Catholic responsibility and the unity of all Christians

All of the parishes of the Archdiocese are getting involved in “Sharing Christ’s Gifts”, a campaign to make us stewards eager to share the material gifts Christ has given us. Stewardship is a form of discipleship. A disciple of Jesus Christ has received gifts from the Lord, and the Lord asks his disciples to be generous with others as he is generous with them. The reports from the parishes indicate that the generosity which is a sign of Christ’s life in us is strong, and I am grateful to the thousands of Catholics in the parishes of the Archdiocese who are making the “Sharing Christ’s Gifts” campaign a success.

The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, from Jan. 18 to 25, tells us again that Christ wants all those who call him “Lord” to be visibly one in his Church. Besides the will of the Lord, the demands of a globalizing society call us to search for means to strengthen the human race’s unity. The Catholic Church needs to be both faithful to Christ and attentive to the needs of the world. On both counts, we bear great responsibility for ecumenism.

The mission of the Church is “to draw into one the scattered children of God.” (Jn 11:52). Directed toward those who do not know Jesus Christ, the mission is called evangelization; directed toward those who do know Christ but who are not visibly one, the mission is called ecumenism. At the beginning of the 20th century, the modern ecumenical movement was begun by Protestant missionaries who, concerned that their evangelizing as different Churches was confusing people, began to work toward Christian unity. In the middle of that century, the Catholic Church’s constant concern for unity led her to embrace this modern ecumenical movement at the time of the Second Vatican Council.

Vatican II was a long reflection on the nature of the Church and her unity in the midst of a violently divided world. The Council teaches that the Church exists where the gifts Christ offers all people are fully and visibly shared: grace, faith, the sacraments, apostolic governance. The Council taught that all the gifts Christ wants us to share are available in the unity of the Catholic Church but that other Churches and faith communities have many or some of them. That is the basis of the present imperfect unity among Christians. Baptism is a gift almost all Christians share, and it unites us now with Christ and one another. Consciousness of a shared baptism, however, serves to bring our attention to the gifts we don’t share.

How will the visible unity of all Christians come to be? In recent decades, greater appreciation of our being sisters and brothers in Christ because of our baptism has grown. This has changed the psychological and social climate of our living and praying. We are not enemies but family: a fractured family, but still family. Happy with this development, we could begin to imagine that we are already united with other Christians as much as possible and turn our attention only to common projects for social transformation. These must continue, but so must the quest for complete unity in faith.

Catholics continue this work according to the principles set forth by the Second Vatican Council’s documents on the Church and on Christian unity. The primary means of achieving unity, after prayer for the conversion of all of us to the ways of the Lord, is to engage in dialogue. Genuine dialogue means each party brings the fullness of their beliefs and shares them, trusting the dialogue partner to respect them. Speaking once with an evangelical Christian about the nature of the Sacrifice of the Mass, I heard him tell me that he could not possibly attend Mass because he believes it to be blasphemous. Those are difficult words for a Catholic to hear, but my friend is a learned and sincere man. Discovering what he meant by his words enabled me to appreciate better the content of his act of faith. Objectively, his is an inadequate act of faith; subjectively, I’m sure he is a disciple loved by the Lord. Likewise, it is hard for other Christians to hear us explain how the office of the Pope, the successor of St. Peter, is essential in constituting the unity of the Church, both in her governance and her teaching; but this very conversation makes them ask themselves what means they have for strengthening their own internal unity. It is always an effort to present faithfully the truths God revealed in Jesus Christ and, with our dialogue partners, to arrive at a common understanding. Because unity in faith is a gift, dialogue can never be a search for compromise, never have as a goal a negotiated agreement like a business contract. Yet it always looks for new understanding, for the overcoming of old polemics and stereotypes.

In an address to the Roman Curia in 1985, Pope John Paul II said: “To give witness to the truth and its demands does not mean putting a brake on the ecumenical movement. On the contrary, it means not letting it rest with facile solutions which do not arrive at anything stable and solid. We must base our unity on a deepening accomplished in common with the faith delivered once for all to the saints; we must discover together all aspects and all demands of the truth; we must accept them and submit to them together.”

An obstacle to discussing “all demands of the truth” is the assumption that religion has no right to make truth claims at all. Since the terrorist attacks on our country last Sept. 11, a few voices have been heard saying that wars are caused by religions that claim to have true insight into the will of God for his people. Dogma is the enemy of peace. This conviction ignores all the wars fought in the last 300 years in the name of nationalism or for atheistic ideologies like communism and nazism. None of the tens of thousands of men and women buried in Arlington Cemetery in Washington D.C. went to war in the name of Christ, Moses or Mohammed. They died defending democracy, freedom and our national security. More people have been killed in wars among nation states in modern times than ever died in wars of religion. Even in working for peace, it seems advantageous to believe absolutely that it is always and in every circumstance morally wrong to fly a plane loaded with fuel into an office building. Belief in the truth of moral absolutes is not necessarily a source of conflict, although religion, like nationalism, can be used to excuse all kinds of disorders.

Once convinced that we must address truth claims in religious dialogue, we need, in working for unity among Christians, to hold to the full truth revealed by Jesus Christ and handed on in the Catholic Church. An effective ecumenist loves the Church, because the Church’s life is part of the mysteries we assent to in our act of faith. Secondly, we have to meet other Christians always in a spirit of reconciliation, mutual respect and understanding. Common prayer and common action, where possible, are essential to the ecumenical quest. Thirdly, we must keep praying for the unity which Christ wills, even when the way to achieve it is not clear.

I hope this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will increase the love Catholics have for our fellow Christians gathered into other Churches and communities. Our love can be no more partial than Jesus’ love for all those he died to save. Mother Teresa of Calcutta used to say: “The measure of love is to love without measure.” If our love is deep and broad enough, we will be pained by obstacles to unity and will work harder to overcome them.

In Chicago, our Archdiocesan ecumenical office has long been active and helps me and all Catholics to participate in the ecumenical movement locally. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is widely observed in our parishes, and we have covenants with Lutherans and Episcopalians. Many Chicago Catholics have been leaders in the ecumenical movement here and nationally. Father Jack Hotchkin, a priest of the Archdiocese who spent the major part of his priestly life working for Christian unity through his office at the U.S. Bishops’ conference, should be remembered especially during this first week of prayer since his death. Relations among Christian groups are generally good in the Archdiocese. We are taking our responsibility seriously. As we pray for complete unity, let us pray also in thanksgiving for all those who have brought us this far. Our prayer could most appropriately be addressed to God through the intercession of Blessed Pope John XXIII.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

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