CNS STORY: Christians need courage, patience in work for unity, cardinal says

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CNS Story:

UNITY-40TH Nov-12-2004 (810 words) With photo. xxxi

Christians need courage, patience in work for unity, cardinal says

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

ROCCA DI PAPA, Italy (CNS) -- Perseverance, courage, patience and hope are necessary as Christians continue to work and pray for unity, said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

The council gathered Catholic bishops from around the world, representatives from 27 other Christian communities and ecumenical experts Nov. 11-13 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism.

The meeting opened on a cold, rainy day at a retreat center in Rocca di Papa, outside Rome, but the atmosphere inside was warm as the 260 bishops, priests and theologians who have worked together for Christian unity celebrated past success and looked toward the future.

"We no longer have the ecumenical enthusiasm of the period immediately following the council, but we cannot say -- as some do -- that ecumenism is going through an ice age or an ecumenical winter," Cardinal Kasper told reporters Nov. 10.

Instead, he said, the ecumenical dialogue is in "a stage of maturation or of necessary clarification."

At the Nov. 10 press conference introducing the celebration and at the meeting, the cardinal, bishops and representatives of other churches acknowledged impatience among their faithful for full unity and eucharistic sharing.

But participants at the Rocca di Papa meeting said that unless the Christian churches agree on matters of faith, doctrine and morals there cannot be the unity Jesus desired for his disciples.

"Often our people do not know the theological basis of ecumenism, so much of the activity becomes superficial," Cardinal Kaspar said.

The Rev. Geoffrey Wainwright, representing the World Methodist Council, told the gathering that "theological education and Christian catechesis (are) extremely important for the future of ecumenism" so that people understand the issues.

Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon, representing the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople, said that too many Christians see the discussion of dogmatic differences as "unnecessary and problematic" obstacles to dialogue.

But, he said, Christian unity is not just a matter of helping Christians to respect and get along with each other; its aim is to heal the divisions in the body of Christ, the church.

"Ecumenism must aim at church unity, not just the unity of Christians," the Orthodox scholar said.

"The unity of the church and the mission of the church are interdependent, and one affects the other. We experience this all the time," he said. "The impression we, as divided Christians, give is a scandal.

"As long as we do not have the same faith and sacraments, we are handicapped" in evangelization, Metropolitan John said.

Cardinal Kasper told the gathering, "there is no future for ecumenism without a search for the truth" on matters of faith and doctrine. "Peaceful coexistence is not enough," he said.

The cardinal, Rev. Wainwright and Metropolitan John all agreed that Pope John Paul II identified the five key questions facing ecumenism in his 1995 encyclical on ecumenism, "Ut Unum Sint."

The five are:

-- The relationship between Scripture and tradition.

-- The Eucharist.

-- Ordination as a sacrament and the ministry of the deacon, priest and bishop.

-- The teaching authority of the pope and bishops in matters of faith and morals.

-- The Virgin Mary as mother of God and mother of Christ's disciples.

Ecumenism, Cardinal Kasper said, is not a process through which "the deposit of older traditions is felt to be outdated and is discarded in the name of a so-called progressive understanding of the faith."

"Where this occurs," the cardinal said, "there is a real danger of relativism and indifference, of a 'cheap ecumenism,' which in the end makes itself redundant," because if the core of one's faith does not matter, then why bother to be Christian at all?

Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said, "Most ecumenism is practical -- getting along with your neighbors."

The task facing the churches, he said, "is not just a matter of solving theological problems first. You have to have that walking together and praying together, but you also have to look for the truth about the church."

"The very nature of Christianity is ecclesial," Bishop Blaire said. "We meet Christ in the church. He exists in his church, his body.

"A number of people look at Christianity only as a personal relationship with Christ, whereas we Catholics see our relationship with Christ as taking place within the church," he said.

Bishop Woldetensae Ghebreghiorghis of Harar, Ethiopia, said he sees the same thing among Ethiopian Catholics, especially Eastern-rite Catholics who share a liturgical tradition with the Ethiopian Orthodox.

"Christians in Ethiopia go from one side to another, one church to another, which creates problems for church leaders," he said.

The sense of having a shared faith, Bishop Ghebreghiorghis said, "is emotional rather than substantive."

END

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