Category: News

The case for Christian unity and dreaming in line with Pentecost

By Edgardo Colón-Emeric
Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission

Editor’s note: The original article from 6 March 2023 appears on Medium.

Early in the morning of October 5, 2022, a small band of Catholics and Methodists gathered in a room behind the Paul VI Audience Hall in the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis. The room was called an auletta — literally, a “little hall,” but it was only little in comparison to the 6,300-seat-capacity room next door. While we waited for Francis, a member of our group spoke of having “happy legs,” which was a more original way of naming what I experienced as butterflies in the stomach as I prepared to present the most recent report of the Methodist Roman Catholic International Commission to the Pope.

My journey to the auletta began at Duke Divinity School in the mid-1990s, when I studied theology under the great Methodist ecumenist Geoffrey Wainwright. From him, I learned the journey toward Christian unity has deep roots in church history and Scripture. The word “ecumenical” comes from the Greek oikoumene, which the New Testament and the Greek version of the Old Testament use to refer to the whole inhabited world. For instance, Luke informs his readers that around the time of Jesus’ birth, “a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world [oikoumene] should be registered” (Luke 2:1 — biblical citations are from the New Revised Standard Version unless otherwise noted). When Christian leaders met in Constantinople in 381 C.E. to argue for the true humanity of Jesus against its detractors, they referred to the previous gathering of bishops in Nicaea in 325 C.E. as an “ecumenical synod.”

Wainwright helped me understand the abiding significance of the historical ecumenical councils and the creeds they developed. Today, the term ecumenical encompasses more than geographical scope or historic landmarks; it names a way of being church that affirms diversity, rejects division, and works for unity. It denotes a new posture before God and fellow Christians, a posture of dialogue (sitting ecumenism), service (walking ecumenism), and prayer (kneeling ecumenism). This last one most of all, for at the heart of the ecumenical way is Jesus’ prayer on the eve of his passion for his followers throughout the ages: “May they all be one … that the world may believe” (John 17:21).

Since 2008, I have had the humbling privilege of representing Methodists in bilateral dialogues with Roman Catholics nationally and internationally. In these years, I have been blessed by the exchange of gifts that comes from walking toward Christian unity. There is something truly remarkable about traveling, reading, discussing, eating, and praying together with fellow Christians with whom one has substantive disagreements.

One characteristic of these dialogues I greatly appreciate is their unabashedly doctrinal character. After all, historically, one reason why Christians part ways and remain divided is doctrine. Differences between how Catholics and the Orthodox understand the person of the Holy Spirit, and differences between how Protestants and Catholics understand the role of Mary, all promoted and sustain separation. The unity Christians seek cannot downplay doctrine’s importance because faith involves thinking. A unity that papers over questions of truth is, at best, toleration and, at worst, indifference.

Clearly, what unites Christians at the deepest level is not doctrine but Christ, with whom we are one through baptism. Scripture testifies to baptism’s significance when it says, “In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13). The church is already one. The letter to the Ephesians declares this in a beautiful way: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4–6). Oneness does not dilute diversity. Indeed, the letter to the Ephesians continues: “Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Ephesians 4:7). The waters of baptism do not wash away difference. Instead, they cleanse difference and prepare it for sanctification.

Even so, ecumenical dialogues often focus on doctrine. Ecumenical doctrinal statements claim baptism as the common ground for Christian unity. It is, however, a contested claim. One of the most painful moments in Methodist-Catholic dialogues comes when we celebrate the Eucharist and fail to share the body and blood of Christ. It is a scandal to see people who have been spending intense time together and share so much in common part ways at the Lord’s Supper. The ecumenical journey is not a yellow brick road but a Via Dolorosa. We are bound to fall against the stumbling blocks of divided doctrines and practices.

Stumbling Blocks

Lack of a common goal. Jesus prayed that his disciples may be one as he and the Father are one, but he did not offer a blueprint or model for unity. The statement from the World Council of Churches assembly in New Delhi in 1961 perhaps comes closest to a common vision of the goal. It highlights unity as “both God’s will and his gift to the Church.” Ecumenism has spatial and temporal dimensions — unity with sisters and brothers around the world and with church fathers and mothers throughout history. Significantly, unity does not mean uniformity. There is legitimate diversity within Christian life. Nevertheless, beyond this broad level of agreement, differences emerge.

Prior to the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic model for unity was simple — return to Rome. The earliest Protestant expressions of the ecumenical movement aimed for organic union as the goal, the merging of diverse churches under one common structural arrangement. Models of reconciled diversity have also been advanced. For instance, some speak of different ecclesial forms like the Pauline (Protestant), Petrine (Roman Catholic), and the Johannine (Orthodox). In all these cases, multiple models suggest multiple ends, which necessitate multiple paths and may unintentionally provoke more estrangement.

Ecumenical skepticism. In Latin America, many Protestant churches experience deep misgivings about the work for Christian unity. Interdenominational cooperation is one thing, but a movement that embraces Roman Catholics as sisters and brothers is something else. The language itself is telling. In Latin American communities, it is still common to hear people distinguishing Christians from Catholics. The word ecumenism carries the baggage of sounding like communism and evokes external hegemonic forces. Latin American history does indeed bear the marks of a Roman Catholic ecclesial monopoly, which has broken up only in recent decades. The idea of sitting down with Roman Catholics for fraternal dialogues strikes some as a betrayal of the gospel and of the witness of hard-fought battles for social recognition.

Nostalgia for a golden age. It is common to hear that the most exciting days for ecumenism are past. The early decades of the 20th century witnessed stellar signs of hope for Christian unity: the formation of the World Council of Churches, the invitation of Protestant observers to the Second Vatican Council, the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, and many more. The abundance of signs of unity moved John Paul II to look to the 21st century as inaugurating a millennium of Christian unity that would heal the wounds of division from the second millennium. So far, those hopes have been disappointed.

Ecumenists have often pointed to the problem of reception. The agreements achieved through official dialogues have a hard time changing the situation on the ground. The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification may have bridged gaps opened by the Reformation, but the churches have yet to cross these bridges.

Apathy about division. Simply put, we do not miss each other enough. In the International Methodist Catholic dialogue, the parable of the prodigal son mirrored the reality of this unrealized estrangement. Both sons abandoned the father’s house. The younger one lost himself in licentious living in a far country. The older one lost himself in work close to home. When Methodists and Catholics read this together, we saw ourselves. Both of us were the younger son. Both of us were the older son. Both of us long to return to the father’s house and be embraced. In Scripture, the parable ends without resolution. The older son refuses to celebrate with the father. One detail that interests me is the two brothers’ relationship — or the lack thereof. In his journey to and from the far country, the younger son spares no thought for his older brother. The older son bears only contempt for the younger one. Neither refers to the other as brother; neither longs for the other.

Dreams

The Catholic ecumenist Jean-Marie Tillard’s final book was titled I Believe, Despite Everything. He describes a vocation to dream despite the lure of going back (nostalgia), or giving up (apathy), or digging down (skepticism). And the challenges facing the ecumenical movement are cause not for despair but for dreaming. In Scripture, we find hints of an eschatological dimension to ecumenism. In the Letter to the Hebrews, we read of “the coming world [oikoumene]” (Hebrews 2:5). Difficult experiences with the edicts (dogmas) of Caesars and the ecumenical pretensions of Rome pushed Christians to distinguish the oikoumene of the empire from the oikoumene of the church. The unity of the coming oikoumene will not derive from homogenizing cultures or subjecting difference but from purifying and perfecting them. The promise of this coming oikoumene guides the ecumenical movement and inspires Christian dreams of unity. I here share a few dreams that I believe are not simply my own but reflect the aspirations of many.

I dream dreams of an ecumenical movement that goes out to the world. Ecumenism and evangelism cannot be separated. The event most frequently credited with the launch of the ecumenical movement was the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910. The call to unity came from the mission field, where the denominational differences among Christians paled in comparison to the differences between Christians and non-Christians. Interestingly, in the lead up to the gathering, they called it the “Ecumenical Missionary Conference,” but the organizers judged that the absence of Catholic and Orthodox participants stretched the definition of “ecumenical” beyond the breaking point. Christian unity matters, but it does not exist for its own sake. Unity is the goal of the ecumenical movement, not the goal of the church; the church seeks unity for the sake of its credibility in its mission to the world.

I dream dreams of an ecumenical movement that goes down to the margins. The church has gone South, in the sense that the majority of its members are now found in what is often called the Global South. As the church has changed, so too must the movement toward Christian unity. The ecumenical questions emerging from the Global South are not identical to those of the Global North. Doctrine matters, but the pressures on the churches are not simply those coming from the secular age — they come from the heavy legacies of colonialism. Moreover, in the movement to the margins, we might rediscover the power of Jesus’ high priestly prayer by joining his journey of descent. Jesus voiced his prayer not from a temple or throne but from the place of rejection and suffering.

I dream dreams of an ecumenical movement that draws in the youth. Before the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, the movement toward Christian unity was a youth movement. The contributions of interdenominational groups such as the YMCA, the YWCA, and the World Student Christian Federation are underappreciated today. Youth and student groups committed themselves to Christian unity and “the evangelization of the world in this generation.” Along with recovering the role of youth, the ecumenical movement needs to place laity at the center. Clericalization has rendered the movement the work of specialists rather than the work of the people of God.

I dream dreams of an ecumenical movement that draws in the theological academy. In its list of “instruments of unity,” the Oxford Handbook of Ecumenical Studies does not mention theological schools, but these have long served as signs of and instruments for Christian unity. In seminaries and divinity schools, future Christian leaders deepen their understanding of the faith by studying, worshipping, and serving next to Christians of different traditions. An old saying directs the Christian journey toward unity: “in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” In seminaries, many learn there is a hierarchy of doctrines, and this hiearchy clarifies the terms for the theological pluralism coherent with Christ’s gospel. Admittedly, the ecumenical seminary or divinity school is a fragile institution. The forces of secularization and polarization greatly stress these communities. God’s promised vision of the church is ecumenical, however, and a school that forms people for strictly denominational (or even non/postdenominational) leadership will fall out of step with the richness of Christ’s prayer.

A Pentecost Movement

Returning to the auletta, Francis walked slowly into the room. Aided by a cane, he made his way to the chair at the center of the room and sat down immediately to my right. Official greetings followed, first by the Catholic co-chair and then by me. In contrast to our scripted remarks, Francis spoke off the cuff. He fondly reminisced about his connections to Methodist pastors in Argentina before turning to talk about ecumenism and the parable of the prodigal son. He noted the necessity of doctrinal dialogue and its limitations. Full doctrinal unity will not be possible this side of the kingdom. The parable of the prodigal opens a new way, the way of mercy. Francis alluded to a popular staged rendition of the parable. In this play, the prodigal longs to return to his father’s house but fears rejection or worse. He asks a friend to carry a letter to his father asking him to drape a white handkerchief from a window, if he is to be welcomed home. When the prodigal and his friend draw near to the house, he sees not one but hundreds and hundreds of little handkerchiefs.

The message was clear. God’s mercy is extravagant. God sends the church, as the body of Christ, into the world as the face of mercy. The signs of mercy may be as small as little handkerchiefs, but they can overwhelm in their number for those who have eyes to see. In this connection, I find it fitting that one of the names for the feast of Pentecost is Whitsunday. The name comes from Pentecost’s association with baptism and the practice of wearing white for that occasion. This is the ecumenical movement — a movement toward a new Pentecost of mercy.

Edgardo Colón-Emeric is the Dean of Duke Divinity School; Irene and William McCutchen Professor of Reconciliation and Theology; and Director of the Center for Reconciliation. He is an ordained elder in the North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and serves as the Methodist co-chair for the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission.

On behalf of the World Methodist Council, Bishop Ivan Abrahams, general secretary of the World Methodist Council, conveyed condolences to the Turkish and Syrian governments and relatives of people who lost loved ones in the earthquake that struck in the early hours of Monday morning.

Five thousand people are known to have died, and thousands more have been left destitute. Abrahams said; “This tragedy requires a global response, and he appealed to Methodists people and relief agencies to support the search and rescue efforts and assist the survivors. “Our hearts go out to all those who are bereaved and we continue to pray for a speedy recovery for the injured.”   

Several Methodist leaders spoke about Methodist approaches to synodality at an international conference at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome from 26-28 January 2023. The conference – Listening to the West – brought together leading scholars and church leaders from Methodist, Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed, and Old Catholic churches to present theological, canonical, pastoral, and historical perspectives on synodality. The conference was organized by the Institute of Ecumenical Studies of the Angelicum under the patronage of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the General Secretariat of the Synod. The Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome collaborated with the Institute of Ecumenical Studies in organizing the conference.

The Rev. Prof. J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, a minister of the Methodist Church Ghana and president of Trinity Theological Seminary in Legon, Ghana, gave a keynote address on “Synodal Experience: the Methodist Approaches.” During upon Methodist hymnody, Prof. Assamoah-Gyadu spoke about Methodist spirituality, discipleship, and sacramentality as marks of the Methodist approaches to synodality.

Additional lectures on Methodist synodality were given by:

• Bishop Rosemarie Wenner, Geneva Secretary of the World Methodist Council and bishop emeritus of The United Methodist Church in Germany, on pastoral perspectives
• Revd Dr Kenneth Howcroft from the Methodist Church in Britain on canonical/church order perspectives, and
• Revd Prof Daniel Pratt Morris-Chapman, minister of Ponte Sant’Angelo Methodist Church in Rome and visiting professor of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, on historical developments.

The Rev Deacon Alessandra Trotta, moderator of the Waldensian Evangelical Church (Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches), also gave lecture on pastoral perspectives during the Reformed segment from the perspective of United/Union churches. Deacon Trotta is Methodist and serves as the head of the Methodist-Reformed union church in Italy.

The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, moderated the keynote lecture.

“Brothers and Sisters on a Pilgrim Journey: Methodists and Anglicans and the Catholic Church”
by Fr Martin Browne OSB, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity

The language of walking and pilgrimage has been used for many years regarding the deepening of ecumenical relationships. For example, when Pope Francis received the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, in June 2014 he ended his address by saying, “we must walk together”. Two years later, in the Joint Declaration issued by the Holy Father and the Archbishop at the Church of Saint Gregory, the two leaders said that fifty years of dialogue enabled their two communions to see themselves as “partners and companions on our pilgrim journey”. Also in 2016, the bishops of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission [IARCCUM] issued an appeal entitled, Walking Together: Common Service to the World and Witness to the Gospel, declaring that, “Anglicans and Roman Catholics walk together by faith, guided and strengthened by our Lord who walks the pilgrim path with us”. In November 2017, when welcoming a delegation from the World Methodist Council to mark fifty years of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission [MERCIC], the Holy Father described Methodists and Catholics as “brothers and sisters on a shared journey”. He concluded with the exhortation: “So let us advance together, knowing that our journey is blessed by the Lord. It began from him, and it leads to him.”

The concept of walking together, clearly integral to these and many other ecumenical relationships, has entered more widely into the day-to-day language of the Catholic Church since the launch of the Synod. The more technical term, synodality, long heard only in theological texts and classrooms, has become a watchword in parishes and dioceses throughout the world, while the Church engages in what the Holy Father described as “a process of spiritual discernment, of ecclesial discernment, that unfolds in adoration, in prayer and in dialogue with the word of God”.

The mandate given to the third Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission [ARCIC III] by Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Rowan Williams was to examine “the Church as Communion, local and universal, and how in communion the local and universal Church come to discern right ethical teaching”. Mindful of the significance of episcopal conferences in the Catholic Church and provincial Synods in the Anglican Communion, ARCIC added consideration of the regional level to its work. It is noteworthy that the current synodal process in the Catholic Church also has regional phases, both national and continental, between the local and universal phases. ARCIC III’s first report, issued in 2017, was entitled, Walking Together on the Way: Learning to be the Church – Local, Regional, Universal. This report dealt primarily with the first, ecclesiological, half of ARCIC III’s mandate.

The commission met for the first time after the Covid-19 pandemic in Rome from 7 to 14 May 2022, continuing to work on the second half of the mandate, examining how the Church local, regional and universal discerns right ethical teaching. A number of ARCIC III’s Catholic members and consultants also serve on the Theological Commission of the Synod. Seeing significant intersections between its work and the synodal process, the ARCIC steering committee invited Cardinal Mario Grech and Sr Nathalie Becquart XMCJ, Synod General Secretary and Under-Secretary, to join the commission for an evening of dialogue and discussion.

On 13 May 2022, the members of the commission was received by the Holy Father. Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham (England), the Catholic co-chair, and Archbishop Linda Nicholls, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the acting Anglican co-chair, addressed the Pope, explaining how the commission was using the method of ‘Receptive Ecumenism’ in its work. In light of the recent centenary of the beginning of the ‘Malines Conversations’ and the publication of Sorores in Spe, a document of the unofficial Malines Conversations Group, Archbishop Nicholls raised the question of Anglican orders. She noted that the non-recognition of Anglican orders by the Catholic Church continued to be a wound for many Anglicans and concluded, “we have always considered that our liturgical and sacramental life and traditions demonstrate our place within the Church catholic, and it is our earnest hope that this would be recognised by you, our brothers and sisters in Christ”.

Responding to the addresses of the two co-chairs, Pope Francis noted both the subject of ARCIC’s current work on ecclesiological and ethical questions and its method, suggesting that it “requires, as its basic conditions, humility and truth … We must begin, then, by admitting and sharing the struggles we experience. This is the first step: not to be concerned with appearing attractive and secure to our brothers and sisters, presenting ourselves the way we would like to be, but with showing them with an open heart how we are in reality, including our limitations.” Echoing once again the synodal nature of ecumenical engagement, Pope Francis said that Catholics and Anglicans are called to walk together, “moving forward, leaving behind the things that divide, past and present, and keeping our gaze fixed on Jesus and the goal that he desires and points out to us: the goal of visible unity between us”.

Turning to a different kind of ecumenical journey, Pope Francis spoke about the importance of the joint visit to South Sudan which he was due to make with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in July 2022. The visit had to be postponed, but has now been re-scheduled for 3 to 5 February next. South Sudan is a land where different denominations evangelized different communities and many of those communities have been in conflict with each other in recent decades. Catholic, Anglican and Reformed church leaders have played an important role in bringing a degree of peace and stability to the country and are looking to the forthcoming visit to strengthen reconciliation and cooperation in their land. Asking for the prayers of the commission, the Holy Father said: “Ours will be an ecumenical pilgrimage of peace. Let us pray that it may inspire Christians in South Sudan and everywhere to be promotors of reconciliation, patient weavers of concord, capable of saying no to the perverse and useless spiral of violence and of arms.”

The term ‘walking together’has particular resonance for the worldwide Anglican Communion at this time too. The fifteenth Lambeth Conference tookplace in Canterbury during the summer of 2022, with the theme, God’s Church for God’s World – walking, listening and witnessing together. Lambeth Conferences, which take place at roughly ten-year intervals, aim to gather all the Anglican bishops in the world for prayer, fellowship and study. However, the Communion is currently marked by very deep disagreement, principally over human sexuality.

A delegation of Catholic bishops appointed by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity was invited to attend the Lambeth Conference, and saw at first hand the depth of the divisions on the issue within the Communion. A significant number of bishops were not willing to ‘walk together’ with some of the others and stayed away from the event altogether. Those absent included the entire episcopates of three large African member churches. Of those who did attend, some, including the Primates of some member churches, declined to receive Holy Communion at the opening and closing services in Canterbury Cathedral, because of the presence of bishops from provinces who had moved to greater acceptance and recognition of same-sex relationships.

Contrary to some people’s fears, there was no explicit schism during the Conference, but the leader of the group known as the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches made it clear after the conference that they remain divided. “Our willingness as orthodox bishops to attend this conference does not mean that we have agreed to ‘walk together’ with the revisionist Primates and bishops in the Anglican Communion.” As Catholics and Anglicans continue to seek ever closer communion on the way to the Father, Catholics would do well to pray for their Anglican brothers and sisters, as they seek to address the issues that threaten their own unity as Anglicans.

The Catholic Church’s dialogue with the World Methodist Council has been running continuously since 1967. The report of the eleventh round of the MERCIC dialogue was published in 2022. Here too the theme of journey is prominent – God in Christ Reconciling: On the way to Full Communion in Faith, Sacraments and Mission. The subtitle, with its reference to the journey towards full communion, reflects the missionary imperative to be fully reconciled so that the churches’ witness may become a more effective sign, instrument and foretaste of the reconciliation that God wills for humanity and all creation. The document was launched on 7 October in the first of a new series of Tillard Chair lectures at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas in Rome.

The launch of the report coincided with the first meeting of the twelfth round of the MERCIC dialogue, which took place in Rome from 2 to 8 October 2022. The commission developed a schema for its future work, which will seek to chart a pathway towards unity through a missiological lens, taking account of the theological convergence that the dialogue has already achieved. Once again, the Catholic Church’s synodal process was considered very relevant, and the commission availed of the opportunity of an informal meeting with Cardinal Mario Grech and Sr Nathalie Becquart, who explained the progress of the Catholic synodal process and how ecumenical and inter-religious voices constitute an important part of the Church’s listening to the Holy Spirit.

On 5 October, the members of the commission were received by the Holy Father. The Catholic co-chair, Bishop Shane Mackinlay of Sandhurst (Australia), told Pope Francis that, “we are committed to continuing to help our respective churches to listen to one another, and to receive from the graces with which the Holy Spirit has blessed the other – graces that are ‘also meant to be a gift for us’, as you point out in Evangelii Gaudium”. The Methodist co-chair, Revd Prof. Edgardo Colón-Emeric, presented the first copy of MERCIC 11’s report to the Holy Father. Recalling the last time that Pope Francis received the commission, in 2017, when the Holy Father had stressed the importance of praying together, Prof. Colón-Emeric said: “I wanted you to know that before that audience, the members of the commission had the opportunity of visiting the Scavi beneath Saint Peter’s Basilica. Before the tomb of Saint Peter, we prayed the Lord’s Prayer and a miracle happened. We felt that the weight of centuries of separation was lightened. We felt that we were not simply Methodists and Catholics. We were Christians. In the tomb lay our Peter. We prayed to Our Father. We asked forgiveness for our sins. Your Holiness, God gives us signs of full communion along the way. May this text and the work of this committee be a seed of unity, not uniformity, that the world may be believe in Christ, our peace.”

To grow in love and communion with fellow-Christians from whom we are separated is itself a synodal process. As the Catholic Church seeks to become more truly synodal, we can hope that it will also be a more credible dialogue partner for our Anglican and Methodist sisters and brothers. In the ‘exchange of gifts’ that characterises ecumenical dialogue, our Methodist and Anglican friends in their turn can share with the Catholic Church their experiences of synodality.

The original article appeared in Italian in ‘L’Osservatore Romano’, the official newspaper of the Vatican. Click here to read the original version.

Photo by Paul Jeffrey, United Methodist Communications.

The Reverend Fr Martin Browne OSB is the official for Methodist and Anglican relations at the Vatican’s ecumenical department (Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity).