“The best- known apostles (Peter, Paul, James) all died in the decade of the 60s. Thus, in the last one-third of the first Christian century, the early churches had to go on without the authoritative guidance of the apostles who had seen the risen Jesus. The New Testament works written after the death of the apostles illustrate different emphases that enabled the respective communities addressed by those works to survive.” (Brown) In the centuries thereafter, the splintering led to major splits among communities and centuries later to schism between the western and eastern Christian fellowship, into Catholic and Protestants and from there into multiple jurisdictions all intent upon sharing their discernment with the Christian faithful. While there remained ordained clergy and laity-faithful who were intent upon maintaining and unity within the Body of Christ, for the most part churches were intent upon stabilizing their laity into their jurisdictions while teaching and preaching the gospel. It is only relatively recently that the calls for unity have begun. The larger churches have undertaken the challenge to find common ground upon which they may honor the prayers offered by Jesus in his Final Discourse. This call for unity has entered the consciousness of the western Old Catholic and Liberal Catholic churches.
As a former Old Catholic Church priest and now Liberal Catholic Church bishop and rector in an ecumenical seminary, it is this writer’s position that a two-part approach to ecumenical studies is needed for participants to fully inhabit the unity that was offered by Jesus in his Farewell Discourse, ἵνα πάντες ἓν ὦσιν, ina pantes hen ōsin, Ut ūnum sint, that they all may be as one. (John 17. 1-26)
“Ecumenism should be fully integrated into the theological formation of those who are
to engage in pastoral work, so as to help them acquire an authentically ecumenical disposition.” (Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity)
With those words the authors of the Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms of Ecumenism issued a clear directive that studies related to ecumenism be fully incorporated into the settings and means in which formation in seminaries occurs. The directions in Part III of this document mandate that in addition to each Bishop, the Synods of the Eastern Catholic Churches, and the Episcopal Conferences, ecumenical formation must be included in the teachings of all of the Christian faithful. The authors wrote that “restoring unity pertains to the whole Church, faithful and clergy alike, according to the potential of each whether in their daily living or in their theological and historical studies.” (Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity)
Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Vatican II infused fresh oxygen into the nourishing waters from which the Body of Christ was created. While the nineteen (19) documents created by the Second Vatican Council may be viewed through a holistic prism and specifically laid the groundwork that created a map that could be followed by the wider Christian faith community. However, it was the synergy of three documents, Lumen gentium, Unitatis Redintegration and Ut Unum Sint that produced the ecumenical ethos that became diffused into the ordained clergy and laity in denominations that were not led by the Roman Catholic pontiff. This is evidenced by the plethora of writings and studies that occurred with regard to unity subsequent to their dissemination. Subsequent to the revision of The Ecumenical Dimension in the Formation of those Engaged in Pastoral Work by Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity noted that from the time of the Council onwards fraternal relations with Churches and ecclesial Communities which are not in full communion with the Catholic Church have intensified; theological dialogues have been set up and have increased in number. (Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity)
Embedded into the expansive background of Vatican II, Unitatis Redintegratio (1964) and Ut Unis Sint (1995) provide the foundational teaching for ecumenism. They make it clear that a pathway to unity may be achieved while maintaining a Catholic identity. The Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms of Ecumenism or The Directory as it has come to be known (1993), and the Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry (BEM), Faith and Order Paper Number 111 produced by the World Council of Churches in 1982, provide suggestions for concrete solutions that can be employed by many jurisdictions and lead to meaningful ecumenical relationships and unity in Christianity. When the first results of the efforts were assessed, the Directory was revised to include the knowledge gained. “In his discourse to the plenary session of the Secretariat (1988), which was dedicated to the revision of the Directory, the Holy Father noted that the breadth of the ecumenical movement, the multiplication of dialogue statements, the urgent need that is felt for a greater participation by the whole People of God in this movement, and the consequent necessity of accurate doctrinal information, in view of a proper commitment, all of this requires that up-to-date directives be given without delay.” (Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity)
“The Directory is addressed to the Pastors of the Catholic Church, but it also concerns all the faithful, who are called to pray and work for the unity of Christians, under the direction of their Bishops. The Bishops, individually for their own dioceses, and collegially for the whole Church, are, under the authority of the Holy See, responsible for ecumenical policy and practice. It should be kept in mind that the Directory does not intend to deal with the relations of the Catholic Church with sects or with new religious movements.” (Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity)
Many western Old Catholic Church episcopacys are small, religiously traditional, and socially conservative. Some, but not many routinely reach out to one another in fellowship and support. Some are physically distant from one another. Others may be conservative or liberal and may socialize in different theological groups. Western Old Catholic Church Bishops are for the most part like the apostles who may have served their congregations while married and caring for their families. These factors when synergized with the relations with the Roman Catholic Church as evidenced by the language in The Directory as read above may be potent contributing factors to why ecumenism has not yet become widely embraced in the western Old Catholic Church episcopacys. While The Directory and the BEM were produced and widely distributed in the mid to late 20th century, today in western Old Catholic Church seminaries ecumenical studies remain for the most part short, stand-alone courses. They might be electively chosen, or offered as stand-alone courses if at all to their seminarians in formation. Yet the positive benefits of a good ecumenical education that is religiously based and help people experience each other as children of God, are incalculable.
After decades of exhortation with little improvement noted in ecumenism in the western Old Catholic Church congregations and seminaries it is time to reframe the discussion from what is to be done to how it may be accomplished. In answer to this we move from driving into the future while staring in the rear-view mirror to focusing upon implementing solutions for the road ahead. True ecumenism can be achieved if the participants are provided with both the teaching from the Roman Catholic Church documents and are offered meaningful opportunities as communities in consensus for experiencing unity as shared with them in the BEM. As such the spiritual “Mary” of the Roman Catholic Church documents is yoked with the practical “Martha” of the BEM. “Such consensus is rooted in the communion built on Jesus Christ and the witness of the apostles. As a gift of the Spirit, it is realized as a communal experience before it can be articulated by common efforts into words, however, full [ecumenical]consensus can only be proclaimed after the churches reach the point of living and acting together in unity.” (World Council of Churches)
The initial areas of consensus agreed upon and shared in the BEM are the subjects of Baptism, the Eucharist, and Ministry.
Baptism. “The inability of the churches mutually to recognize their various practices of baptism
as sharing in the one baptism, and their actual dividedness in spite of mutual baptismal recognition, have given dramatic visibility to the broken witness of the Church. The readiness of the churches in some places and times to allow differences of sex, race, or social status to divide the body of Christ has further called into question genuine baptismal unity of the Christian community (Gal. 3:27—28) and has seriously compromised its witness. The need to recover baptismal unity is at the heart of the ecumenical task as it is central for the realization of genuine partnership within the Christian communities. When the expressions “infant baptism” and “believers’ baptism” are used, it is necessary to keep in mind that the real distinction is between those who baptize people at any age and those who baptize only those able to make a confession of faith for themselves. The differences between infant and believers’ baptism become less sharp when it is recognized that both forms of baptism embody God’s own initiative in Christ and express a response of faith made within the believing community. The practice of believers’ baptism emphasizes the explicit confession of the person who responds to the grace of God in and through the community of faith and who seeks baptism". (World Council of Churches)
Eucharist. “The eucharistic communion with Christ who nourishes the life of the Church is atthe same time communion within the body of Christ which is the Church. The sharing in one bread and the common cup in a given place demonstrates and effects the oneness of the sharers with Christ and with their fellow sharers in all times and places. It is in the eucharist that the community of God’s people is fully manifested. Eucharistic celebrations always have to do with the whole Church, and the whole Church is involved in each local eucharistic celebration. The whole action of the eucharist has an “epikletic” character because it depends upon the work of the Holy Spirit. In the words of the liturgy, this aspect of the eucharist finds varied expression. The Church, as the community of the new covenant, confidently invokes the Spirit, in order that it may be sanctified and renewed, led into all justice, truth and unity, and empowered to fulfil its mission in the world. In so far as a church claims to be a manifestation of the whole Church, it will take care to order its own life in ways which take seriously the interests and concerns of other churches. As it is entirely the gift of God, the eucharist brings into the present age a new reality which trans-forms Christians into the image of Christ and there-fore makes them his effective witnesses. The eucharist is precious food for missionaries, bread and wine for pilgrims on their apostolic journey. The eucharistic community is nourished and strengthened for confessing by word and action the Lord Jesus Christ who gave his life for the salvation of the world. As it becomes one people, sharing the meal of the one Lord, the eucharistic assembly must be concerned for gathering also those who are at present beyond its visible limits, because Christ invited to his feast all for whom he died. Insofar as Christians cannot unite in full fellowship around the same table to eat the same loaf and drink from the same cup, their missionary witness is weakened at both the individual and the corporate levels.” (World Council of Churches)
Ministry. “In a broken world God calls the whole of humanity to become God’s people. For this purpose, God chose Israel and then spoke in a unique and decisive way in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. Jesus made his own the nature, condition and cause of the whole human race, giving himself as a sacrifice for all. Jesus’ life of service, his death and resurrection, are the foundation of a new community which is built up continually by the good news of the Gospel and the gifts of the sacraments. The Holy Spirit unites in a single body those who follow Jesus Christ and sends them as witnesses into the world. Belonging to the Church means living in communion with God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. The life of the Church is based on Christ’s victory over the powers of evil and death, accomplished once for all. Christ offers forgiveness, invites to repentance and delivers from destruction. Through Christ, people are enabled to turn in praise to God and in service to their neighbors. In Christ they find the source of new life in freedom, mutual forgiveness and love. Through Christ their hearts and minds are directed to the consummation of the Kingdom where Christ’s victory will become manifest and all things made new. God’s purpose is that, in Jesus Christ, all people should share in this fellowship. In order to fulfil its mission, the Church needs persons who are publicly and continually responsible for pointing to its fundamental dependence on Jesus Christ, and thereby provide, within a multiplicity of gifts, a focus of its unity. The ministry of such persons, who since very early times have been ordained, is constitutive for the life and witness of the Church. As Christ chose and sent the apostles, Christ continues through the Holy Spirit to choose and call persons into the ordained ministry. The basic reality of an ordained ministry was present from the beginning. The actual forms of ordination and of the ordained ministry, however, have evolved in complex historical developments The churches, therefore, need to avoid attributing their particular forms of the ordained ministry directly to the will and institution of Jesus Christ. All members of the believing community, ordained and lay, are interrelated. On the one hand, the community needs ordained ministers. Their presence reminds the community of the divine initiative, and of the dependence of the Church on Jesus Christ, who is the source of its mission and the foundation of its unity. Since the ordained ministry and the community are inextricably related, all members participate in fulfilling these functions. In fact, every charism serves to assemble and build up the body of Christ. Any member of the body may share in proclaiming and teaching the Word of God, may contribute to the sacramental life of that body. The ordained ministry fulfils these functions in a representative way, providing the focus for the unity of the life and witness of the community.” (World Council of Churches)
While it is important to understand that the Roman Catholic Church has not reached consensus with the World Council of Churches about the three subjects above, a careful reading of the consensus agreed in Baptism, the Eucharist and Ministry provides an opportunity for solutions for the Old Catholic Church. The directions in Part III of The Directive mandate that in addition to each Bishop, the Synods of the Eastern Catholic Churches, and the Episcopal Conferences, ecumenical formation must be included in the teachings of all of the Christian faithful. The authors wrote that “restoring unity pertains to the whole Church, faithful and clergy alike, according to the potential of each whether in their daily living or in their theological and historical studies.” (Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity)
The western Old Catholic Church bishops while admittedly independent in their respective jurisdictions often reach consensus during their synods and conferences. The structure of the western Old Catholic Church is typically not congregational- horizontal but is instead top- down hierarchical. As such, the manifestation of congregational consensus begins with and is embedded in the ethos of the respective Bishops followed by the dissemination to their laity and into their seminaries. A roadmap to unity has been provided. Some Bishops may choose to follow it, some may choose to ignore it, and some may choose to take the road less traveled.
By employing the Roman Catholic Church’s spirit of ecumenism as evidenced in their documents with the ecumenical actions of the BEM, the Old Catholic Church Bishops may be able to shepherd their flock into the ecumenical fold. This will in turn assist in manifesting Jesus’s prayer for unity in his Final Discourse into reality.
That today, it can even be discussed in the western Old Catholic Church how the unity that Jesus prayed for during his Farewell Discourse can be achieved within the Body of Christ is the one of the brilliant ripples from Vatican II. The years subsequent to this outpouring of the Holy Spirit has positively effected change in the entire Christian Church. The path to how unity may be accomplished is clear, however it is the author’s position is that unless ecumenism is offered in the two-prong approach of the spiritual “Mary” of the Roman Catholic documents, yoked with the practical “Martha” of the BEM, the centuries-old splintering that began with the nascent churches that the apostles left behind will continue to negatively impact the western Old Catholic Church laity and its seminaries.
It is the author’s opinion that the spirit of Vatican II coupled with the documents Lumen Gentium, Unitatis Redintegratio, the Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms of Ecumenism, and Ut Unam Sint, and synergized with the potent actions offered by the Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry Faith and Council Paper Number 111, have proven to be humankind’s affirmative answer to Jesus’s prayer. As such, the Grace Theological Seminary created an ecumenical structure upon which the seminary is based entitled Ministry Formation Handbook - 2020-2024. It is designed to be updated every four years as classes are ordained and then enter into co-vocational ministry service in their respective specializations. The document may be viewed below. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
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http://www.christianunity.va/content/unitacristiani/en/documenti/testo-in-inglese.html
Copyright © 2024 A Doctoral Project: Graduate Theological Foundation D. Min. Ecumenical Studies - All Rights Reserved.
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