateinamerika,” in Neuere religiöse Bewegungen in internationaler Perspektive, ed. Andreas Heuser and Wolfram Weiße (Aachen: Verlagshaus Mainz, 2005), 95-107. 43. Lukas Vischer, “40 Jahre nach Konzilsende – Ökumenische Anfragen an Uni- tatis redintegratio,” in Das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil und die Zeichen der Zeit heute,

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And this does not just mean activism, but if possible also an exten- sion, consolidation, and spiritual deepening as can be achieved by the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, by the common commemoration of ecumenical martyrs of the 20th century and by practical ecumenism that bears witness in word and deed. In its transformation process ecumenism is facing completely new challenges – such as the common dialogue between all Christian churches and other religions. Moreover, the homogeneity of the confessional families has so far also facilitated the ecumenical tasks. Worldwide, how- ever, the number of members of traditional churches is waning, while charismatic evangelical free churches are rapidly growing. As they prefer spiritual instead of visible (and that also means institutional) unity, their involvement along the lines of a spiritual ecumenism44 is one of the big- gest challenges.45 In view of these challenges our churches are still at the beginning. However, more than ever before it is true what the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes formulated in this way, “the ties which unite the faith- ful together are stronger than those which separate them: let there be unity in what is necessary, freedom in what is doubtful, and charity in everything.”46

ed. Peter Hünermann (Freiburg, Basel, and Vienna: Herder, 2006), 417-426; 424f. [my translation]. 44. Cf. e.g. Walter Kasper, A Handbook of Spiritual Ecumenism (New York: New City Press, 2007). 45. Between 1998 and 2002 the Global Christian Forum was created as a new space independent of existing structures like WCC to answer the need of including into the wider ecumenical movement representatives from Evangelical, Pentecostal, Holiness and African Instituted churches, and from a number of international Christian organisa- tions, many representing Evangelical and Pentecostal constituencies. However, it man- aged to address this need with varying degrees of success. 46. Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, in Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Docu- ments, ed. Austin Flannery, vol. 1 (Northport, NY: Costello Pub. Co., 1975, reprint 2010), 794-879; 878. This not only quotes John XXIII, “Encyclical Ad Petri Cathe- dram (June 29th, 1959),” Acta Apostolicae Sedis 51 (1959): 497-531, 513, but also the Lutheran theologian Rupert Meldenius alias Peter Meiderlin who apparently coined this watchword for peace among Christians in 1626, cf. Friedrich Lücke, Über das Alter, den Verfasser, die ursprüngliche Form und den wahren Sinn des kirchlichen Friedensspruches In necessariis unitas, in non necessariis libertas, in utrisque caritas: Eine litterarhistorische theologische Studie nebst einem Abdrucke der Paraenesis votiva pro pace ecclesiae ad Theologos Augustanae Confessionis auctore Ruperto Meldenio (1626) (Göt- tingen: Dietrich, 1850).

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Annemarie C. Mayer is Professor of Systematic Theology and the Study of Religions at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the Katholieke Universiteit (Catholic University of) Leuven. Her research interests focus on inter-religious dialogue and the study of religions, ecclesiology in an ecumenical context and the correlation of mission and church. She currently serves on the Reformed-Catholic International Dialogue and the Joint Working Group and is a co-opted member of the Commission Nationale Catholique pour L’Œcuménisme of the Belgian Bishops’ Conference. She is one of the academic editors of Lou- vain Studies, Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses, and the International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church. Among her authored works, books like Sprache der Einheit im Epheserbrief und in der Ökumene (Tübingen, 2002) and Drei Religionen – ein Gott? Ramon Lulls interreligiöse Diskussion der Eigenschaften Gottes (Freiburg i. Br., 2008) as well as articles like “Toward the Difficult Whole: ‘Unity’ in Woman’s Perspective,” The Ecumenical Review 64 (3/2012): 314-327; “A Vision of Unity from a Catholic Perspective,” International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 13 (1/2013): 1-17, or “Pope Francis: A Pastor according to the Heart of Christ,” International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 13 (2/2013): 147-160 might be worth mentioning. Address: Sint-Michielsstraat 4, Box 3101, BE-3000 Leuven, Belgium. Email: [email protected].

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