06031
Jan. 26, 2006

Vatican cardinal raises alarm
about quest for Christian unity

by Stephen Brown
Ecumenical News International

ROME — The search for Christian unity is at risk because churches no longer agree about the aim of ecumenism, a top Vatican official has warned, but he says they can make progress if they clearly state their differences in an honest dialogue.

        “If we no longer agree about the aim the danger is that we will go in different, maybe even opposite directions, and will be further apart at the end than we were at the beginning,” said Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

        “We have become much more aware of the differences over the past decade,” Kasper noted in a speech to a meeting in Rome intended to promote unity between Roman Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, and Protestant denominations in Europe.

        He pointed to developments such as a Roman Catholic statement from 2000, which restated Catholic belief that Protestant denominations “are not churches in the proper sense.” Also, Protestants had made statements in which they clearly distanced themselves from Catholic positions, he recalled.

        “Such a profile-based ecumenism, as it is called these days, leads to a certain disillusionment but also to greater honesty,” Kasper said at the opening event of the 3rd European Ecumenical Assembly here Jan. 24-27.

        “It has nothing to do with the onset of an ecumenical ice age or the end of ecumenical dialogue,” he continued. “Only partners that have a clear identity that they know and appreciate can appreciate the stance of others and enter into a serious dialogue and exchange.”

        Still, German Lutheran Bishop Margot Kaessmann, in her keynote speech to the gathering, warned that attempts by churches to differentiate themselves from one another weakened their common witness in European society.

        “In an age when so many religious currents are flowing into Europe, from Islam to Buddhism, from the esoteric to patchwork religion, Christians’ common witness to their faith needs all the more to be recognizable,” said Kaessmann.

        She noted that “Particularly in facing the great ethical challenges of our time, we should seek common positions” highlighting issues such as biotechnology, assisted suicide, energy policy, and refugees.

        The Rome meeting has been organized by the Council of European (Roman Catholic) Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC). The two church groupings between them account for almost all of Europe’s Anglican, Orthodox, Protestant, and Roman Catholic churches.

        The two previous ecumenical assemblies took place in Switzerland in 1989 and in Austria in 1997.