The Power of Becoming a Church in Dialogue

By Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski

Our choice of words can make a profound difference.

Our posture can make a profound difference.

We as a Church have learned these lessons as we have engaged in dialogue with our fellow Christians for the past 50 years. When the words we use are harsh and judgmental, people don't stick around to hear what else we might have to say, even if it might be beneficial to them. When we assume a posture that is defensive and closed, people don't bother to approach us in the first place.

With its Decree on Ecumenism, issued 50 years ago this month, the Second Vatican Council transformed the Catholic Church into a Church of dialogue. Our focus shifted from the errors we saw  in other Christian traditions to an acknowledgement that the Holy Spirit is also working in the lives of these communities and that, yes, there are positive elements to them, even things Catholics can learn from them.

And thus it becomes imperative that we dialogue.

In 50 years of dialogue with other Christians, we have seen progress that would have been unimaginable before the Council:

• In 1965, following the historic meeting of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in Jerusalem the year before, Rome and Constantinople lifted the mutual excommunications that had officially divided Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy since the year 1054.
• In 1999, following years of fruitful dialogue, the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. This agreement said that the question of how people are saved by God, a flashpoint of the Reformation, was no longer a point of division for Lutheran and Catholics. In 2006, the Methodists also signed onto the statement.
• Most recently, Pope Francis has reached out to Pentecostal and Evangelical Christians in new ways, sparking levels of mutual engagement and openness never seen before.

The world of dialogue has received a real shot of adrenaline with Pope Francis, a man of dialogue to his core. The response to the world's challenges, Pope Francis said in Brazil last year, should be "dialogue, dialogue, dialogue."

"Dialogue between generations, dialogue with the people, because we are all people, the capacity to give and receive, while remaining open to the truth," Pope Francis said.

In this light, we see that dialogue is not merely a tool for different Christians and religions to better understand the truth of one another, but an answer to the call for the Church to go out from itself and bring Christ's mercy to people on the margins.

This is the power of being a Church in dialogue. The world of ecumenical relationships has seen the Holy Spirit at work time and again over the past 50 years. Now it is up to the Church to answer the call of Pope Francis, Blessed Paul VI and the Council, to take this model and truly apply it to a dialogue with the whole world.

Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski is bishop of the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts, and the new chairman of the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

For Christian Unity to Occur, We Have to Convert (Seriously)

By Father John Crossin, OSFS

Before the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church had a simple solution to the challenge of achieving Christian unity: all the other Christians could convert.

The Second Vatican Council offered a new pastoral lens for approaching this issue. It is through this lens that the Council's Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio) -- or the Restoration of Unity -- should be viewed. The decree calls for positive relationships with Christians outside the Catholic Church, and it calls for inward reflection and renewal of our Catholic tradition.

In other words, Catholics are also called to conversion.

This is because, in order to effectively mission to those outside our tradition, there had to be internal examination of our broken relationships with other Christians. For a long stretch of history, Christians of differing denominations ignored or were hostile to each other. The communication, cooperation, and collaboration that has been a hallmark of the ecumenical movement hardly existed in years leading up to the Council. The decree puts in stark terms why that had to change, namely that Christian disunity "openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature."

The decree doesn't pretend that this self reflection necessary for inward renewal will be easy. But it makes clear that this is a prerequisite for entering into ecumenical relationship and is also a "duty"-- "to make a careful and honest appraisal of whatever need to be done or renewed in the Catholic household itself, in order that its life may bear witness more clearly and faithfully to the teachings and institutions which have come to it from Christ through the Apostles."

This means ecumenism is not just for the intellectual elite and clergy of Catholic institutions. The Council demands that every Catholic "recognize the signs of the times and to take an active and intelligent part in the work of ecumenism."

Of course, healing wounds and divisions that have been in place for centuries is a daunting task. That's why, thankfully, it's not ultimately up to us, but to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit plays a key role in every step of the ecumenical process. Recognition of the movement of the Holy Spirit in other Christian traditions is how the Catholic Church was ever able to get to a place where it could engage other Christians “with love for the truth, with charity, and with humility." The Council fathers wrote that “anything wrought by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of our separated brethren can be a help to our own edification. Whatever is truly Christian is never contrary to what is genuinely belongs to  the faith; indeed, it can always bring a deeper realization of the mystery of Christ and the Church."

Echoing the Council, Pope Francis says unity is a gift we need to ask for, and the Holy Spirit accompanies us on the path toward unity and continual conversion.

"Unity will not come about as a miracle at the very end. Rather, unity comes about in journeying; the Holy Spirit does this on the journey," Pope Francis said in January. "If we do not walk together, if we do not pray for one another, if we do not collaborate in the many ways that we can in this world for the People of God, then unity will not come about! But it will happen on this journey, in each step we take. And it is not we who are doing this, but rather the Holy Spirit, who sees our good will."

Father John Crossin, OSFS is executive director of the Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He tweets @crossinusccb.

Fifty Years of Dialogue, as Told by a Lutheran

By Rev. Donald J. McCoid

When I entered seminary in 1965, it became very evident that the Second Vatican Council was influencing theology, liturgy, and ecumenism for Catholics and for other Christians. What was changing was a new way to renewal in the church and an intentional opportunity to build relationships among Christians. With the establishment of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, there was a clear signal to other Christian communities that ecumenical conversations, dialogues, and relationships would be the direction for the future.

Through serious bilateral dialogues, much has been learned and much has been realized in the last 50 years. In Lutheran-Catholic dialogues in this country and with the Lutheran World Federation-Vatican dialogue, we have mutual faith agreements as a result of Vatican II. We are talking with one another, learning from one another and affirming that we hold much in common.

The bilateral dialogues have addressed subjects that would not have been touched before Vatican II. Common statements in the U.S. dialogues were developed and were widely distributed and embraced. They included: Scripture and Tradition; The Condemnations of the Reformation Era – Do They Still Divide?; The Status of the Nicene Creed as Dogma of the Church; One Baptism for the Remission of Sins; The Eucharist as Sacrifice; The One Mediator, the Saints and Mary; Teaching Authority, and the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. This is a joint declaration on how we are forgiven and how we are saved. We are no longer saying to one another that one of us is going to hell … at least automatically because of our church affiliation.

As Catholics saw changes in church life and liturgy, so did Lutherans. As I grew up, it was the practice of most Lutheran congregations to celebrate Holy Communion only five or six times a year. There was a movement in the early sixties to increase this frequency to once a month and festivals. With a renewed understanding of the centrality of Word and Sacrament, the frequency has moved to the weekly celebration of Communion in most congregations. Along with this centrality around the Eucharist, liturgical renewal has also unfolded. The Prayer of Thanksgiving rather than the Words of Institution became the widespread practice. The use of Eucharistic vestments, musical settings, and increased lay involvement in the liturgy have been welcomed changes.

Vatican II most certainly influenced Lutheran churches in practices and in relationships with other Christians. Through dialogues, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has had 50 years of dialogues with Catholics, Orthodox and other Christians. We have full communion agreements with six Christian Churches (Episcopal, Moravian, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Reformed Church in America and the United Methodist Church). Vatican II opened the way to dialogues and relationships.

As members of the ELCA remember Vatican II, we remember what happened in the hearts and minds of Christians. There was a change in attitude, spirit, and cooperation that was born out of Vatican II’s commitment and call for unity and understanding. It was a change that was a gift of the Holy Spirit to Christ’s family, and the fruits continue to blossom.

Rev. Donald J. McCoid is director for Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. This post is part of a series commemorating the 50th anniversary of Unitatis Redintegratio, the Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council.

CNS Photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters -- Pope Francis greets a delegation from the Lutheran World Federation at the Vatican in October 2013.

Catholic and Orthodox, Two Traditions Gradually Growing Together

By Father Ronald Roberson, CSP

When the Second Vatican Council was convened, there had been virtually no relationship at all between the leadership of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches of the East for over 500 years. The last time a pope and Patriarch of Constantinople had met was in 1438. But when he convoked the Council, Pope John XXIII made sure that the unity of Christians was high on its agenda. This was due in part to his personal experience during the years he lived in Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece as papal representative to those countries, where he gained an appreciation of Eastern Christianity.

In its final form, the Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio) has a separate section dedicated to relations with the Orthodox entitled, “The Special Position of the Eastern Churches” (paragraphs 14-18).  These churches are special first and foremost because the Catholic Church recognizes the validity of Orthodox sacraments. In fact, since we share the same Eucharist and sacrament of Holy Orders, the Orthodox Churches “are linked with us in closest intimacy.” The decree goes on to praise the many spiritual and theological treasures that are found in the Christian East and recognizes that these churches “have the power to govern themselves according to the disciplines proper to them, since these are better suited to the character of their faithful, and more for the good of their souls.”  The decree also calls for a gradual realization of unity between Catholics and Orthodox, “especially by prayer, and by fraternal dialogue on points of doctrine and the more pressing pastoral problems of our time.”

The centuries-long icy silence between Catholics and Orthodox had already been broken in January 1964, when Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras met in the Holy Land. Now the process of reconciliation was quickly moving forward. The excommunications of 1054 were “erased from the memory of the church” in 1965, and Pope Paul and Patriarch Athenagoras exchanged visits in Rome and Istanbul in 1967.

In 1979, an official theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church was established by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Demetrios of Constantinople. It produced some important agreed statements in its early years, but has run into difficulty following the clashes between Catholics and Orthodox after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. It is now looking at the vexed question of primacy in our churches.

The most fruitful Catholic-Orthodox dialogue begun after Vatican II has been the one in North America.  Founded in 1965, it has produced about 30 agreed statements over the years on a wide variety of topics. Its most recent major study was its “Steps Towards a Reunited Church” document that outlines what a reconciled Orthodox and Catholic Church might look like and the role that the pope would play in it. In early June, it issued a brief agreed statement calling for the restoration of the faculty of Eastern Catholic bishops in North America to ordain married men to the priesthood. This would not only recognize an authentic Eastern Christian tradition, but would also serve as an assurance to the Orthodox (most of whose parish clergy are married) that the Catholic Church would respect their longstanding traditions.

Relations between Catholics and Orthodox have improved immeasurably since the Decree on Ecumenism was issued nearly 50 years ago. As Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew put it so well in their Joint Declaration in the Holy Land in May, “While fully aware of not having reached the goal of full communion, today we confirm our commitment to continue walking together towards the unity for which Christ our Lord prayed to the Father so 'that all may be one' (Jn 17:21)."

Father Ronald Roberson, CSP is associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is also a consultor to the Vatican's Congregation for the Oriental Churches. This post is part of a series commemorating the 50th anniversary of Unitatis Redintegratio, the Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council.

CNS Photo/Paul Haring