In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Vatican II, Paulist Press has created a groundbreaking 8-book series, Rediscovering Vatican II, that places the Council in dialogue with today's church and her people and focuses on what today's Catholics need to know, not just historically. The present document presumes familiarity with the Church’s constitution as described in Lumen Gentium. Again, the Council explicitly states that whatever is salvific in the other communities derives its efficacy from the fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Church. Let us not fail to do so for the joy of the Heart of Jesus and for the good of the world. 10.See Hans Urs von Balthasar, “Casta meretrix,” in Explorations in Theology, Vol II: Spouse of the Word, trans. It is the moment, I believe, to make a qualitative leap forward, like a ship arriving at the lock of a river or a canal that allows for forward navigation at a higher level. The same Holy Spirit that implores us to be charitable to fellow Christians also wills for us to be united as one flock. (Catechism of Trent, The Creed, Article IX) The Catholic Church is clearly universal in this visible sense, but also in a deeper sense of containing all the faithful who have existed from Adam to the present day, or who shall exist, in the profession of the true faith, to the end of time. . This is not Catholicism, but a Protestantism so homogenized that most devout Protestants would reject it, being faithful to their particular traditions. This exclusivist claim for the Catholic Church does not come out of nowhere, but is consistent with all previous Catholic teaching, as well as that of Lumen Gentium. Let us take, for instance, the opposition between faith and works. Edmund Hill, The Works of Saint Augustine, Part 3, vol. The Council does not confirm this belief, for that would contradict its previous assertion that Christ established only one Church. THE PATH TO UNITY AMONG CHRISTIANS - Reflections on Unitatis redintegratio Friday March 18th, 2016. In the 19th-century, when Catholic movements of spiritual renewal existed in many places, we already find groups praying for the Church's unity. The evangelicals are especially resistant to such diluting of doctrine, as they find the constant testimony of Scripture opposed to such false irenicism. Cardinal Walter Kasper President, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The analyses of the idea of hierarchia veritatum (UR 11) are aimed at demonstrating how the Council’s most decisive contribution to the renewal of theology consisted of proposing a hermeneutics that was rethought in the light of the Trinitarian Revelation of God Love. Historical-philological study of “sources,” the influences a text has undergone, is therefore not enough by itself. Seeds of Unity: On the 50th Anniversary of the issuing of the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio (Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, 2014) Download PDF Nostra Aetate - Anniversary Reflections (ACBC, 2015) When administered with the proper form and intent, baptism truly incorporates a person into Christ. I believe that all the centuries-old discussion between Catholics and Protestants about faith and works has ended up making us lose the main point of the Pauline message. Ecumenism is specifically Christian, as it comes from Christ’s wish that all who believe in him should be gathered into one flock. I am convinced that if Luther and Calvin and the other reformers were alive today, this would be the way they would preach the justification freely given through faith! One of them has remained particularly vivid in my mind because it was like a visual prophecy of what the ecumenical movement should be leading us to. Austryn Wainhouse (New York: Knopf, 1971), pp. Video April 27, 2014 Romeo Hontiveros. The second set of divisions consists of those occasioned by the Reformation. Worse, it will re-open among Catholics questions long settled by definitive teachings, so that younger generations are also separated from the perennial teachings of the Church, and are little better off than Protestants. In this way, we may more accurately and fairly assess their condition with respect to the Catholic Church. These obstacles, however serious, do not abolish the fact that the separated communities have members who deserve to be called Christian and are to be accepted as brethren by Catholics, insofar as they are all justified by faith in baptism. Chapter III: Separated Churches and Ecclesial Communities What was intended to be a demonstration “for” Jesus became a powerful demonstration “of” Jesus. Baptism therefore establishes a sacramental bond of unity which links all who have been reborn by it. Fifth Lenten Sermon 2016. Thus, the Protestants lack the fullness of unity with us flowing from Baptism… They do not fully benefit from baptism because it is not followed by profession of the full Catholic faith and participation in the sacramental system of salvation instituted by Christ. This ecumenical worship is motivated by the desire to serve and minister even to separated Christians, sharing whatever graces of the Church they are equipped to receive. Syllabus – DO801DM –Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue. While the original schismatics or dissenters may have had only a share of the blame for events leading to separation, those of later generations have no formal culpability at all. (UR, 10) This ecumenizing of theology and ecclesiastical history does not entail falsification for the sake of diplomacy. We are undoubtedly here speaking of the Catholic Church, not only before divisions arose, but as it exists visibly today: Note the use of the present tense: the Church is God’s only flock. 8.See Thomas Aquinas, Summa teologica, II-IIae, q. the person of Jesus Christ is what is at stake. Beide Dokumente des Konzils gehören dabei unlösbar zusammen, wie bereits ein Blick in die Geschichte ihrer Entstehung zeigt. This withholding of grace was due to the sin of receiving a sacrament against the Church’s prohibition. This is consistent with traditional practice. Catholics, or Christians more generally, may disagree as to the most effective or moral means of addressing social problems, but they are not permitted to ignore them as something extraneous to their religious duty. . Those who are born into separated communities do not necessarily bear the culpability of one who receives sacraments from a willful excommunicate. However, this same Council also recognizes that this state of imperfect communion is often inculpable, and thus ought not to be reckoned as a sin against unity. Instead of boasting of the greater graces they have received, Catholics should humble themselves to engage other Christians as equals. The heterodox interpretation, explicitly rejected in Article 8 of Lumen Gentium, is that the visible, hierarchical Catholic Church and the heavenly Church of Christ are two distinct entities. (UR, 7) At its core, ecumenism entails a change in interior disposition toward one of greater humility, charity, and service toward others. But there is no opposition between the two, since both proceed from the marvelous ways of God. The risen Lord is still doing the same thing today. Yet it is also true to some extent in the intensive sense, as the ecumenical movement was itself a sign of various Christian denominations becoming more oriented toward ecclesiastical unity. ecumenical dialogue, prospects for future achievements and the individual participant’s. The baptized are really incorporated into the Church on some level, and so by the same token the Church has a responsibility for all Christians. 5). Thus the Council repeatedly refers to the Eastern bodies as Churches, but does not do likewise for the post-Reformation groups. The Anglicans, and to a lesser degree the Lutherans and Moravians, might also be called Churches, but only in the highly equivocal sense discussed above. Follow mnnews.today on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. (UR, 3). Friday March 18th, 2016; Fifth Lenten Sermon 2016 1. Here the barrier is that between particular Churches of the East and of the West (i.e., the Latin Church). Rather, they might be deficient in a relative sense, as not fully expressing the reality signified. This requires Catholics to perform a humble self-emptying, setting aside their rightful prerogatives in order to serve the good of their brethren. 5.Ibid., n. 40. What explains the existence of so many different denominations in Protestantism if not their diverse ways of interpreting Scripture? In its conclusion it says, . UR, 4) Thus we find a consistent asymmetry in the Council’s language: other churches and communities are said to lack full communion with the Catholic Church, but the Catholic Church is never said to be deficient in its communion toward other Christian communities. Again, as with the increase in unity, we have an apparent paradox. The Council derides false irenicism, where we try to cloud the meaning of Catholic doctrine or subtract from its contents, as being absolutely foreign to the spirit of ecumenism. (1 Cor. Still, they receive the principal, immediate effects of baptism: the remission of original sin and prior personal sin, as well as incorporation into the body of Christ. The Council now turns to the separated Churches and ecclesial Communities of the West, which began to split from the Apostolic See from the late Middle Ages onward. In other words, the Anglicans have tried to constitute themselves as a particular Church, but are unsuccessful due to their lack of a valid episcopate. Jean-Paul Sartre, coming from a philosophical point of view, reached the same conclusion. 11.Augustine, The Answer to Faustus a Manichean, 32, 18, trans. With this broadmindedness, Catholics better express the universality of the Church, admitting diversity in spiritual life, discipline, liturgy, and even in their theological elaborations of revealed truth. The Council suggests that ecumenical dialogue may be aided by keeping this in mind: When comparing doctrines with one another, they should remember that in Catholic doctrine there exists a ‘hierarchy’ of truths, since they vary in their relation to the fundamental Christian faith. Let me explain. The dissenters, in their act of separation, lose the unity which remains in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose. The progressive program of today is the embarrassing folly of tomorrow. (UR, 17) The particular Churches and their faithful are all children of the Catholic Church. They are often not aware of any disobedience to Christ’s Church. Our small group of Catholics led by their local bishop also processed down a street praying. Should not what is said about the Church, the body of Christ as a whole, also apply in some way to each of its members? The Council recognizes that, among the diverse sects, not all are agreed that ecumenism is even a desirable endeavor. UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO . The Conference was a gathering of Protestants and Anglicans. This leaves the vast mass of the rest of Protestantism, which is composed only of ecclesial Communities. For there is no man that doth a miracle in my name, and can soon speak ill of me. We used as our core documents Evangelii Gaudium (Joy of the Gospel) and Unitatis Redintegratio (Restoration of Unity). They are extremely opportune days of reflection and prayer to remind Christians that the restoration of full unity among them, according to the will of Jesus, involves every baptized person, both pastors as well as the faithful (see "Unitatis Redintegratio," No. 7, ed. (UR, 19) Nonetheless, the Council hopes to facilitate and encourage ecumenical dialogue by setting forth some considerations. INTRODUCTION. 3" " • Certainly,"suchdivisionopenly"contradicts"the"will"of"Christ,"scandalizes"the" world,"and"damages"that"most"holy"cause,"the"preaching"of"the"Gospel"to" The Sacred Council gladly notes all this. Università Gregoriana, Roma 1987. The decree never specifies which sects are Churches and which are Communities, yet we may apply the notion of a particular Church, used in Lumen Gentium and Orientalium Ecclesiarum, to make such a distinction. Chapter I – Catholic Principles on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio is Vatican II's Decree on Ecumenism. It does not say that the Catholic Church lacks unity. They are extremely opportune days of reflection and prayer to remind Christians that the restoration of full unity among them, according to the will of Jesus, involves every baptized person, both pastors as well as the faithful (see "Unitatis Redintegratio," No. Those who apostatize or persist in unrepentant sin do not undo their baptism in this life, but fail to benefit from it as they oppose Christ in their will. There are several concrete initiatives for promoting Christian unity enumerated by the Council: Here we find the basic outline of the Vatican Council’s plan for ecumenism. The Conference … Now, for the first time, the Council describes what sort of imperfect communion with the Church is attained by separated Christians through baptism. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things The Catholic Church has never lost the unity that Christ bestowed on His Church; hence she alone can properly claim to be the one flock. 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