What Does it Mean to be United? (C.Crowe)

 What an extraordinary couple of weeks it’s been!

St Peter's Basilica

We are learning that ecumenism is a very complex concept. It needs to be directed, but also allowed to find its own direction. It has a future that needs to be imagined and yet allowed to be something different from what was imagined. If unity is not uniformity, the dialogue partners need a strong sense of their own identity before they can communicate clearly and succinctly. There can be no vagueness, no smoothing over of real differences (what they call false irenicism), no homogeneity. It’s not just about ‘getting along’.

Artwork contributed by Mennonites in support the work of the Dicastery for Christian Unity

Before we came to Rome for the class at Centro Pro Unione (a centre since Vatican II of encounter, study, research, and ecumenical dialogue), we had to write a paper on a Vatican document called “The Directory For The Application Of Principles And Norms On Ecumenism,” published in 1993, and frankly, it had me worried. It talked a little about openness, and a lot about protecting the primacy of Catholicism. I would describe it as a colonial ecumenism, where ‘full communion’ with the Catholic church was the ultimate goal.

So, when I arrived, I was unprepared for how much attitudes had changed since that document. The language used now is much more towards openness, with the Catholic church acknowledging that it must repent and undergo a real conversion if any kind of unity is to be found. This encouraged me enormously. The fine lecturers that we have had have expressed in every word true humility and an honest desire to understand the other. They have highlighted the nuances of the very difficult and challenging bilateral talks with Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist and Pentecostal churches that have been happening over the past 60 years. They outlined how earnestly and with what integrity the different parties have engaged each other. All partners have engaged in self-critical analysis and been open to being surprised by the other, and to learning from the other.

Painting by Dolores Puthod entitled "Followers of God"

In the class, we have struggled together to understand what unity means. How many parishioners know what is happening on this level of dialogue between leaders? When a few men (and it is often, but not always, just  men) sit in a room and have conversations with each other about unity – who does it unite? What would unity look like? I find the talk of “visible” unity particularly problematic. Surely we all envision this differently?

The real advances that have been made, to my mind, are in learning to understand and respect one another. We have believed untruths about each other for too long. I love diversity. I love that Christ can be honoured by a Pentecostal speaking in tongues, an Eastern Iconographer, a priest hearing confession, as well as the austerity of a Scots Presbyterian. And if we can all work together missionally (as is increasingly true), taking care of the poor and marginalized, working for peace and helping to heal wounded creation – is that not unity?

Icons from the chapel in the Dicastery of Eastern Churches

Though in many ways missional goals have brought the ecumenical movement together, it is also what still separates us. For some, acceptance of LGBTQ+ in equal humanity is a problem. For some, ordination of women is a problem. In the Middle East and Ukraine, political agendas interrupt the good work of peacemaking. Climate change and environmental destruction continue apace.

Unity, like stability, seems to be something that is important to strive for, but will always be just out of reach.

So many paradoxes. In many ways, it’s at the crux of human experience. I have always imagined my faith life as walking a tightrope. It is precarious, so I need to trust in God. It’s dangerous because it’s so easy to fall. It's challenging because you have to know which way to lean to hold your balance. It’s exciting because I never know what’s coming next. I can afford to lean into precarity because my life has been privileged. This gives me the strength to reach out and help others to achieve balance. But I don’t think stability is what life offers us.

As someone who prefers to stand outside of any particular denomination, I nevertheless understand my faith in terms of my Roman Catholic upbringing and my current Anglican practice. It is coloured by spiritual reading from other traditions – but it is rooted in these.  I hold similar beliefs, but I hold them lightly. I see them as culturally derived rather than “truths”. I don’t feel qualified to claim any truth – and I believe in my heart that whatever Divine power exists, if it exists, is not confined to any one denomination, or any one religion. We all struggle to find meaning, to understand our relationship with one another and to understand transcendence, why would a God of love not respect that?

The cloister around the Dicastery of the Eastern Churches

What I have to take away from this experience is the question of what my role will be in the ecumenical movement when I leave here. I can educate my community, more than that – I intend to. This course has directed my intention, and I can see how this desire for unity that is not uniformity or unanimity can infuse everything that I do – in my vocation, in my education, in my prayer life, in my whole life. I don’t know if my vocation will lead me into a specific role, but I know that it will underpin much of the work I do in the future. And the beginning of this work is humility. I need to ask myself the question, “What is my responsibility for disunity?”

The answer to that question will show me my path.

Catherine Crowe

PS For those who may read this blog and don’t know what ‘Catholic’ means in this context, I would say, don’t imagine that it only means Roman Catholic. There are currently 22 churches under the “Catholic” banner, most of which are Eastern branches: Ukrainian, Greek, Syrian, Chaldean, Assyrian, etc. They have been in full communion with the Catholic Church since the 16th c. For both Roman and Eastern Catholics, the clergy are mutually recognized, the sacraments are held in common, and they all acknowledge the primacy of the Petrine Ministry. Roman Catholics are, however, numerically dominant.

The Apostolic origins of the Eastern Churches might also be of interest:

• Andrew: patron and founder of church of Constantinople 
• Peter: associated with Antioch (before Rome), founder of Syrian Orthodox Church
• Paul: Antioch, Asia Minor, Greece, and Macedonia (many Eastern Sees claim Paul)
• John: Ephesus, Asia Minor
• Thaddeus and Bartholomew: first illuminators of Armenia
• Mark: Coptic Orthodox (Egypt) established in Alexandria – and he was the first bishop
• Phillip: Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo church later Frumentius ordained by St Athanasius 
• Thomas: Malankara (Indian) Orthodox Syrian church.