WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? 8

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Session 8: The Call to Christian Unity
1. The word most commonly used in association with Christian unity is “ecumenism”. It is derived from Greek οἰκουμένη (oikoumene), which means "the inhabited world”.

► It refers to the movement towards co-operation among streams of Christianity.

 For Catholics, complete unity means reconciling all who profess Christian faith to bring them into a single organisation, i.e. union with the Roman Catholic Church.

 For Orthodox, it means a complete theological unity.

 For Protestants, spiritual unity suffices.

2. The Catholic Church

► It is a supreme duty to seek full unity with estranged Christian communions.

 At the same time the Catholic Church rejects any promiscuous and false union that would mean glossing over the teaching of Scripture and Tradition.

► Before the Second Vatican Council, the main stress was laid on this second aspect, i.e., avoiding the compromise of the teaching of Scripture and Tradition.

 At the Council, the Church called for a "gentle invitation to seek and find that unity for which Jesus Christ prayed so ardently to his heavenly Father”.

 Two landmark documents are the Council’s Unitatis Redintegratio (21 November 1964) and John Paul II's encyclical Ut Unum Sint (25 May 1995).

► The Catholic Church is not a member of the World Council of Churches because of its self-understanding. However, it is a full member of the WCC’s Faith and Order Standing Committee.

► While some Eastern Orthodox Churches commonly baptise converts from the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church has always accepted the validity of all the sacraments administered by the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches.

► The Catholic Church likewise has never applied the terms "heterodox" or "heretic" to the Orthodox Church or its members.

3. The Orthodox Church

► The Orthodox Church works to embrace estranged communions and simultaneously to guard against a promiscuous and false union with them.

► The Orthodox Churches have been leaders in the Interfaith movement.

► Some Patriarchs enlist their communions as charter members of the WCC.

► Nevertheless, the Orthodox have not been willing to participate in any redefinition of the Christian faith toward a reduced, minimal, anti-dogmatic Christianity.

► One way to observe the attitude of the Orthodox Church towards non-Orthodox is to see how they receive new members from other faiths.

 Non-Christians who wish to become Orthodox Christians are accepted through the sacraments of baptism and chrismation.

 Protestants and Catholics are sometimes received through chrismation only, provided they had received a trinitarian baptism.

 Also Protestants and Catholics are often referred to as "heterodox", which simply means "other believing", rather than as heretics ("other-choosing"), implying that they did not wilfully reject the Church.

4. The Protestant Church

► Most mainline Protestant denominations became ecumenical-minded since the 1960s, especially at the formation of the World Council of Churches. They have been involved in a variety of ecumenical groups, working in some cases toward organic denominational unity and in other cases for cooperative purposes alone.

► In 1999, the representatives of Lutheran World Federation and Roman Catholic Church signed The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.

► Protestant Churches in Malaysia and Singapore are almost entirely Evangelical and take a rather exclusive position, and are therefore not really keen.

5. Contemporary Developments

► The original anathemas (excommunications) that mark the "official" Great Schism of 1054 between Catholics and Orthodox were mutually revoked in 1965 by the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

► The year 2006 saw a resumption of the series of meetings for theological dialogue between representatives of the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches (previously suspended because of failure to reach agreement on the question of the Eastern Catholic Churches).

► Catholic and Orthodox bishops in North America are engaged in an ongoing dialogue. They are meeting together periodically as the "North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation".

6. Opposition to Ecumenism

► A minority of Christians oppose ecumenism. They tend to be from churches of Evangelical, or Pentecostal backgrounds and strongly conservative sections of mainline Protestant churches. Part of the Orthodox Church also has opposition.

► Also, many Evangelical and Charismatic Christians view ecumenism as a sign of end times apostasy before Jesus Christ's return as prophesied in the Bible, and see substantial similarities between the doctrinal stance of end-times false teachers and the theological pronouncements of certain ecumenical leaders.

► A majority of Evangelical churches, including most Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, non-denominational Christians, and Evangelical Christian denominations, do not participate in the ecumenical movements.

 The doctrine of separation is adopted by some Evangelical churches towards churches and denominations that have joined ecumenical activities.

 Many Pentecostals, such as Assemblies of God, shun ecumenism.

 Some of the more conservative Evangelicals and Pentecostals view interdenominational activities or organisations in more conservative circles as a softer form of ecumenism and shun them while others do not.

► The minority Catholic opposition to ecumenism centres on Traditionalist Catholics and associations such as the Society of St Pius X (the separated group).