By Anthony Gooley
THE starting point for ecumenism, the search for full visible unity among Christians, is the communion that we already share.
The ecumenical task is to deepen a communion that already exists in varying degrees among the Churches and to arrive at full communion with each other.
We are not beginning the search for unity from a baseline of zero.
As a first step along the way to full communion it is good to acknowledge what we already share in common in the Church which all Christians profess as “one, holy catholic and apostolic”.
Christ calls all people into union with him through the Holy Spirit into communion with the life of the Trinity and each other.
The Church is the sacrament, the sign and instrument of this union (Lumen Gentium #1).
In different ways all people are related to the Church Christ has formed; the Catholic faithful, others who believe in Christ and finally all humanity (LG #13).
The Church knows that it is joined in many ways to those baptised but who do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety (LG #15).
We are baptised into Christ and therefore into one another, we are parts of the same body.
Other Christians profess the faith that Catholics profess; faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not the same profession in all details but there is overlap between Christian communities.
This common faith and the bonds of communion between Catholics and other Christians are expressed in a number of ways.
All Christians share the Sacred Scriptures, in fact many Churches use the same cycle of readings for Sunday worship as is used in Latin rite (or Western) Catholic Churches.
Many Orthodox Churches use the same cycle of readings as their sister Eastern Rite Catholic Churches.
Many Churches have maintained sacraments, especially baptism and Eucharist.
In some Churches the episcopate (bishops) is maintained and some Churches acknowledge at least some form of leadership of oversight, even when it is not a bishop who has that role.
We experience the bonds of communion in our desire to pray and worship and our practices which are aimed at nurturing the spiritual life.
We are united through the communion of witness. Many Churches witness to their faith in Jesus and the new life found in communion with the Holy Trinity.
It is not only Catholics who can boast a proud history of martyrdom.
Many of those who gave their lives as witness for the faith died before the period of divisions between communities.
Even in recent history Christians have given their lives in witness to the faith, many of whom will never be known to us.
In the Protestant tradition we can think of Dietrich Bonheoffer and Martin Luther King Jr who each opposed evil motivated by their Christian faith and who paid the ultimate price for that witness.
In spite of the division that exists between Christian communities and the weakening of the bonds of communion on the “horizontal” level (among Christian communities), those who are baptised are in communion with God in the “vertical level” and are incorporated into Christ and the life of the Trinity (Unitatis redintegration #3).
We remain connected to one another in our common bond in the Body of Christ.
“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” (Ephesians 4:4-5).
The Holy Spirit brings about the wonderful communion of the faithful (UR #2) and the source and exemplar of this mystery is the unity, in the Trinity of Persons, of one God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (UR #3).
The Holy Spirit is received at baptism and fills the Churches with grace in order to achieve God’s purpose.
For this reason the Spirit can use the gifts and the life of communities outside the Catholic Church as a means of salvation. In fact the elements of the Christian life in these communities do not lose their significance or importance in the mystery of salvation (UR #3).
There are a number of obstacles in our way to full communion with each other, the most significant of which is the papacy, according to Paul VI and John Paul II.
Modern popes acknowledge the irony and the tragedy that the Petrine ministry exercised by the Bishop of Rome, which is meant to serve the unity of the whole Church, remains an obstacle to the fullness of communion.
Hierarchical communion is a dimension of communion that has found different expressions in various Christian Churches.
In the Roman Catholic Church, the Bishop of Rome is seen as the visible sign of unity of the worldwide Church, which is a communion of communions.
Each local Church (diocese) is gathered around its bishop who is the sign of unity among the people of the local Church and a sign that this Church is in communion with all other Churches.
A dimension of Catholic unity is the unity of all bishops with each other in the College of Bishops along with the head of the college, the Bishop of Rome.
The great value of increasing contact between divided Christian communities and theological dialogue has been the growth in communion as we recognise it in each other’s communities – our shared patrimony.
Recognition of these bonds of communion has inspired us to work together for the fullness of communion, when we will be able to share the same Eucharist.
What we recognise in these shared elements of communion are gifts the Spirit has given for building up the body of Christ.
Since Christ is one, the recognition of these bonds of communion has a natural impulse toward unity in one visible communion.
“Consequently the quest for Christian unity is not a matter of choice or expediency, but a duty which springs from the very nature of the Christian community” (Ut Unum Sint #49).
What we long for is a wider communion of communions, one which respects the legitimate diversity of Christian traditions and communities, in a visible communion with each other in Christ and through him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with the life of the Trinity.
Anthony Gooley is a member of the Brisbane archdiocesan Commission for Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations.
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