Moving towards a One World Church

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

*Building The One World Church/Religion


Moving towards a One World Church*

Meetings between high-ranking Orthodox, Anglican and Catholic clergy
signal that old schisms might soon be healed

o Adrian Pabst
o guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 2 December 2009 11.00 GMT


In the past two months, relations between the three main Christian
churches have moved in more promising directions than perhaps during the
past 50 years of uninspiring liberal dialogue. By opening a new chapter
of theological engagement and concrete co-operation with Orthodoxy and
Anglicanism, Pope Benedict XVI is changing the terms of debate about
church reunification. In time, we might witness the end of the Great
Schism between east and west and a union of the main episcopally-based
churches.

First there was the Rome visit in September by the Russian Orthodox
Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Moscow's man for ecumenical
relations. In high-level meetings, both sides argued that their shared
resistance to secularism and moral relativism calls forth a further
rapprochement of Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Declaring that "More than
ever, we Christians must stand together", Hilarion insisted that each
side can appeal to shared traditions and work towards greater closeness
in a spirit of "mutual respect and love".

That this was more than diplomatic protocol was confirmed by the
Catholic Archbishop of Moscow, Monsignor Paolo Pezzi. In an interview
with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, he said that union
between Catholics and Orthodox "is possible, indeed it has never been so
close". The formal end of the Great Schism of 1054, which has divided
the two churches for a millennium, and the move towards full spiritual
communion "could happen soon".

Even on doctrinal matters, Roman Catholicism and Russian Orthodoxy are
essentially in agreement. Hilarion acknowledged that the two have
different ecclesiological models, with the former favouring a more
centralised structure led by the pontiff while the latter emphasises the
autonomy of provinces and local churches. "There remains the question of
papal primacy and this will be a concern at the next meeting of the
Catholic-Orthodox commission. But to me, it doesn't seem impossible to
reach an agreement", said Pezzi.

Indeed, when Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in 2005, one of his first
acts was to drop the title of patriarch of the west. Rather than
affirming absolutist papal supremacism, Benedict indicated with this act
that he seeks to blend the historical primacy of the see of Rome and the
pope's universal jurisdiction with that of local churches in east and
west. The next step for Rome is to incorporate the Orthodox emphasis on
conciliarity as a counterweight to papal authority. Increasingly shrill
attacks on Benedict by Catholic dissidents like Hans Küng represent
little more than the angry expression of some liberals who are excluding
themselves from pan-Christian reunification.

Meanwhile, closer church ties will be greatly helped by concrete
co-operation. There's already considerable convergence on social
teaching, as evinced by Kirill's preface to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone's
book The Ethics of the Common Good in Catholic Social Doctrine. Both
Catholicism and Orthodoxy argue for a civil market economy embedded in
communal relations and serving the public good rather than exclusively
private profit, a prominent theme in Benedict's recent social encyclical
"Caritas in veritate".

Similarly, last week's Rome visit by the Archbishop of Canterbury has
advanced Catholic-Anglican relations. Far from humiliating the primate
of the Anglican Communion by parking papal tanks on the lawn at Lambeth,
Benedict emphasised the importance of Anglicanism in promoting the unity
of all episcopally-based Christian churches.

The presence of Anglicans within Catholicism might lead to a better
appreciation of Anglicanism's unique contribution to Christianity. It
could also help Anglicans define an episcopal identity beyond the divide
between liberals and evangelicals.

No less significant was the fact both the pope and the archbishop spoke
in favour of a different model of socio-economic development that does
not rely exclusively on the state or the market. Rather, it accentuates
mutualist principles of reciprocity and gift-exchange and the absolute
sanctity of human and natural life which is relational, not
individualist or collectivist. This shared social teaching is key in
further developing concrete links and bonds of trust among Christians of
different traditions.

Moves towards church reunification are signs of a revivified Christian
Europe, one which can use its shared faith to transform the continent
and the whole world.