Friday, March 29, AD 2024 12:48am

Ecumenism! Ecumenism!

[Updates at the bottom of this posting]

Ecumenism today is in a sorry state.  Most Protestant denominations have splintered off to the point that dialogue has become pointless.  Only the Orthodox offer any hope of reunion with us, but that is a distant land where we are struggling to navigate towards.

In the meantime too many well-intentioned Catholics yell Ecumenism! Ecumenism!” yet they know not what they say nor do.  Heck, they can’t even explain it themselves.

For example I’ve stopped attending Taizé services because the only people that attend them are other Catholics.  If it was intended to bring our separated brothers in Christ together then I failed to see a single one of them attend in the three years that I have been going.

Ecumenism, whatever that means anymore, is a dead cat.  It’s going nowhere because it has no idea what it is.  Hence the forty years of fruitless labor has produced nothing to celebrate.

The only real progress I foresee is with the Orthodox.  Only they understand us and we they.  We have much in common and are capable as divinely inspired institutions to be of one.  Not our Protestant brothers who continue to devolve to the point of being unrecognizable among the worldly.

“Today we no longer understand ecumenism in the sense of a return, by which the others would ‘be converted’ and return to being ‘Catholics'” (Cardinal Kaspar, February 26, 2001)

Pope Pius XI state as much prior to the Second Vatican Council in Mortalium Animos:

“The union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it.

. . .

In reality beneath these enticing words and blandishments [which promote the modern idea of ecumenism] lies hid a most grave error…”

Pope Pius XII, to make sure there wasn’t any doubt, said the following in his Instructio of December 20, 1949:

“True reunion can only come about by the return of the dissidents to the one true Church of Christ”

In Pope Pius XI’s encyclical, Mortalium Animos (MA), he warned of syncretism and devolution into atheism by stating, “But some are more easily  deceived by outward appearance of good  when there is a question of fostering unity among all Christians.(MA 3)”  And in case that wasn’t direct and concise enough, “Admonished, therefore, by the consciousness of Our Apostolic office that We should not permit the flock of the Lord to be cheated by dangerous fallacies, We invoke, Venerable Brethren, your zeal in avoiding this evil; (MA 5)”

But what is especially interesting is what Pope Pius XI said concerning a popularly recited passage of the Holy Bible:

“And here it seems opportune to expound and to refute a certain false opinion, on which this whole question, as well as that complex movement by which non-Catholics seek to bring about the union of the Christian churches depends. For authors who favor this view are accustomed, times almost without number, to bring forward these words of Christ: they all may be one…. And there shall be one fold and one shepherd,” merely expressed a desire and prayer, which still lacks its fulfillment. For they are of the opinion that the unity of faith and government, which is a note of the one true Church of Christ, has hardly up to the present time existed, and does not to-day exist. They consider that this unity may indeed be desired and that it may even be one day attained through the instrumentality of wills directed to a common end, but that meanwhile it can only be regarded as mere ideal.

. . .

But, all the same, although many non-Catholics may be found who loudly preach fraternal communion in Christ Jesus, yet you will find none at all to whom it ever occurs to submit to and obey the Vicar of Jesus Christ either in His capacity as a teacher or as a governor” (MA 7).

Merely expressed a desire and prayer, not fulfillment of unity.  Just as we will always have the poor among us will we always be striving for unity, which will not come.

In my opinion I can see some sort of unity with our Orthodox brethren.  None with most Protestants.  But what is fact is that forty years of “Ecumensim! Ecumenism!” has produced nothing at all.

Update I:  There are a few good points that some commentators have made that I want to highlight.  John Henry and Henry Karlson bring up the rise of Catholic converts in Russia from another thread and Mark DeFrancisis the growing rapprochement between Lutherans (World Lutheran Federation) and Catholics.

But the most revealing comment by Donald R. McClarey where he stated that prior to Vatican II there was no form of ecumenism whatsoever.

To illuminate the fact that there is no record in Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, nor pronouncements from the Magisterium concerning Ecumenism.  Which would explain why Ut Unum Sint was such a poorly, or more accurately, ambiguously written encyclical.  Pope John Paul II had no sources to draw from to state his desire of unity.

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Mark DeFrancisis
Mark DeFrancisis
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 2:51pm

Tito,

Are you familiar with the significant advancements in the Catholic-Lutheran dialogue– on the question of salvation through faith and/or works?

Henry Karlson
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 2:54pm

Ecumenism is far longer than forty years; but you know, I can imagine Tito in the 4th century decry the decision at Nicea because, “Those darn Arians are still staying, and it looks like nothing will stop them.”

Tito Edwards
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 2:57pm

Mark,

Yes, the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod have agreed to some of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) but not all. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America has agreed to almost all of the JDDJ.

The World Lutheran Federation (WLF) has agreed on some aspects, but in the end, if the WLF agrees to all of the JDDJ, it is then up to individual regional and national Lutheran conferences to agree, and then it drops down to the local church level where they be disagreements. So it is a fractured lot to say the least.

e.
e.
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 2:59pm

Tito Taco,

Are you familiar with the notion that today’s ecumenical catholicism is just as groovy and authentic as Nicaea’s or even Sir/St. Thomas More’s?

Too bad that it just ain’t (not to mention, anachronistic and remarkably compromised). Seriously.

e.
e.
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:03pm

Are you guys still talking about JDDJ?

Don’t you guys know that even the Lutherans themselves scoff at it (as should Catholics, too)?

I mean, seriously; it really is as empty and meaningless as ecumenism itself, as even the average Lutheran rightly concludes.

Mark DeFrancisis
Mark DeFrancisis
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:04pm

Tito,

Surely in your individual life you do not take an “all or nothing” approach to conflict and disagreement?!!

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:06pm

“Those darn Arians are still staying, and it looks like nothing will stop them.”

I doubt that Tito would have said that since the Council anathematized the Arians.

“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of his Father, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten (??????????), not made, being of one substance (?????????, consubstantialem) with the Father. By whom all things were made, both which be in heaven and in earth. Who for us men and for our salvation came down [from heaven] and was incarnate and was made man. He suffered and the third day he rose again, and ascended into heaven. And he shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead. And [we believe] in the Holy Ghost. And whosoever shall say that there was a time when the Son of God was not (?? ???? ??? ??? ??), or that before he was begotten he was not, or that he was made of things that were not, or that he is of a different substance or essence [from the Father] or that he is a creature, or subject to change or conversion — all that so say, the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes them.”
As Saint Athanasius could attest the Arians remained a deadly danger for the Catholic Church after the Council, but the ruling of the Council clearly indicated that there would be no “ecumenical” relations between the Catholic Church and those who followed the teachings of Arius.

Tito Edwards
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:09pm

Mark,

Excellent point.

But after forty years, what have we shown for it?

As for me, my time is limited, so dropping Taize was a prudent move on my part. Though it may prove fruitful for others, I just don’t have the charism for that particular path.

Henry Karlson
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:09pm

Vatican II proclaimed ecumenism; but here we have Tito repudiating it. But this brings us back to the 4th century; the confusion then was far greater than anything today; what was or was not authoritative and an ecumenical council had not been established, and there were rival councils coming up all the time. Tito would have been able to say how Nicea “added words from heretics” like “homoousios,” and that, forty years after, solved nothing, so it was a failure and Nicene faith was dead.

Henry Karlson
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:11pm

Tito’s posts (and those defending him) prove he hasn’t follow the Church and ignores it when it suits his purpose; this is again demonstration of someone who is full of themselves, so full, they can’t listen to others, and thinks the Church should be in his image. This is Satanic pride at its height.

Tito Edwards
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:12pm

Henry K.,

Can you find for me a clear and concise definition or road map of how to pursue ecumenism?

Even Pope John Paul II conceded that Ecumenism was a Protestant invention that was difficult to define in Ut Unum Sint.

Matt McDonald
Matt McDonald
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:14pm

Mark D.,

while it is well and good that some organizations of which may or may not be relevant to Lutheran’s and their congregations are compromising on theological points (possible that we may be as well…despite Pius XII cautions), there’s no evidence that progress on them rejecting their founder and embracing the One True Church is actually being made. None. In fact, like other mainstream protestant denominations, in practice they are farther from Catholicism than they EVER have been.

Tito Edwards
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:14pm

Henry K.,

Now, now.

There’s no need for that.

There is room for disagreement and amicable debate.

I think ecumenism can be productive, if it is clearly defined with goals placed.

Not when it’s dressed in flowery and ambiguous language where you can read into it a Gilgamesh story or a Chupacabra attack.

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:20pm

“This is Satanic pride at its height.”

Rubbish. What it means is that Tito is merely stating the obvious: ecumenicalism since Vatican II is a radical departure from prior Church practice, and that from a Catholic perspective the good that the change has produced is rather difficult to discern. Having married a Protestant, who converted a few years after our marriage, a father who was Protestant until the day he died, and most of my relatives being Protestant, I am all for good relations among Christians of all stripes, but attempting to water down the differences is not the way to go about it.

Henry Karlson
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:21pm

There are many different kinds of dialogues:

a) The dialogue of life, where people strive to live in an open and neighbourly spirit, sharing their joys and sorrows, their human problems and preoccupations.

b) The dialogue of action, in which Christians and others collaborate for the integral development and liberation of people.

c) The dialogue of theological exchange, where specialists seek to deepen their understanding of their respective religious heritages, and to appreciate each other’s spiritual values.

d) The dialogue of religious experiencee, where persons, rooted in their own religious traditions, share their spiritual riches, for instance with regard to prayer and contemplation, faith and ways of searching for God or the Absolute.

In this way, there are many different kinds of ecumenical activities. Working with Protestants to stop abortion, for example, is ecumenism. Working with Protestants to feed the poor is ecumenism. There is plenty of such activity going on and in the increase; it’s not dead, but alive, and that should be well noted.

But when discussing the road map for dialogue about doctrine, the issue is not “one,” but multi-faceted. It is for this reason that dialogues tend to be bi-lateral, where the needs, requirements, expectations differ. But working together, praying together (if we can), listening to each other, learning how the other things instead of telling them (and getting it wrong) is a start. The fact that you don’t want to do that, but always make things up, intra-Catholic, shows the problem.

Now John Paul II did not concede that Ecumenism was a Protestant invention; you read a text out of context for your ideological pretext. If you want to find a new story about ecumenism, look to the history of the Ecumenical Patriarch’s call for Christian Unity.

e.
e.
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:22pm

Henry K.,

You are being intellectually dishonest; as if the way ecumenical had been applied previously is in every sense the same as it is employed today.

That’s like saying the same scholastic terms Spinoza himself used were in the very same sense that the scholastics themselves meant.

You should know better.

Henry Karlson
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:23pm

“Rubbish. What it means is that Tito is merely stating the obvious: ecumenicalism since Vatican II is a radical departure from prior Church practice, and that from a Catholic perspective the good that the change has produced is rather difficult to discern”

All those who find themselves more Catholic than the Pope throughout history have always made this charge, from Novatius to Donatus to the Greeks (filioque) to the Husites, to the Lutherans, et. al. I would recommend reading some of the ecclesial documents of Nicholas of Cusa if you want to see how far and proper this line of reasoning is thrashed by Catholic tradition itself.

e.
e.
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:24pm

“Rubbish. What it means is that Tito is merely stating the obvious: ecumenicalism since Vatican II is a radical departure from prior Church practice, and that from a Catholic perspective the good that the change has produced is rather difficult to discern. Having married a Protestant, who converted a few years after our marriage, a father who was Protestant until the day he died, and most of my relatives being Protestant, I am all for good relations among Christians of all stripes, but attempting to water down the differences is not the way to go about it.”

Is McClarey the only Catholic on this site?

Very comforting to see one Catholic still genuinely so!

Henry Karlson
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:25pm

Here, I will help people; here’s a start:

Perhaps you will say: today’s Church does not walk in the rite of communion as in former times, when most holy men affirmed both by word and deed that the sacrament under both species, by the force of Christ’s precept, was necessary. Could the Church have been in error at that time? Certainly not! If not, how is what was then universally affirmed not true today, since this Church is the same as that one? Certainly it should not disturb you that the rite of sacrifices – and even of the sacraments – is found to be different at different times, while the truth stands fast. The Scriptures are both adapted to the times and understood in various ways, so that they are set forth at one time according to the current universal rite, but when that rite changes, opinions about it change again. Christ, to whom the Father handed over the celestial and terrestrial kingdoms, ruling by means of a wondrous order of angels and men, dispenses mysteries according to the changing of the times; and He supplies what fits particular times by hidden inspiration or evident demonstration. This is the view of the doctors [of the Church]: Ambrose in his twelfth letter to Irenaeus, and Augustine [in his letter] to Deogratias, in the second question on the alteration of sacrifices.

[…] Hence, even if today there is an interpretation by the Church of the same Gospel commanding differing from that of former times, nevertheless, the understanding now currently in use for the rule of the Church was inspired as befitting the times and should be accepted as the way of salvation.

–Nicholas of Cusa, “To the Bohemians: On the Use of Communion,” pgs. 2 – 85 in Nihcolas of Cusa: Writings on Church and Reform. Trans. Thomas M. Izbicki (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008), 21- 23.

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:25pm

The Church prior to Vatican II was never shy about casting out heretics. Those who think otherwise are merely deluding themselves.

Henry Karlson
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:26pm

The Church before Vatican II called the Lutherans to Trent!

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:27pm

Yes, and condemned Lutheranism root and branch!

Tito Edwards
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:27pm

Henry K.,

make things up

I don’t understand what you mean by that. Especially after I produced documents such as Mortalium Animos, or is it in your nature to ignore everything up until Vatican II?

And Pope John Paul II did concede that Ecumenism was a Protestant invention.

Read Ut Unum Sint.

Henry Karlson
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:28pm

But it called them for dialogue. As the Church always does.

Henry Karlson
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:29pm

Tito

Actually, JPII said ecumenism goes back to Christ and the call “that they may be one.”

Tito Edwards
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:29pm

Henry K.,

Cite me an ex cathedra statement that we should make up stuff to get along with Protestants?

I doubt you will find one, that’s assuming that your sources are not gnostic.

Matt McDonald
Matt McDonald
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:31pm

Hk,

it called them to receive instruction on the Truth in charity.

Tito Edwards
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:31pm

Henry K.,

I can’t find the word ‘ecumenism’ in the Holy Bible.

But if you would have read my posting citing Pope Pius XI’s Mortalium Animos 5, His Holiness addressed that very same verse stating that it is a merely expressed a desire and prayer, not fulfillment of unity.

Henry Karlson
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:32pm

Tito

There you go — you dissent from the church! And your argument is “if it isn’t ex cathedra, hell no!” Sorry, that’s not how Catholicism works. But you have now proven the cafeteria qualities I’ve pointed to many times — and your quotes, out of context, such as your quote from Cardinal Kasper, have been answered before, but you keep rehashing it like a Protestant with one verse of Scripture. Sad. But thank you. You have proven my point.

e.
e.
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:32pm

Henry K,

For a person who wrote a series on lying, you are demonstrating yourself a liar on this very thread.

I would’ve thought you to be a better man than this!

For a student of church history, you either seem to have known very little, understood very little of it, or purposely misrepresent the facts in order to prop your argument against Taco.

Henry Karlson
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:32pm

“I can’t find the word ‘ecumenism’ in the Holy Bible.”

I can’t find “homoousios” in the Bible. See, I called him on it. Thank you. Goodbye.

Tito Edwards
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:33pm

Henry Karlson,

If you continue with your calumnies without evidence you will be placed on moderation.

Typical liberal, when they can’t debate the points they devolve into name-calling.

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:36pm

The Fathers of Trent called them only for submission. Melanchthon and others who thought the Catholic Church would alter the Faith to suit them were only fooling themselves. The Protestants had no right to vote and they realized this was a waste of their time from their standpoint. I believe it is also clear that in any case the invitation was given to the Protestants only due to strong pressure from Emperor Charles V.

Michael Denton
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:40pm

For what it’s worth, Thomas Aquinas emphasized that Jews should not be persecuted for practicing Jewish traditions because the presence of those traditions helped Christians in there own understanding.

Mind you, he also thought unrepentant heretics should be burned at the stake, but I think you can see in Thomas’s opinion towards the Jews the roots of ecumenism. So let’s be careful about relegating ecumenism to the past forty years (Not saying tito is, but in general that seems to be a temptation in some of the comments here)

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:44pm

The Jews were a special case and Pope after Pope extended protection to them. As to Christian heretics however, one can scan the history of the Church with a microscope prior to 1965 and find precious little that would bear any relationship to what we now call ecumenicalism.

Tito Edwards
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:48pm

Henry K. left in a puff when he realized people were reading through his dishonesty.

I’ve done what I am capable of with Taize. The same can’t be said for others who question my motives.

I still pray for unity, but I question the tactics and the fruits of these tactics that have done nothing if harm the foundation of the Church by causing confusion in language and action.

bearing
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:56pm

Fruitful dialogue is when the two parties carefully explain themselves to each other, defining terms, clarifying distinctions, and so on, so that they can each come to an accurate understanding of what the other believes and the rational basis upon which those beliefs rest.

Fruitful dialogue pares away areas where misunderstanding of terms, superficial differences in behavior or in practice, etc. makes the two believe they have differences where they really are not.

Fruitful dialogue identifies real differences. It pinpoints the areas where the two really do have to say, “Ah, I see. That’s something you assert which I deny.” Or: “Hey, my belief on that issue, though I phrase it in different words, is not really so very different from yours.”

Because to clearly identify the exact points of difference is to understand how far apart you are. And when two bodies have clearly delineated the exact points of difference — which they do through fruitful dialogue — it is a help to individuals who may be wondering if they belong not there, but here. It is a challenge to individuals within those two bodies to decide which of the two is more true.

That is why dialogue can be fruitful, even if it does not seek to “convert,” but only to teach and to learn. To teach the truth as we know it, to learn exactly where the other does not align with that truth.

Matt McDonald
Matt McDonald
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:59pm

bearing,

there is a place for dialogue as you state, but it is not going to result in unity on a broad scale as is dreamed by the “ecumenism” movements of the last 40 years.

Tito Edwards
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 3:59pm

Bearing,

Thank you for that explanation.

I think that’s nice and dandy.

I just wish I can see unity organically come from it, which is difficult to see when the Lutherans themselves (as examples) continue to splinter each year. Not to mention the Anglicans, ie, Traditional Anglican Communion.

In the end, let’s assume positive results, as an example, the World Lutheran Federation finally wants to unite with us.

It’ll be a few aging scholars and hopefully their kids that will be left of the ‘WFL’.

But I see what you mean about fruitful dialogue.

e.
e.
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 4:04pm

Fruitful dialogue does not and, indeed, cannot entail blatant compromise!

Indeed, if anything, this is not fruitful dialogue but a pitiful engagement in the modernist enterprise of nihilistic emancipation from both Tradition and Our Lord Himself, which inevitably makes us not Catholics but rather sorry Modernists in the most fiendish of disguise; that is, nothing more than heretics in the making!

Anthony
Anthony
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 4:54pm

I’m sorry, what’s the point exactly of talking about dialogue and ecumenism when one side is constantly shifting its beliefs according to the latest moral trends?

Heck, is there really ecumenism when one-half of the conversation exists on a razor’s edge of even being called “Christian”?

The Church should always have an arm outstretched to all peoples, and with communities that share fundamental similarities with us— perhaps we can do more.

I agree with Tito’s placement in hope with the Orthodox over that of Protestants. Catholic and Orthodox have at least had better luck in preserving their fundamental positions and identities. Protestantism seems to keep fracturing at a rate of change matching the latest best-selling self-help books!

Tito Edwards
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 5:02pm

Anthony,

I believe the crucial test is how will Partriarch Kirill deal with his hostile curia (towards Rome) in dealing with us.

As Henry Karlson & JohnH stated on another thread, there has been rumblings of detente.

But from Moscow the optimism has been muted.

Thankfully though they appointed Hilarion as the External Relations head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Which was Kirill’s previous post, so we may be seeing some movement during Kirill’s patriarchate and Benedict’s pontificate.

bearing
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 5:41pm

Fruitful dialogue cannot result in unity on a broad scale unless the differences between the two bodies are either (a) merely superficial differences regarding essential truths, e.g., apparent differences that come from the use of different terminology for the same thing, or (b) differences that both sides can agree are inessential.

In the case of (a), the two bodies can work together to craft new ways of phrasing the essential truths, phrasing upon which both can agree.

In the case of (b), the two bodies can make clear to their members that it is acceptable to hold different beliefs in the inessential areas, and thus people in different “camps” can yet exist in the same body.

Fruitful dialogue is necessary even to determine whether the apparent differences between two groups fall into categories (a) or (b).

Anyone who’s ever had a hearty, in-depth, lengthy discussion with someone of a different faith, and came away with both of you knowing more about the other person and why they believe what they believe, even if neither of you is at all any more interested in conversion from one to the other, knows what fruitful dialogue can mean. It’s not useless, and it does not necessarily entail compromise. It entails listening, learning the other’s reasoning behind their beliefs, learning “what exactly do you mean when you say…?” and getting the chance to explain yourself in kind. It’s reciprocal apologetics, is what it is.

Oh, and by the way, having had plenty such dialogue with my good friend who is a member of LCMS — any time you are talking about ecumenism it is completely worthless to speak only of “Lutherans.” There are several different groups and they have had different ecumenical contact with Catholics, with some groups repudiating the actions of other groups.

bearing
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 5:43pm

p.s. I think there’s great hope with a large bloc of conservative Anglicans. Their church body may not join with ours, but there may be a mass defection, and we should be ready to talk to these people and listen to their stories.

Tito Edwards
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 5:48pm

Bearing,

In one of my earlier comments I touched on the difficulties of dialoguing with “Lutherans”.

https://the-american-catholic.com/2009/07/23/ecumenism-ecumenism/#comment-17297

bearing
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 8:45pm

Yeah, I saw it and I also noticed that many commenters after your comment were still talking about “Lutherans.” Wanted to reinforce the point.

I suspect, actually, that individual dialogue — the “reciprocal apologetics” I spoke of in an earlier comment — is much more powerful than institutional dialogue. Here a soul meets a soul, in some human bond of amity or collegiality, and sincere interest in each other as human beings sparks a meeting of minds. In the end, it’s not “institutions” we hope to win over to conversion, but individuals.

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Thursday, July 23, AD 2009 9:51pm

Whether ecumenism has “failed” depends on how you define it. If you mean it only in the strict theological sense — getting the Catholic Church and other Christian bodies to agree on doctrinal matters like justification by faith or the primacy of the pope — then Tito is right; it’s made very little if any progress. I would agree that prospects for doctrinal ecumenism and ultimate reunion are far better with regard to the Orthodox churches — who still have a valid priesthood, apostolic succession, and valid sacraments from a Catholic point of view.

However, if “ecumenism” means Catholics and other Christians being able to get along better at the personal and social level, and being able to work together on efforts such as promoting the culture of life and traditional marriage, then I’d say it’s succeeded way better than many people could have imagined 50 or 60 years ago. The days when “mixed marriages” could only be performed in the rectory, when Catholics were discouraged from visiting the YMCA or giving to the Salvation Army, when Catholics were forbidden to attend Protestant services or Protestant church functions unless there was a grave reason to do so — those days are long gone.

Eric Brown
Friday, July 24, AD 2009 2:09am

I addressed this before and I think there are a lot of attitudes in regard to ecumenism that was discussed in one way or another.

https://the-american-catholic.com/2009/07/09/the-petrine-ministry-and-christian-ecumenism/#more-10266

I’m not saying this movement does not have any faults or failures. But to say no to it altogether is something entirely different.

“Thus, it is absolutely clear that ecumenism, the movement promoting Christian unity, is not just some sort of “appendix” which is added to the Church’s traditional activity. Rather, ecumenism is an organic part of her life and work, and consequently must pervade all that she is and does…”(Ut Unum Sint)

Pope John Paul II connected ecumenism with evangelization and to divorce the two is inherently problematic.

But if we’re going to just say they’re heretics and let that be the end of it, is that really the Christian thing to do?

If there is something wrong, join in the debate, but don’t end it.

Henry Karlson
Friday, July 24, AD 2009 3:29am

Elaine

Right, it is a part of the nature of the Church, and any evangelical activity will either be inter-religious or ecumenical in nature (St Paul, for example, engaged inter-religious dialogue at Mars Hill). People confuse the activity with syncretism or giving up one’s beliefs; I’ve pointed out this is a strawman. And as I pointed out, there are four kinds of dialogues – the types dealing with life and work are quite important, and as you have said, they have gone a long way.

Tito Edwards
Friday, July 24, AD 2009 6:24am

I do not want to stop ecumenism at all.

I just want to reassess what works and what doesn’t.

There are valid points from all across the spectrum here from Eric to Henry, most of which is right on in my opinion.

I want a more clear and concise road map to follow, which the Vatican is known for.

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