VII. LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
62.
Our situation as Disciples of Christ and Roman Catholics, discovering
each other in this dialogue, is a reflection of what is happening
everywhere among Christians as they yield themselves in obedience
to what God is doing through the ecumenical movement. We are not
yet at the point where we can ask the churches to which we belong
to make a definitive judgment on our work or to commit themselves
to some decision which could have structural consequences.
63.
Yet our experience tells us and we must declare, that the relation
between the Roman Catholic Church and the Disciples of Christ is
in the process of a growth which is deeply important for both partners.
This process calls for loyalty and courage as we pursue it towards
maturity and, here and now, it challenges and makes demands on us
both in a practical and costly way. The Lord is confronting us with
these demands. We believe several of them especially require us
to give a faithful response and to draw certain conclusions in practice:
64.
(a) Catholics and Disciples along with many other Christians are
discovering that, in essence,
their commitment to Christ and their fellowship in the Gospel are
the same. There is already a unity of grace which in some measure
is present, bearing fruit, and which is disposing us for visible
unity and surging us to move ahead to it. One of the most striking
insights we have received in our dialogue is the awareness that
the interior communion between Christians across divisions is an
essential element of unity and a necessary part of achieving the
goal of full visible unity. This is something we have experienced
as we have learned to take each other seriously in our theological
awareness and in our commitment to the mission of Jesus Christ.
Above all, we have experienced it together in our prayer, our reading
of the Scriptures, and the meditation which has seasoned, all our
work and given a special flavor and substance to this dialogue.
We have come to appreciate more deeply also the importance in our
two traditions of the renewal of the liturgy and the centrality
of the Eucharist.
65.
(b) Spiritual ecumenism leads to more than the sum of doctrinal
agreements. It requires us to "do the truth" of unity
by acting together in the name of the Gospel. Our obedience to Christ,
the Lord of history, has to be made incarnate as we carry our own
responsibility of enabling the Kingdom to penetrate the world, its
life, and its institutions. In its own way, it can be as full an
expression of the common faith as doctrinal agreement, for action
in harmony with the demands of the Gospel makes known Christian
truth and reveals its riches. Communion expressed through practice
is an important element of the emerging koinonia among churches.
joint action, both of individuals and of separated churches, is
a factor in unity which reaches to the roots of the ecumenical task.
This, too, has implications now for Disciples of Christ and Roman
Catholics in each place.
66.
(c) Preparation for visible unity is taking place already through
discussion of important doctrinal issues. This is clear from the
work which has been done in our dialogue commission over the past
five years. That is a significant beginning. We have now the framework
in which it becomes possible and necessary to do further work on
unresolved issues, particularly the nature and mission of the Church,
the Eucharist, and the ministry.
67.
The dialogue commission gives thanks to God that certain doctrinal
convergences on some key issues begin to be discernible in our work
already. This encourages us to work for no less than visible unity
not a limping compromise achieved by paring away divergences,
but nothing less than common witness to the one apostolic faith.
68.
The dialogue between Disciples of Christ and the Roman Catholic
Church has begun and already we must live in the logic of what is
happening. It demands that we begin now, as far as possible, to
proclaim together the same Lord Jesus Christ, giving common witness
to "the hope that is in us" (1 Pet 2:13). It demands,
even now, that we enter to the fullest extent possible into that
process of mutual recognition which is ultimately a worshipful acknowledgment
of the one Lord in whom we are baptized, whose gifts we enjoy, to
whose service we are called.
Participants
Disciples of Christ
Dr. Paul A. Crow, jr., Indianapolis,
Indiana, USA (co-president)
Dr. Jorge L. Bardeguez, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico (1977-1978)
Dr. William D. Carpe, Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Dr. Efefe Elunda, Mbandaka, Zaire
Rev. Faye Feltner, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Dr. H. Jackson Forstman, Nashville, Tennessee, USA (1979-1981)
Dr. Russel D. Legge, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Dr. Paul S. Stauffer, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Dr. M. Jack Suggs, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Dr. David M. Thompson, Cambridge, England (1980-1981)
Dr. Robert K. Welsh, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA (organizer)
Roman Catholic
V. Rev Stanley J. Ott, STD,
DD, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA (co-president)
Rev. Schuyler Brown S.J, London, England
Sr Agnes Cunningham, Mundelein, Illinois, USA
Rev. Kevin McNamara, Killarney, Ireland
Mons. Basil Meeking, Vatican City
Rev. Philip D. Morris, South Orange, New Jersey, USA
Dr. James Patrick, Irving, Texas, USA
Rev. Jean M. Tillard, Ottawa, Canada
Rev. John F. Hotchkin, Washington, D.C., USA (organizer)
Observers of
the Ecumenical council of Churches
Dr. Klaus-Martin Beckmann, Darmstadt,
Germany (1978-1980)
Rev. Robin H.S. Boyd, Dublin, Ireland (1981)
[Information Service 49 (1982 II/III) 65-73]
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