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Ecumenical Trends, July/August 2015, Volume 44 (7) Methodist Catholic Dialogue Ut unum sint and Geoffrey Wainwrights’ Response Edward C. Andercheck 1. John Paul II’s Call for Christian Unity - Ut Unum Sint The year 2015 marks the twentieth anniversary of John Paul II’s call for Christian unity in his encyclical Ut unum sint1. His call that they might be one was in fact an echo; an echo of the central theme of the Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis redintegratio2, which in 1964 cited unity among all Christians as one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. In selecting November 13, 2004 to deliver a homily on ecumenism John Paul II chose the ecumenical conference organized for the fortieth anniversary of the conciliar decree to state, “There is no true ecumenism without interior conversion and purification of memory, without holiness of life in conformity with the Gospel, and especially without intense and assiduous prayer that echoes the prayer of Jesus.”3 Returning to the themes of the Second Vatican Council, John Paul II’s homily reminded all that Jesus wanted only one church and that ecumenical unity is not a secondary or tangential undertaking, but rather a pastoral priority for the church. John Paul II took this occasion to not only refocus the church on ecumenical unity but also to share his pleasure that these works had already yielded progress. “In this 1 regard, I note with joy the development of initiatives of common prayer and also the emergence of groups of study and sharing of each other's traditions of spirituality”.4 Indeed, within a decade of Ut unum sint’s publication, John Paul II’s homily portrayed his positive sense that ecumenical dialogue was gaining traction; that Pope John XXIII’s aggiornamento was being realized in new fruit in the ecumenical garden. “We are grateful to God to see that in recent years many of the faithful across the world have been moved by an ardent desire for the unity of all Christians.”5 in this John Paul II praised the participants in this ecumenical progress, many of whom were in attendance at this Vespers Liturgy in Saint Paul’s Basilica. He continued asserting the nature of the effort he lauded, “ I warmly thank those who have made themselves instruments of the Spirit and have worked and prayed for this process of rapprochement and reconciliation.”6 The call of Ut unum sint was broadly heard; John Paul II’s voice carried his message with a special gravitas to the North American Methodist community. This essay attempts to examine the ensuing Methodist-Catholic dialogue, and in specific, the key role played by Sacred scripture and Sacred tradition in that dialogue, by considering Geoffrey Wainwright’s response to Ut unum sint at the thirty-first annual Pere Marquette Lecture in Theology.7 In Ut unum sint John Paul II provided five primary areas that present opportunities and challenges for fuller study; he chose to begin this list with the interplay of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Wainwright said, “I have already revealed my hand in declaring as the most promising opening towards a settlement of principle John Paul’s formulation of the issue as that of the relationship between sacred 2 scripture, as the highest authority in matters of faith, and Sacred tradition as indispensable to the interpretation of the Word of God.”8 In Ut unum sint John Paul II referred to this journey toward unity as a process, comprised initially of five primary areas for fuller study: It is already possible to identify the areas in need of fuller study before a true consensus of faith can be achieved: 1) the relationship between Sacred Scripture, as the highest authority in matters of faith, and Sacred Tradition, as indispensable to the interpretation of the Word of God; 2) the Eucharist, as the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, an offering of praise to the Father, the sacrificial memorial and Real Presence of Christ and the sanctifying outpouring of the Holy Spirit; 3) Ordination, as a Sacrament, to the threefold ministry of the episcopate, presbyterate and diaconate; 4) the Magisterium of the Church, entrusted to the Pope and the Bishops in communion with him, understood as a responsibility and an authority exercised in the name of Christ for teaching and safeguarding the faith; 5) the Virgin Mary, as Mother of God and Icon of the Church, the spiritual Mother who intercedes for Christ's disciples and for all humanity.9 We must consider how Methodist and Catholic common views provide promise for a dialogue toward resolving John Paul II’s first issue for further study, “the relationship between Sacred Scripture, as the highest authority in matters of faith, and Sacred Tradition, as indispensable to the interpretation of the Word of God”.10 John Paul II provides a clear map for the post conciliar Roman Catholic Church approach to ecumenism in Ut unum sint and his homily on the 40th anniversary of Unitatis redintegratio. At this point, it is apparent that some common ground has been identified, but this particular ground contains a fissure, a chasm created by five centuries of opposing movement by the tectonic like plates of Protestant sola sciptura and Catholic iuris canonici. This chasm, born of the reformation, invites a bridge. Christians if they might be one must look for the ubiquitous divine nature in the interplay of scripture and tradition. Is the Reformation Over?, is the title of Wainwright’s published response to the 3 ecumenical possibilities presented in Ut unum sint. Wainwright’s title, presents the defining question, are these century old forces that separated Christians still in opposing motion or are they now reconcilable? The search for common intentions might discover that answer. Bridging doctrinal differences might be best approached from the perspective of shared intentions and their underlying theologies. Methodist and Catholic ecumenical histories provide a potential illumination of the their flexibility and institutional intentions. 2. Historical Ecumenical Emphasis The 1910 World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland formalized early cooperation among Protestants in the mission field introducing a dialogue around sharing approaches to evangelization. Wainwright notes, “The “dialogues” encouraged by Vatican II have characteristically taken a bilateral form, and the Protestant partners in international conversation with the Roman Catholic Church . have been the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Methodist Council, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Disciples of Christ, and the difficult-to-define “Evangelicals”.”11 The World Council of Churches continues this global ecumenical movement. Although not a formal Council member, The Roman Catholic Church participates by sending observers to meetings of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order. The notion of ecumenism within the Methodist Church began to develop early in the twentieth century out of their strongly rooted call to mission; however they began their ecumenical involvement by sharing the mission field with fellow members of other Protestant churches. Geoffrey Wainwright crisply addresses the lack of a meaningful 4 early twentieth century Methodist Catholic dialogue, “The ecumenical century did not begin that way, at least as far as relations between Catholics and Protestants were concerned.”12 He summarized the early Methodist Catholic dialogue; “The ecumenical engagements of Catholics remained for a long time tentative and unofficial, often courageous though always ambiguous because of the flavor of Romanocentrism that ecclesiologically attached to them.”13 The tone of Pope Pius XI’s 1928 encyclical Mortalium animos, pleading for the return of separated brethren to the one true Church of Christ limited the Methodist Catholic dialogue to individual’s localized efforts outside of official hierarchical channels. We desire that Our children should also know, not only those who belong to the Catholic community, but also those who are separated from Us: if these latter humbly beg light from heaven, there is no doubt but that they will recognize the one true Church of Jesus Christ and will, at last, enter it, being united with us in perfect charity.14 That they may be one is not only the mandate of the Catholic encyclical Ut unum sint; it is a simple conception of God’s intent for unity amongst all of His people. It is a message that all Christians share in their receiving the divine word through scripture. Jesus said, “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, 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.” (John 17: 20–21). It is in the next step, as churchmen take the journey from scripture to building unique traditions and continue evolving their praxis that we observe the challenges that ecumenism faces. Does resolving these doctrinal challenges necessitate a specific approach to the seeking of common ground? What is the foundation essential for the 5 bridging of differences? Exploring the nature of doctrine might assist. In his regulative theory of church doctrine George Lindbeck suggests that opposing positions might be resolved, “by specifying when or where they apply, or by stipulating which of the competing directives take precedence.”15 Seeking the underpinnings, Wainwright notes, “Whereas Lindbeck was chiefly concerned with the diachronic changeability of doctrines, it was the question of their synchronic variability that came to the fore in the scheme proposed by Karl Rahner and Heinrich Fries for making the reunion of the churches “A real possibility”.16 The hope for doctrinal flexibility is once again being measured against the promise of potential common intentions and theologies overcoming the doctrinal chasm, not the debate of the doctrinal language itself.
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