When they found him, it was hard to convince him that the war was over and that he could go home. It is essential that this be a dialogue, where both parties respectfully hear each other instead of merely asserting what they believe. One book that caused a stir says, The progressive program of today is the embarrassing folly of tomorrow. During Lent last year, I tried to show the results of the ecumenical dialogue with the Orthodox East on the theological level. They are extremely opportune days of reflection and prayer to remind Christians that the restoration of full unity among them, according to the will of Jesus, involves every baptized person, both pastors as well as the faithful (see "Unitatis Redintegratio," No. The Council acknowledges that Catholics are capable of all types of sin, including sins against unity. 1, a. In the description of medieval battles, there is always a point at which, after the archers, the cavalry, and all the rest of the army had been overcome, the fight was focused on the king. After presenting humanity in its universal state of sin and damnation in the two preceding chapters of Romans, the apostle has the unmitigated courage to proclaim that this situation has now radically changed “through the redemption which is in Christ,” “by one’s man’s obedience” (Rom 3:24, 5:19). Whence it follows that whatever blessings are found among other Christians are received through the Catholic Church, which contains the rightful successors of Peter and the apostles. With good reason, then, Cardinal Schönborn says: Cardinal Schönborn’s reference to degrees of certainty alludes to the traditional distinctions (expressed for example in Ludwig Ott’s Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma) in the level of certainty with which a doctrine has been defined. Already we see many liberal Catholics who would remake the Church into a big tent left-center political party, as if the Church’s catholicity was measured by an embrace of all doctrines. On the cross Jesus “has broken down the dividing wall of hostility… for through him we both have access in One Spirit to the Father” (Eph 2:14, 18). Ecumenism is specifically Christian, as it comes from Christ’s wish that all who believe in him should be gathered into one flock. A particular Church has a valid episcopate and Eucharist, whereby it possesses a constitution analogous to that of the Catholic Church as a whole. 7, ed. If we follow the decree’s starting point of toward the end of the Middle Ages, we find that several early schismatic groups retained the constitution of Churches. Let us recall St. Paul’s hymn to charity. Translation help: What does this mean?UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO. What is new here is the recommendation that ecumenical dialogue should be on an equal footing. 9.See G. L. Prestige, God in Patristic Thought (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2008), especially Chapter 13, “The Triumph of Formalism,” pp. While officially supporting the institutional ecumenical movement solely with Unitatis Redintegratio, the Decree on Ecumenism of Vatican Council II, she participated from the outset in prayer for Christian unity and in spiritual ecumenism. We made the mistake of reducing to a theological problem internal to Christianity what was for the apostle instead an affirmation of far-reaching and cosmic significance. By such common worship, separated Christians may share in the graces of the Church, including that of unity, albeit imperfectly. (cf. What does it mean for the Church’s unity to increase? With this in mind, we can readily understand what the Council means when it says: As evidence of salvific agency in separated churches, the Council notes that some non-Catholics retain many liturgical actions of the Christian religion. Jean-Paul Sartre, coming from a philosophical point of view, reached the same conclusion. Although the various types of Christians are all born again into one body by baptism, they still lack the unity that Christ willed for all believers, but is only realized in the Catholic Church. Since Christ has only one Church, it follows that no other entity besides the Catholic Church can be the subject of this unity. This requires the grace to become self-denying, humble, gentle in the service of others, and to have an attitude of brotherly generosity towards them. Below are some quotes from Evangelii Gaudium that… (UR, 22) Even when we are dealing with an invalid eucharist, which has no sacramental efficacy, separated Christians may thereby participate in an imperfect action toward ecclesial unity, impelled by their desire for communion with Christ now and at the end of time. Video April 27, 2014 Romeo Hontiveros. Together with Lumen Gentium and Orientalium Ecclesiarum, the decree on ecumenism titled Unitatis Redintegratio establishes the Second Vatican Council’s position on the Church’s relation to other Christians. The situation has changed profoundly in these last five hundred years, but as always it is hard to take due notice of it. If it is of orthodox faith and an authentic work of the Spirit, it deserves to be praised, and we may benefit from it. Enriching Communion book; One Light One World - readings; Letting God be God - Reformed Spirituality; Challenged by Ecumenism; Papers. Thus the divisions with Western Christians are in some ways more profound, since they depend not only on questions of theology and discipline, but also on differing basic notions of the Church. . He has one of his characters say, “It was . All papal quotes are from the Vatican website.   1: The Eastern Churches These degrees of certainty are, in descending order: de fide, fides ecclesiastica, sententia fidei proxima, sententia ad fidem pertinens, sententia communis, sententia probabilis, etc. The Council recognizes that, among the diverse sects, not all are agreed that ecumenism is even a desirable endeavor. For example, if Protestants object to a Marian doctrine of the Church as being non-Biblical or extraneous to the faith, the response is not to exclude that doctrine from discussion, but to show how that doctrine is hierarchically linked to more central doctrines, e.g., the Incarnation. The way in which this coexistence of holiness and sin in redeemed human beings is understood can be open to various and complementary explanations. By analogy with similar expression in Lumen Gentium, we understand this unity subsists in the Catholic Church to mean that the Catholic Church is the concrete subject of the unity that characterizes Christ’s Church. 265-281. The expressed desire for this reunion does not entail a denial that the Catholic Church (including all Rites) has universal jurisdiction and the fullness of unity already. This is indicated by the qualifying phrase: in those of her sons who, though attached to her by Baptism, are yet separated from full communion with her. This is because unity is conceived in terms of communion, which admits varying degrees of perfection. The issues that provoked the separation between the Church of Rome and the Reformation in the sixteenth century primarily included indulgences and the way in which justification takes place for the unrighteous. This principle is highly useful when applied to the interpretation of Scripture. No longer in opposition to “good works”—an issue that has been dealt with and resolved—but in opposition, rather, to the claim by the secularized world that it can save itself through science and technology or through spiritual techniques people invented. Thus the Anglican Communion might be called a Church, but only in an equivocal or improper sense, referring to an intention rather than a sacramental reality. Lumen Gentium, Unitatis Redintegratio, and Orientalium Ecclesiarum, are the focus. I am convinced that the role played by formulas slows down and weighs on the ecumenical dialogue with the Protestant churches. It is a principle that Jesus had much earlier formulated, saying that every tree will be known by its fruit (see Lk 6:44). Upholding the established principle that no burden beyond what is essential should be imposed, the Council desires that: Only vague prescriptions are given for ecumenical relations with the Orthodox, since this decree is just a presentation of the Council’s general outlook on ecumenism, not a policy paper. THE PATH TO UNITY AMONG CHRISTIANS - Reflections on Unitatis redintegratio. In the post-Conciliar era, we have seen too much of false ecumenical theology, which has become practically synonymous with fuzzy thinking and obscuring traditional Catholic dogma. On the contrary, the purpose of reforming theological expressions is to make them more clearly understood to those who conceptualize the faith in different terms. To give an example of undue severity, the papal legates sent by Leo IX to Constantinople in 1054 were needlessly offensive and hostile, showing no reverence to the patriarch or metropolitans, and actively attacking Greek customs rather than simply defending Latin customs. This greater charity should be extended even to the traditions of separated communities. It also requires a denial of papal infallibility, which in turn requires a denial of the ecumenical council that defined it. The Sacred Council gladly notes all this. (UR, 6) The Church, in her dimension as a human institution, may need to correct deficiencies in moral conduct or in church discipline, or even in the way that church teaching has been formulated—to be carefully distinguished from the deposit of faith itself…. This obstacle is particularly apparent in relation to the churches of the Reformation. Before praying the Angelus, the Holy Father continued his reflections on the documents of the Second Vatican Council with a meditation on the Decree Unitatis redintegratio. Unitatis Redintegratio – Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism. 12.See Augustine, “Sermon 269,” 4, in Sermons (230-272B) on Liturgical Seasons, trans. The basis of division is not so much between heresy and schism—for there is heresy among the Churches that rejected Ephesus—but rather between separated bodies that remain organized as particular Churches, and those that are not. [3] Unitatis redintegratio, Decree on Ecumenism, Second Vatican Council [4] Lumen Gentium, 12, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Seco nd Vatican Council. One year from the fifth centenary of the Protestant Reformation (1517) From the point of view of evangelization, we need to return to the time of the apostles. To participate in the fullness of Catholic unity, it is necessary to accept the faith whole and entire. Instead of polemically denouncing all other forms of Christianity, Catholics are called to recognize what is good in other Christian traditions, and to acknowledge that not all errors are culpable, while at the same time faithfully representing the truth of Catholic tradition. It is an altogether different operation, consisting of real dialogue on equal terms without predetermined outcomes. Add to Wish List. It is in this sense that Catholic triumphalism has been abandoned, in favor of a more perfect emulation of the humility and service shown by Christ and the apostles. Thus it is something already perfectly guaranteed by Christ, and not something that can admit of any defect or deficiency. It has already declared its teaching on the Church, and now, moved by a desire for the restoration of unity among all the followers of Christ, it wishes to set before all Catholics the ways and means by which they too can respond to this grace and to this divine call. Every Christian thinks of his communion as being the Church of God. 3:27-28). Thus the Apostle says that all who have been baptized have put on Christ and are one in Christ Jesus. The Council now turns to the separated Churches and ecclesial Communities of the West, which began to split from the Apostolic See from the late Middle Ages onward. Council clearly makes ecumenism binding as the work of the Spirit In the Decree Unitatis Redintegratio, the Second Vatican Council recognized that the ecumenical movement is a sign of the Holy Spirit's action and said that it considered the promotion of this movement to be one of its principal tasks. Edmund Hill, The Works of Saint Augustine, Part 3, vol. This is consistent with the Vatican Council’s ecclesiology, where the sanctifying elements among the separated brethren are gifts proper to the Catholic Church. vatican.va. Whoever ignores or misrepresents that document will likely end up in confused error when interpreting this one. Again, the Council explicitly states that whatever is salvific in the other communities derives its efficacy from the fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church. Instead of making Catholic dogma intelligible to other Christians, however, many modern theologians have succeeded only in making it unintelligible to Catholics. The Church is catholic or universal in the sense that she contains absolutely all the faithful, and is not confined to any one country or class of men, but embraces within the amplitude of her love all mankind, whether barbarians or Scythians, slaves or freemen, male or female. Let me explain. Christians have a special calling to cooperate in social matters, to show that they all serve in the name of the same Christ. 5). From Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio) #6 For reflection or discussion: • In what way is the Ecumenical movement considered a renewal of the Church? 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