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Getting to know 'those who are a part of me'
During the Vespers celebration commemorating the 40th anniversary of
the Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis
Redintegratio, Pope John Paul II noted that even if the ecumenical
path that lies ahead "is still long and arduous", already now we
"discover and experience the action and dynamism of the Spirit of God,
whom we rejoice to see at work also in the Churches and Ecclesial
Communities that are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church
The beloved Pontiff then proceeded to speak about a faith-filled
approach in working towards Christian unity, noting: "Rather than
complaining about what is not yet possible, we must be grateful for and
cheered by what already exists and is possible. Doing what we can do now
will cause us to grow in unity and will fire us with enthusiasm to
overcome the difficulties".
Seeking "the action and dynamism of the Spirit of God" in the other
and "doing what we can do now" are two of the key principles which
continue to shape relations between the World Methodist Council (WMC)
and the Catholic Church.
The International Methodist-Catholic Dialogue Commission
For the past three years, the Methodist-Catholic dialogue has been
working towards a common understanding of the Church.
More specifically, the Commission is seeking to identify the extent
and ways in which Catholics and Methodists can recognize in each other
the one Church of Jesus Christ.
From a Catholic perspective, Methodism contains or embodies many but
not all of the elements and endowments of the Church. In line with Pope
John Paul's Encyclical Ut Unum Sint (cf. n. 11) and building on
the Decree on Ecumenism, to the extent that these elements can be found
in the member churches of the World Methodist Council, the Church of
Christ is effectively present in them.
Methodists, for their part, tend towards an inclusive definition of
Church; hence, on the basis of our common Trinitarian faith, they
recognize the Catholic Church as a true church and a means of grace for
salvation.
Methodists do believe that their Wesleyan tradition holds elements
which the Catholic Church could benefit from, and find helpful the
notion that dialogue involves an "exchange of gifts", as set forward by
Pope John Paul II in Ut Unum Sint (n. 28).
Within this framework, the Methodist-Catholic Dialogue Commission is
seeking to more clearly identify the elements of Church which each
dialogue partner can recognize in the other, and to concretize the gifts
which each desires to share with the other.
Differences between Methodists and Catholics lie principally in the
area of ecclesiology, and the Commission's hope is that its current work
on the nature and mission of the Church will lay the foundations to
address the sacramentality of the Church and of ordination, episcopal
ministry in apostolic succession and the Petrine ministry.
The current report is scheduled to be completed and submitted to the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the World Methodist
Council by the Summer of 2006.
World Methodist Council (WMC) Executive Committee Meeting
In September 2004, there was a meeting of the WMC's Executive
Committee in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
The Executive Committee meets three times every five years, and
brings together approximately 120 persons representing the 76 member
churches of the WMC. These member churches have a combined membership of
approximately 32 million active
members, though approximately 75 million people have some affiliation
with a member church of the WMC.
The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is consistently
invited to send an observer to meetings of the Executive Committee, a
practice which facilitates close communication and contributes to a
deeper understanding of each other as we seek to grow towards unity in
faith, mission and sacramental life.
One important development reported on at the Executive Committee
meeting concerned the proposal for member churches of the WMC to become
associated with the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification,
which was signed by the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World
Federation in 1999.
Over the past year, member churches had been asked to study and
respond to a draft text which articulates Methodist affirmation of the
basic consensus statements of the Joint Declaration, in addition
indicating their acceptance of the specifically Lutheran and Catholic
explanations in the text (noting that these diverse emphases should not
be church-dividing), and setting forth distinctive Methodist emphases on
the doctrine of justification.
The responses received to date by the WMC have all been positive.
It is hoped that the desire and intent of the WMC member churches to
be affiliated with the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification could be confirmed and celebrated at the next meeting of
the World Methodist Conference in July 2006. This would not in any way
alter the agreement reached between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran
World Federation, but would mean that any initiative moving forward as a
result of the Joint Declaration could now also include the Methodists.
Relations with the Catholic Church are taken very seriously by the
WMC, and our international dialogue is without doubt their most
sustained ecumenical undertaking.
In Port Elizabeth, the present author joined Professor Geoffrey
Wainwright, Methodist co-chair of our International Dialogue
Commission, in giving a presentation on the current work of the
Commission and delivered a message from Cardinal Walter Kasper,
President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, to
the participants of the WMC Executive Committee meeting.
Cardinal Kasper's message noted that this was a fruitful time for
Methodist-Catholic relations, both in terms of our theological dialogue
and concerning possible Methodist association with the Joint Declaration
on the Doctrine of Justification. He noted that the latter "would mark a
significant step forward in Methodist-Catholic relations".
The message was greeted warmly, and the Executive Committee members
in turn sent their greetings to Pope John Paul II and to Cardinal
Kasper.
Other initiatives and 'those who are a part of me'
Two other events round out this report on Methodist-Catholic
relations in 2004.
In March 2004, the International Methodist-Catholic Dialogue co-chairs,
Professor Geoffrey Wainwright and Bishop Michael Putney, met with
Cardinal Kasper and staff members of the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity to discuss possible further steps in our
relations.
One proposal emerging from the meeting, a proposal warmly embraced by
the Pontifical Council, was for a delegation of leaders from the WMC to
come for an official visit to the Holy See in Autumn of 2005, to discuss
how Methodists and Catholics might build on our theological dialogue,
which has functioned quietly but effectively since 1966.
In November 2004, Professor Wainwright was asked to give one of the
keynote addresses at the symposium organized by the Pontifical Council
for Promoting Christian Unity celebrating the 40th anniversary of
Unitatis Redintegratio. He spoke on the nature of the unity we seek,
and affirmed that the Decree was one of the three or four most important
ecumenical Documents of the last 50 years, together with Ut Unum Sint,
the Lima Statement Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, and the Joint
Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.
To conclude where we began, at the Vespers celebration for the 40th
anniversary of Unitatis Redintegratio, the Holy Father also spoke
of a spirituality of communion as entailing "an ability to think of our
Christian brothers or sisters, in the deep unity born from Baptism, as
'those who are a part of me"' (citing Novo Millennio Ineunte, n.
43).
Patiently and with perseverance, Methodist-Catholic relations are
being strengthened in this direction.
This year the International Dialogue Commission met in Krakow and
took an excursion to Częstochowa,
where they were privileged to hold an ecumenical prayer celebration
before the Icon of the Madonna at the Marian shrine of Jasna Gora.
Singing with full hearts the Charles Wesley hymn "O Thou Who Camest
From Above", the Commission members, Methodist and Catholic alike,
experienced something of the exchange of gifts of which we often speak,
and in the process, glimpsed a little more what it might mean to know
each other as "those who are a part of me".
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