Efforts to Unite
By Awake! correspondent in France
SHAME! Yes, shame was what started the ecumenical movement. Shame at what? Shame at the painful spectacle that Christendom offered to the non-Christian world of being a house divided against itself.
At the very first assembly of the WCC (World Council of Churches), its general secretary, Dr. W. A. Visser ’t Hooft, explained: “We are a Council of Churches, not the Council of the one undivided Church. Our name indicates our weakness and our shame before God, for there can be and is finally only one Church of Christ on earth.”
A recently published French Catholic encyclopedia admits: “Consciousness of the scandal resulting from divided churches became more acute during the 19th century. This was particularly so among the missionaries, whose mutual antagonism contradicted the Gospel that they had come to preach to non-Christians. . . . The decisive shock came with the development of the African and Asian missions that brought into broad daylight the divisions between Christians that were obstructing the evangelizing work.”
Its Beginnings
The word “ecumenical” is derived from the Greek word oi·kou·meʹne (inhabited earth). The ecumenical movement, which had its beginnings in the mid-19th century, aims at earth-wide unity of the churches of Christendom. Conscious of the disadvantages of divisions between churches, reformers organized various interdenominational associations during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Missionaries sent out to convert non-Christians were particularly sensitive to the rifts within Christendom. They could hardly point to the blood-spattered pages of church history as proof of the superiority of their religion. How could they justify the existence of so many churches, all pretending to be Christian, while at the same time quoting Jesus or the apostle Paul, both of whom underscored the need for Christian unity?—John 13:34, 35; 17:21; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13.
No doubt this situation contributed to the formation of the modern ecumenical movement, which called together the first World Missionary Conference, in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1910. Later, in 1921, the International Missionary Council was formed. The New Catholic Encyclopedia states: “The International Missionary Council was formed not only to spread information about effective missionary methods, but also to lessen the scandal of Christian divisions by avoiding competition in non-Christian countries.”
Catholic Aloofness
What, though, did the Roman Catholic Church do to lessen the scandal of Christian divisions? In 1919 the Catholic Church was invited to participate in an interchurch discussion on faith and order, where differences in doctrine and ministry were to be considered. But Pope Benedict XV rejected this offer. Again, in 1927, the Catholic Church received an invitation to take part in the First World Conference on Faith and Order, held in Lausanne, Switzerland. Delegates from several Protestant and Orthodox churches met to discuss obstacles to unity, but Pope Pius XI refused to allow any Catholic participation.
In its article on Pope Pius XI, the New Catholic Encyclopedia says: “The Holy See took a negative attitude toward the ecumenical movement of non-Catholic Christendom.” This negative attitude evolved into open hostility when, in 1928, the pope issued his encyclical letter Mortalium animos. In it he condemned the ecumenical movement and forbade Catholics to give any support to ecumenism.
In 1948 the WCC was formed. At its foundation, its membership included nearly 150 churches, most of them Protestant. Some Eastern Orthodox churches were included, and other Orthodox churches joined the WCC later. All these churches accepted as a basis for membership the declaration: “The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which accept the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour.” In spite of this definite Trinitarian formula, Pope Pius XII refused an invitation to associate the Catholic Church with this ecumenical council.
A Change Among Catholics?
John XXIII, elected as pope in 1958 at nearly 77 years of age, was considered by many Catholics to be merely a papa di passaggio, or interim pope. As it turned out, he opened the Vatican windows to winds of change that to this day are causing flurries in Catholic circles. One of Pope John’s first decisions, early in 1959, was to summon an ecumenical council, which, in Catholic parlance, meant a general meeting of the bishops of the entire Catholic Church.
The purpose of this gathering was, first, to “bring the church up to date” and, second, to “open the way toward the reunion of the separated brethren of East and West in the one fold of Christ.” In line with this second purpose, Pope John XXIII in 1960 set up at the Vatican the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. This was hailed as “the first official recognition by the Roman Catholic Church of the existence of the ecumenical movement.”
The winds of change certainly appeared to be blowing. But was the Roman Curia, the powerful group of prelates making up the administrative government of the church, in favor of these changes? And if so, what was their concept of Christian unity?