Editor EMILIO CASTRO

Managing Editors T. K. THOMAS MARLIN VANELDEREN

Editorial Assistant JOAN CAMBITSIS

The quarterly of the World Council of Churches

Editorial Twenty years after the Second Vatican Council, how do we assess the ecumenical

scene? How do we evaluate what the Council meant, and what it has achieved through the years? Now that the initial euphoria is over, is it possible to make an appraisal of its achievements?

That the Council was a landmark in the history of the Roman Catholic Church is indisputable. It is equally obvious that its impact was not confined to the Roman Church. The directions it set and the renewal it promised for the RCC had their impact on churches everywhere. For the World Council of Churches and the modem ecumenical movement of which it is an instrument, Vatican LI was of enormous significance. Because the Council marked the opening up of the RCC to the ecumenical movement of our century. Its affirmation of the ecumenical movement as a “movement fostered by the grace of the Holy Spirit” and its commendation of “the ecumenical sincerity and energy” of the churches participating in it paved the way for dialogue and opened doors for cooperation and common action.

To appreciate the nature and extent of the change brought about by Vatican 11, one has to recall the frustrations of earlier years. The RCC had refused to take part in the First World Conference on Faith and Order which met in Lausanne in 1927. It had refused to send observers to the First WCC Assembly in Amsterdam in 1948. Signs of ecumenical interest were becoming evident before the Council met, but since Vatican I1 the RCC has developed more structured relationships with the WCC, and it has begun a series of bilateral dialogues with a number of Christian World Communions.

During the post-Vatican decades we have had several examples of such structured cooperation between the RCC and the WCC. Among them is the Joint Working Group which regularly reviews matters of mutual and overall interest. There are twelve RC theologians in the membership of the Faith and Order Commission - which makes

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that Commission the most representative theological body in the Christian world. Roman Catholic missionary religious orders have a close consultancy participation in the Commission for World Mission and Evangelism. A group representing both the RCC and the WCC is responsible for the annual preparation for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The former joint commission for society, development and peace (Sodepax) has been replaced by the Joint Consultative Group on Social Thought and Action. Roman Catholic consultants have served on the staff of WCC’s Commission for World Mission and Evangelism, Christian Medical Commission and the Ecumeni- cal Institute in Bossey.

Apart from such instances of ongoing cooperation, the WCC assemblies since New Delhi (1961) and major ecumenical conferences have profited by the presence of RC advisers, consultants and observers. The visits of Paul VI in 1969 and John Paul I1 in 1984 to the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva were concrete expressions of this growing understanding between the RCC and the WCC.

The theological work carried out by Vatican I1 has of course led to a renewal in worship and life within the RCC. But it has had a wider impact and the whole church of Christ and the ecumenical movement have benefited from it. The Decree on Ecumenism was basically an expression of the RC Church’s new commitment to the ecumenical movement. It sees the non-Roman churches in a new perspective and recognizes in some measure their true ecclesiality. In the introduction to the Decree “the sacred Synod.. . gladly notes”:

Everywhere, large numbers have felt the impulse of this grace, and among our separated brethren also there increases from day to day a movement, fostered by the grace of the Holy Spirit, for the restoration of unity among all Christians. Taking part in this movement, which is called ecumenical, are those who invoke the Triune God and confess Jesus as Lord and Saviour. They join in not merely as individuals but also as members of the corporate groups in which they have heard the gospel, and which each regards as his Church and, indeed, God’s. And yet, almost everyone, though in different ways, longs that there may be one visible Church of God, a Church truly universal and sent forth to the whole world that the world may be converted to the gospel and so be saved, to the glory of God.

The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation highlighted the authority of the holy scriptures and led to a new emphasis within the RCC on the Bible and the proclamation of the word. The document made use of some of the findings of the Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order on “Scripture, Tradition and Traditions” (Montreal, 1963).

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy stimulated the renewal of worship and liturgy within the RCC. The reverberations were clearly felt in many non-Roman churches as well, and there has been a movement towards liturgical renewal in many parts of the world.

The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, with its interpretation of the church as God’s people, was seen by many as correcting an ecclesiology which had for long appeared excessively hierarchical. “The lay apostolate”, it declared, ”is a participation in the saving mission of the Church itself.” The emphasis on common witness and the missionary task of the whole people of God made possible, however indirectly, the preparation of the study document entitled Common Witness by the RCC-WCC Joint Working Group.

The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World developed the understanding of the church as a sign and sacrament of God’s coming kingdom. It

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emphasized the church’s responsibility for the oikoumene, the whole inhabited earth, and it projected the ideal of the serving church. The Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions was of vital importance in the search for a theology of religious pluralism and for a human community committed to pro- existence beyond mere co-existence. The section of the report from the Fourth Assembly of the WCC in Uppsala (1968) entitled “The Holy Spirit and the Catholicity of the Church” evidently profited from its insights.

The Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church and the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity both reinforced the understanding of the church as a movement of God’s people. The detailed discussion of collegiality led to the establishment of regional bishops’ conferences, and ensured wider participation in decision-making .

The Declaration on Religious Freedom has also contributed to better understanding between the RCC and other churches. The commitment to religious freedom and human dignity which it embodies has provided invaluable support in the struggles of people.

These and other insights of Vatican I1 have been a source of inspiration and an impetus for renewal for churches everywhere. They have resulted in attitudinal changes and, in some cases, led to structural adjustments. But they have also given rise to disappointments, both within and outside the RCC, for the promises made and the expectations generated were so many and so momentous. There were times in the years immediately following Vatican I1 when the pace of change appeared too fast, and occasions in later years when the pace of change appeared too slow and the vision seemed to flounder.

Most of the articles in this issue of The Ecumenical Review look back on the Council in the light of two decades of experience - of promise, fulfilment and continuing expectation.

They provide regional perspectives on Vatican I1 and they survey its major contributions. They are sometimes critical, and express reservations in regard to specific aspects, but behind such criticism is the concern for the total church of Christ and its unity and mission.

What, then, are our expectations for the future? We hope that as the Council is remembered and celebrated in the coming months, it will also be affirmed and further appropriated in the life of the church. We need to extend and deepen cooperation at local, national, regional and world levels. We must ask how to work towards and pray for eucharistic hospitality, taking interim steps in our communities, as we journey towards the goal of full communion around the table of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Should we not also dare to hope that in the not far distant future it would be possible to convene a common conciliar gathering of the RCC and the member churches of the WCC, in order to give common witness to our common faith, “that the world may believe”?

EMILIO CASTRO

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