Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences

Faculty of Theology

Gospel and Plough Institute of Theology

Topic: The Catholic church’s Relationships outside of itself

Submitted to : Dr. H. Chishi Asso. Prof

Submitted by : Nitoyi Yeptho

ID NO. : 22MTHHC001

Course Code : DS4/THC- 801

Subject : RCC Since Vatican II

Introduction

The Catholic Church's commitment to ecumenism was based on the conviction that a divided
Christianity "openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the
holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature." The search for Christian Unity was
one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council.This was attested to even from
the moment the Council was announced, by Pope John XXIII, during the vespers closing the
Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity on 25 January 1959, at the Basilica of Saint Paul
Outside the Walls. One of the principal ecclesiological tasks is to discern the relationship
between the Churches." Underlying the Catholic Church's pursuit of ecumenism is its
recognition that elements of sanctification and truth are found in other churches, that, in some
sense, these are Christians and particular churches or ecclesial communities, and that
common baptism itself impels those toward greater unity, since Baptism is a gift which
"belongs" to the Catholic Church as one of the Sacraments which Christ endowed it with.

Relations with the World Council of Churches

One of the most significant documents on ecumenical relations was Baptism, Eucharist and
Ministry, published by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches
(WCC) in 1982.Although the Catholic Church is not a member of the WCC, some Catholic
theologians are full members of the Commission, though not as representatives of their
church, and participated in the production of the paper, the aim of which was to seek common
ground between the various traditions concerning the Christian rite of initiation (Baptism),
the sacrament of the Eucharist, and the nature of holy orders, while also stating clearly the
differences existing between them. The churches were invited to indicate their reactions to
the contents of the document, with a view to "analyz(ing) the ecumenical implications for the
churches at a future World Conference on Faith and Order."1

Relations with churches of the East

The Catholic Church recognizes 21 Ecumenical or General Councils: Nicaea I (325),

Constantinople I (381), Ephesus (431), Chalcedon (451), Constantinople II (553),
Constantinople III (680–681), Nicaea II (787), Constantinople IV (869–870), Lateran I
(1123), Lateran II (1139), Lateran III (1179), Lateran IV (1215), Lyons I (1245), Lyons II
(1274), Vienne (1311–1312), Constance (1414–1418), Florence (1438– 1445), Lateran V
(1512–1517), Trent (1545–1563), Vatican I (1869–1870), Vatican II (1962–1965). Of these,
the Eastern Orthodox Church of Byzantine tradition accepts only the first seven, the family of
"non-Chalcedonian" or "pre-Chalcedonian" Churches only the first three, and the Assyrian
Church of the East only the first two. In spite of this, dialogue has shown that even where
divisions have lasted longer than previous communion – as with the schisms rooted in the
Christological controversies at the Council of Ephesus (431) and the Council of Chalcedon
(451) – the few doctrinal differences often but not always concern terminology, not
substance. In fact, as little as a decade of dialogue has done more to heal the divisions than
fifteen centuries of apologetics, stereotypes, and suspicion.2

Assyrian Church of the East

The Catholic Church recognizes in the Assyrian Church of the East as one of the valid
successor bodies of the ancient Church of the Mesopotamian valley, where Christianity had
been established by around the year 150, though tradition traces apostolic origins with the
Apostle Thomas and his disciples-successors Addai and Mari. The division between the
Church of the Persian Empire and the Churches of Rome and Constantinople goes back to the
disputes over the legitimacy of the terms mother of God and mother of Christ for the Virgin
Mary, that came to a head at the Council of Ephesus in 431. 3The Assyrian Church had
adopted radical Antiochene Christology, as articulated by Nestorius and Theodore of
Mopsuestia. They have been sometimes, erroneously, called Nestorian. This appellation is
1
"Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry" (http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/bem1.html). Wcccoe.org.
2
Douglas Horton, Towards An Undivided Church (New York: Association Press, 1967) 48.
3
Falconi, Carlo. The Popes of the Twentieth Century (London: Weidendorf and Nicolson, 1967) 333.
rejected by the Catholic Church. Dialogue began with a meeting of the Assyrian Patriarch
(Catholicos) Mar Dinkha IV and Pope John Paul II in 1984, and the patriarch's participation
in the first Assisi Day of Prayer for Peace in 1986. Nearly a decade of dialogue proved
sufficient to resolve the disagreements over terminology in Christology, leading to the
Common Christological Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church
of the East, signed by Pope John Paul II of the Catholic Church and Mar Dinkha IV of the
Assyrian Church of the East in 1994. The Common Declaration recalls that the Assyrian
Church of the East prays to the Virgin Mary as "the Mother of Christ our God and Saviour",
and the Catholic tradition addresses the Virgin Mary as "the Mother of God" and also as "the
Mother of Christ", fuller expressions by which each Church clearly acknowledges both the
divinity and the humanity of Mary's son. The co-signers of the Common Declaration could
thus state: "We both recognize the legitimacy and rightness of these expressions of the same
faith and we both respect the preference of each Church in her liturgical life and piety." Over
the next six years, annual meetings of the dialogue came to a common understanding of
sacraments, published in 2000 as the "Common Statement on Sacramental Life". It was
hoped that this too would be raised to the level of a Joint or Common Declaration, while the
dialogue moved on to practical ecclesiological, pastoral, and administrative questions for full
communion. However, in 2004, on the eve of a formal common declaration, the Assyrian
patriarch and bishops decided to suspend the dialogue, realizing that "all obstacles to
restoring full communion with the Catholic Church had been proven to no longer exist".The
following year the Assyrian synod suspended their chief ecumenist of twenty years, Mar
Bawai Soro, who had led the dialogue with Rome. In 2008, Mar Bawai, along with six
priests, thirty deacons, and about a thousand faithful, broke communion with the Assyrian
Church and entered into full communion as part of the Chaldean Catholic Church. The
personal tensions from these events further delayed the continuation of reunion talks.4

The Eastern Orthodox Churches

The 1993 Balamand declaration of the Joint International Commission for Theological
Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church discusses ecclesiological
principles and suggests practical rules for both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox
Churches to implement about improving relations by reciprocally avoiding interfering in each
other's Churches and not using history in a polemical manner. According to Cardinal Edward

4
"Ecumenical goal is unity, not leveling differences, pope says" (https://www.catholicsun.org/
2019/07/03/ecumenical-goal-is-unity-not-leveling-differences-pope-says/).
Cassidy, the report contains three principles: that individuals have the freedom to follow their
conscience, that Eastern Catholic Churches have the right to exist, that uniatism is not the
current method of full communion and two conclusions: that the Catholic Church and the
Eastern Orthodox Churches are "sister churches" and that rebaptism should be avoided.The
principle that "the inviolable freedom of persons and their obligation to follow the
requirements of their conscience", is foundational, according to Cassidy, "and justifies both
the personal choice to adhere to the Catholic Church or to the Orthodox Church, and offers
the possibility of returning to the Catholic Church for those communities which in 1945–49
had been forced to convert by Communist regimes to become part of the Orthodox Church,"
as happened in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Socialist Republic of Romania
and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. The Eastern Catholics rejected the report "because
it seemed to imply they should never have existed in the first place" while the Eastern
Orthodox rejected it because it did not call for the abolition of the Eastern Catholic
Churches.5

On 3 July 2019, it was revealed that during a Vatican meeting with Orthodox Archbishop Job
of Telmessos, who represented the Orthodox Church's Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of
Constantinople, during the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul on 29 June 2019, Pope Francis stated
that unity rather than leveling differences should be the goal between the Catholic and
Orthodox Churches.Pope Francis also gave Bartholomew nine bone fragments which were
believed to have belonged to St. Peter and which were displayed at a public Mass which was
held in the Vatican in November 2013 to celebrate the 'Year of Faith.'

Relations with churches and communions of the West

Lutheran Churches

The Lutheran–Roman Catholic dialogue began over thirty years ago, and has consisted of
eleven rounds of discussion. The most recent discussion has focused on doctrines associated
with eternal life. The dialogue process has produced one major joint declaration, concerning
the doctrine of justification, issued in 1999 called the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification.Russian Orthodox Church Relations with churches and communions of the West
Lutheran Churches On Reformation Day in 2016, Pope Francis of the Catholic Church
travelled to Sweden (where the Lutheran Church is the national Church) to commemorate the
5
"On feast of St. Francis, pope joins Amazonians to plant tree at Vatican" (https://www.catholi
cnews.com/services/englishnews/2019/pope-gives-relics-of-st-peter-to-orthodox-patriarch.cf m). 4 October
2019.
500th anniversary of the Reformation at Lund Cathedral, which serves as the cathedra for the
Bishop of Lund of the Church of Sweden, a Lutheran Church. An official press release from
the Holy See stated:

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Roman Catholic Church joint event will
highlight the 50 years of continuous ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Lutherans
and the joint gifts of this collaboration. The Catholic-Lutheran commemoration of 500 years
of the Reformation is structured around the themes of thanksgiving, repentance and
commitment to common witness. The aim is to express the gifts of the Reformation and ask
forgiveness for division perpetuated by Christians from the two traditions.6

An ecumenical service was presided over by Bishop Munib Younan, the president of the
Lutheran World Federation, Martin Junge, the General Secretary of the LWF, as well as Pope
Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church. Sr. Susan Wood, a Sister of Charity, who is a
systematic theology professor and chair of the theology department at Marquette University
and a former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, stated that "Since
Vatican II, we have acknowledged an imperfect communion between Lutheran and
Catholics" and that she personally believed that "there is no substantial difference in Lutheran
and Catholic belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist". Wood claimed without
evidence that in the near future she thought that intercommunion could happen in places
"where people can't get out, like nursing homes and prisons." However, besides the generally
radically different doctrines of Lutheranism and Catholicism, the fact remains that the
Catholic Church does not acknowledge the Lutheran eucharist as valid.7

Conclusion

Ecumenism and unity, two of the most key aspects of Vatican II, have become a major focus
of not just the Catholic Church, but many other Christian groups as well. Vatican II not only
changed the path of the Catholic Church, but that of the other Christian churches as well. And
the future of Christianity, as is suggested by Outler above, is bound to see more of a move
towards unity and cooperation.
6
"CNS Story: Methodists adopt Catholic-Lutheran declaration on justification" (http://webarchi
ve.loc.gov/all/20060725190303/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0604186.htm) .
Catholicnews.com. 24 July 2006. Archived from the original (http://www.catholicnews.com/
data/stories/cns/0604186.htm).
7
"Preparations to commemorate 500 years since the Reformation" (https://press.vatican.va/co
ntent/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/06/01/160601e.html). Holy See Press Office.
Bibliography

Carlo, Falconi,. The Popes of the Twentieth Century ,London: Weidendorf and Nicolson,
1967.

Horton, Douglas,Towards An Undivided Church, New York: Association Press, 1967.

"CNS Story: Methodists adopt Catholic-Lutheran declaration on justification"

(http://webarchi ve.loc.gov/all/20060725190303/http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/
cns/0604186.htm Catholicnews.com. 24 July 2006. Archived from the original
(http://www.catholicnews.com/ data/stories/cns/0604186.htm).

"Preparations to commemorate 500 years since the Reformation"

(https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/
2016/06/01/160601e.html). Holy See Press Office.

"Baptism,Eucharist and Ministry" (http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/bem1.html).

Wcc.org.

"Ecumenical,goal is unity, not leveling differences, pope says"

(https://www.catholicsun.org/2019/07/03/ecumenical-goal-is-unity-not-leveling-differences-
pope-says/).