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Christ Founded One Church, and It Is His Will That His Followers Be One. ECUMENISM and INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

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Christ Founded One Church, and It Is His Will That His Followers Be One. ECUMENISM and INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE Christ founded One Church, and it is his will that his followers be One. ECUMENISM AND INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE “That they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (Jn 17: 21) veryone loves a joyful reunion. Perhaps you have experienced a family reunion in which relatives from far and wide come together as one for a happy celebration — to celebrate nothing more than the simple fact of being a family. The various members of an extended family might differ from one another in terms of their education, employment, social standing, interests, hobbies, and other facets of their lives, but the commonality they share as members of the same family is stronger than their differences. They strive to create a family atmosphere that reflects the love they have for one other while avoiding those things that might cause needless conflicts. That is not to say that there is never any friction whenever family members gather. Even among smaller family groups, including at Christmas and other holiday gatherings, people can get into disagreements or get on one another’s nerves. There are also families where the divisions run so deep that some members have lost the will to get together anymore. There is great pain in families in which brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, or sons and daughters have separated themselves from their families to the point where a true family reunion seems impossible. Many a tear is shed and many a heart aches over the loved ones who choose not to be present at a family celebration. Hardly a family is spared this grief at one time or another. The Church is like the home of a loving Father whose doors are open wide, welcoming all the members of his family to gather in peace, joy, and unity. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to save all of us from the clutches of sin and to gather all people into the one Family of God: his Mystical Body, the Church. During his earthly ministry, Christ founded his Church to guide all people in the truth and to communicate his truth throughout the world and throughout all time. Despite his intention, Christ knew that the same power of sin that had separated humanity from God would also separate members of the human family from one another. Even among those who believed in Christ and sought to follow him, divisions would arise. It pained Our Lord greatly to know that his people would remain divided despite all he had said and done for us in order to unite us as one people. Even on the very night before he was to be crucified, Christ prayed to his heavenly Father for the unity of his people: I do not pray for these only, but also for those who Christ on the Mount of Olives by Unknown Master. believe in me through their word, that they may all “That they may all be one.” 2 Introduction INTRODUCTION TO ECUMENISM Jerusalem, Jerusalem by Tissot. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,...How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” (Mt 23: 37) be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me. (Jn 17: 20-23 ) Christ earnestly desired that all his followers be united as closely with one another as he is united to his Father. Yet, even the books of the New Testament, written a generation or so after Christ had ascended into Heaven, indicate divisions forming within the ranks of Christian believers. As history has unfolded, the Church founded by Christ has experienced wounds to her unity again and again as groups of believers have broken away to form separate faith communities. Many of these communities have divided further and splintered repeatedly, creating more and more communities independent of one another. Far from achieving and maintaining the unity so ardently desired by Christ, the body of believers who claim to be his followers has been severely fragmented. Modern-day Christianity is marked by three primary groups: One group is the Catholic Church with the Pope — the direct successor of St. Peter, whom Christ established as the earthly head of his Church — as her chief shepherd. Another group includes the various Orthodox Churches, most of which broke away from the Catholic Church between the fifth and eleventh centuries. Yet another group includes the literally tens of thousands of Protestant denominations, which trace their histories as far back as the sixteenth century. A not insignificant percentage of this last group is the many independent, nondenominational communities and “megachurches.” Despite the appearance of such Christian diversity, the fact remains that Christ founded only one Church. It is his stated will that all his disciples be united as one Church. The task of healing the divisions and separations that afflict Christianity with the aim of restoring true unity as one Church is called ecumenism. Introduction 3 ECUMENISM AND INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE WHAT IS ECUMENISM? cumenism, the subject of this textbook, is an unfamiliar word to many people. Most people have Eheard of or read an announcement for a prayer service or gathering described as ecumenical, and people sometimes reference an ecumenical movement. All of these terms are closely related. The word “ecumenism” comes from the Greek oikoumene, which means “the whole (inhabited ) earth.” As you can imagine from the aforementioned overview of the diversity of Christian communities, the task of restoring unity amid so many divisions is a daunting one, yet it remains your obligation and the obliga tion of every Christian to seek that unity, however elusive it may seem. Something that is ecumenical is de- sign ed with an eye toward bringing Christians together. Rightly understood, ecumenism focuses not so much on what divides Christians from one another but on what already unites us: the elements of belief that all Christians tend to share in common. Considered in a certain sense, unity can be seen as a gift from God that we already possess in a limited way, a gift that we must recognize and accept in order to strengthen and perfect it. St. Peter urged all disciples of Christ to “have unity of spirit, sympathy, love of the brethren, a tender heart and a humble mind.”1 St. Paul taught that the faithful are united through the Death and Resurrection of Christ: “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”2 This unity comes through Baptism: “By one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Greeks, slaves or free — and all were made to drink of one Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at an ecumenical Spirit.” 3 Belief in God, faith in the risen Christ, openness celebration and evening of prayer at Westminster Abbey, September 17, 2010, with representatives to the Holy Spirit, Baptism, and reverence for Sacred from all the main Christian churches including the Scripture are among the core beliefs all Christians share Greek Orthodox, Coptic, and Free Churches. in common. There is a saying — though often attributed to St. Augustine, the great fourth-century theologian, but is of much later origin — that aptly expresses the aims of Christian unity. It is referred to here in the words of Pope Bl. John XXIII: The common saying, expressed in various ways and attributed to various authors, must be recalled with approval: in essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity. (Ad Petri Cathedram, 1959) What are these “essentials” in which we must find our unity? To understand this better, we must recognize that the Christian Faith is our response to what God has revealed to the world, a Revelation that took place over the course of many centuries and found its complete fulfillment in Jesus Christ. It is important, then, that we first look more closely at history — not just Christian history but the story of humanity and God’s relationship with the human race. We call this story salvation history. SOME GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF ECUMENISM 1. Christ founded One Church, and it is his will that his followers be One. “Before offering himself up as a spotless victim upon the altar, Christ prayed to his Father for all who believe in him: ‘that they all may be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe that thou has sent me’” 4 (Unitatis Redintegratio, 2 ). 2. In the course of Church history, certain divisions have arisen between the followers of Christ for which both sides were to blame. 4 Introduction INTRODUCTION TO ECUMENISM However, “even in the beginnings of this one and only Church of God there arose certain rifts,5 which the Apostle strongly condemned.6 But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions made their appearance and quite large communities came to be separated from full communion with the Catholic Church — for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame” (UR 3 ).
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