Ecclesiology and True Ecumenism
Professor of Moral Theology
Redemptoris Mater Seminary
Yona, Guam USA
The June 17th edition of the Pacific Daily News carried a news item from the Associated Press regarding the meeting of the leaders of the World Council of Churches and Pope Benedict XVI. In the course of the article, mention was made of the document Dominus Jesus, issued in 2000 by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. The reporter stated that this “document, which Ratzinger signed, framed the role of the Catholic Church in human salvation in an exclusive manner. It suggested that non-Catholic ‘ecclesiastical communities’ were ‘not churches in the proper sense.’” Eyebrows were raised at the time among certain circles who took offense that they were considered in the eyes of the Catholic Church to be “ecclesial communities” and not churches in the full meaning of that term.
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To The Point: "To ask the Catholic Church to enter a dialogue on the basis of the acceptance of the equal validity of the ecclesiological principles of other “churches” would be to require her to surrender her own principles from the start. This is something that she cannot do and does not ask any others to do." |
What is the full meaning of the term “church?” Many people think that not accepting other Christian churches as equal to your own church is arrogant to say the least. They think that to accept others as equal partners in ecumenical dialogue implies that the others be accepted as sister churches, and not relegated to the status of simply “ecclesial communities” of undetermined ecclesial status. But is this true? Consider the following.
When people disagree, the reason is not that some are smarter than others are. The reason is that they are beginning their reasoning process from different presuppositions. The same is the case here. Behind the differences between Protestants, Orthodox, and Catholics are a series of presuppositions. For example, you may argue with your brother-in-law over Sola Scriptura, but behind this disagreement lays another hidden disagreement that very often never comes to the light. Does anyone have the right to tell you what to believe? The answer to this question depends on how you understand the meaning of “church.” The Protestant Reformation justified its proposals for the reform of the Catholic Church by appealing to the principle of Sola Scriptura. The church, they said, does not have the right to tell anybody what to believe. We have the freedom to determine that for ourselves by direct recourse to Sacred Scripture. Fine, but the minute you make such an appeal to the Scriptures against the Catholic Church, you have made more than a statement about Sola Scripture. You have made a statement about what you believe about the nature of the church. You have said that you don’t believe what the Catholic Church teaches about the nature of the church. You have a different ecclesiology than she does. It is this difference in ecclesiology that allows you to reject the “authority” or the “right” of any church to tell you what to believe. The evangelical account of what it means to be “church” normally begins with the Word of God. The Word of God gathers us together and creates “community.” The Scriptural foundation for this understanding of the “church” is Mt 18:20: “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst.” Thus, the church is what happens when the Word is being properly proclaimed and preached. When it is not, the church ceases to exist. This is why, they say, the Catholic Church, even though externally it can trace its roots back to Peter and the Apostles, ceased to the “true” church at some point in time. In fact, some would even see the pope as the anti-Christ, a situation hardly compatible with being the church of Jesus Christ.
Whether or not this is true is not the point I want to deal with here. I am only interested in showing that you cannot affirm or deny any theological position without also implying an idea of the church that allows you to make such a statement or denial. Ecclesiology is built into all of theology. Affirm or deny one or more of the sacraments and your ecclesiology will automatically change to accommodate your affirmations or denials. There is no getting away from it. If you believe that you are “saved” (however you define that) via a personal encounter with Jesus, you are making an ecclesiological statement. What that might be will depend on the given individual. You may be saying that the church does not have any intrinsic role in salvation. The church is just a voluntary group of like-minded people we join in order to have fellowship and to help one another to continue their walk with Jesus. Whatever you view might be, this is your ecclesiology.
The fundamental theological problem among Christians is the problem of ecclesiology. This accounts for all the other disagreements. Reconcile the ecclesiological differences, and we will have reconciled all the other differences. Dialogue is important because it is a way of bringing our presuppositions to the light where they can be acknowledged and dealt with openly. This dialogue has to be unconditional, however. There cannot be any requirement demanded before the dialogue, otherwise the cards are already stacked in favor of the one whose presupposition is made the condition of the dialogue. Thus, to object in principle to the fact that the Catholic Church does not accept all Christian groups as equally actualizing the fullness of “church” due to her own self-understanding of what it means to be “church,” would be to stack the cards in favor of those whose understanding of what it means to be “church” allows them to structure their church anyway they wanted and still be recognized as a “church” in the full sense of the word. To ask the Catholic Church to enter a dialogue on the basis of the acceptance of the equal validity of the ecclesiological principles of other “churches” would be to require her to surrender her own principles from the start. This is something that she cannot do and does not ask any others to do.
Instead of being a source of offense, the document of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, signed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2000 is a positive help to ecumenical dialogue because it clarifies the real differences that still divide us. It also identifies what needs to be the subject of the dialogue. Such a dialogue cannot be understood in political terms. We are not looking for verbal agreement which only papers over continuing fundamental disagreements. Dialogue is a work of God’s grace. It is only the Holy Spirit who can bring us together. Therefore all partners are accepted as equal partners, even as we do not accept all positions that they may hold as equal. The results are in the hands of God.