Introduction
   APPENDIX I: REPORT ON ACTIVITIES
   I. THE FAITH AND WORSHIP OF THE CHURCHES - select
   II. MISSION AND UNITY - select
   III. THE LAITY - select
   IV. SOCIAL SERVICE AND SERVICE TO HUMANITY - select
   V. NATIONAL AND LOCAL COUNCILS OF CHURCHES - select
   APPENDIX II: COMMON WITNESS AND PROSELYTISM - select
   I. COMMON WITNESS - select
   II. PROSELYTISM AND RELATIONS BETWEEN CHURCHES - select
   CONCLUSION - select
   APPENDIX III: STUDY DOCUMENT ON CATHOLICITY ... - select

JOINT WORKING GROUP BETWEEN
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND
THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

   For the past five years there has been a development in relations between the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church. The Joint Working Group, since its inception in 1965, has attempted to encourage this development and to search out and recommend to the responsible authorities on both sides areas and forms of cooperation. In two previous reports presented in February, 1966, and August, 1967, it reviewed the many fields of common study and action. The impressive range of common concern is clear evidence of the communion already existing among the Churches. Since the publication of the Second Report, there has been a marked increase in common programs for study and action. An account of these will be found in the attached survey of joint activity currently in progress (Appendix I).

   The Joint Working Group is convinced that the work of the past five years has been worthwhile. At the same time a great many things remain to be done. The Lord's demand is clear: "that they may be one in order that the world may believe" (John 17, 21). As we face this demand we are keenly aware of how much we still fall short of giving to the world the sign of communion which should arouse its faith in the love of the Father who sends his Son to save us.

   A recognition of the contemporary situation calls for reflection on the foundations for future co-operation among Christians, and specifically between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches. If on the one hand the scandal of disunity is sharper and the task of overcoming our confessional differences becomes more imperative, on the other hand it becomes clearer that we are faced with the question of how to interpret the Gospel today so that we may respond more faithfully to God's call to give witness to him in a way which can be effectively heard by the world.

   As one response to this double aspect of the ecumenical problem the Joint Working Group offers to its parent bodies two studies conducted under its initiative. The first is an effort to describe more completely the conditions under which common witness may be given as fully as possible in the concrete situation in which the Churches still find themselves divided (cf. Appendix II, Common Witness and Proselytism). Because there are certain fundamental elements which limit this common Witness through lack of full agreement as to its content, a second study is presented which seeks to open paths for a deeper consideration of the confessional differences which still divide us (cf. Appendix III, Joint Study on Catholicity and Apostolicity)¹. The concepts of catholicity and apostolicity constitute a sensitive point in the ecumenical dialogue. The work done by the joint theological commission has made it possible to discover new areas of agreement which are much larger than had been imagined at the beginning of the work.

   These two studies are interrelated. It is hoped that they can offer fresh impetus for study and action at various levels so that Christians may respond more fully to the ecumenical task in today's world.

   As Christians strive for the coming of that unity which Christ wills for them, they seek to create in a certain way, while they are still divided, a community which will make it possible to begin to bear the common witness demanded of them. This desire led to the formation of the World Council of Churches and has animated its activity since its foundations. The increasing co-operation which has taken place in the part five years between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches has underlined the increased importance of this search. As a result the Fourth Assembly of the World Council of Churches at Uppsala (1968) and Pope Paul VI during his visit to the Ecumenical Center in Geneva (1969) expressed the desire that a study be made of the advantages and disadvantages of various possible forms of collaboration or closer and more permanent association of the Roman Catholic Church with the World Council of Churches. The Joint Working Group is sponsoring a study of this question which it hopes to conclude within the next few months.

   In reflecting upon the first five years of its mandate, the Joint Working Group recognizes that whatever may be the results obtained up to now, they are still quite small in relation to the urgent task which faces us today. Further progress calls for a more complete engagement of the Churches at all levels. What takes place in concrete situations can be of vital importance for a more universal response to the demand of the Lord, for unity among those who bear his name, to the call to bear a more perfect witness in common to the world and to serve mankind better as we listen attentively to what the Spirit is asking today of the Churches.

ENDNOTES

1. For text, see Appendix III and One in Christ 4, 3 (1970) 452-483 and Ecumenical Review 23, 1 (1971) 51-69.

   Back to text