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Index > Interconfessional Dialogues > JWG > Third Official Rep. | CONT. > App. II

     INTRODUCTION - select
   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
   I. COMMON WITNESS - select
   II. PROSELYTISM AND RELATIONS BETWEEN CHURCHES - select
   CONCLUSION - select
   APPENDIX III: STUDY DOCUMENT ON CATHOLICITY ... - select
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  PART TWO - select
  Appendix I - select
  Appendix II - select
Appendix III - select
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FULL TEXT

APPENDIX II: COMMON WITNESS AND PROSELYTISM
(A Study Document)

   The following document, prepared by a Joint Theological Commission, was received by the Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches at its meeting in May, 1970, which recommended it for publication.

   The document was elaborated by the commission on the initiative of the Joint Working Group. The commission held two full meetings (in Arnoldshain, Germany, in 1968, and in Zagork, USSR, in 1969). Various subsequent drafts were submitted to a wide group of consultants. The text being presented now has been formulated in the light of comments received.

   The Joint Working Group, having examined it, recommends to its parent bodies that it be offered to the Churches as a study document for their consideration. Although there may not be complete agreement on everything contained in the document, it represents a wide area of consensus on the subject of common witness and proselytism which may guide the Churches in their mutual relations.

   It is, therefore, suggested that the Churches in the same area study it together. The further examination of the theme o f common witness will inevitably demand a fuller development of, and agreement on, the content of the witness Christians are bound to give to Christ and his Gospel.

 

INTRODUCTION

  1. Unity in witness and witness in unity. This is the will of Christ for his people. The Lord has called all his disciples to be witnesses to him and his Gospel, to the ends of the earth (cf. Acts l: 8).and he has promised to be with them always, to the close of his age (Mt. 28: 20). But for centuries, in their efforts to fulfil this mission, Christian Communions have borne the burden of divisions, even differing about the meaning of the one Gospel. They have not been a clear sign of the one and holy people, so it has been hard for the world to believe (cf. Jo. 13:35; 17:21).

  2. Today, moved by the Holy Spirit, the various Christian Communions are seeking to restore the unity they have lost, in the hope that one day, when they are fully renewed and united in faith and charity, they may be better able to glorify God by bringing home to the whole world the hope of the coming kingdom. They are striving to overcome whatever indifference, isolation and rivalry has marked their relations to each other and thus has distorted Christian witness even to that unity with which God has already blessed them.

  3. This document is an attempt to state the implications of the obligation:

    - to bear common Christian witness, even while the Churches are divided;

    - to avoid in their mutual relations and in their evangelizing activities whatever is not in keeping with the spirit of the Gospel;

    - to provide one another, as far as possible, with mutual support for a more effective witness of the Gospel through preaching and selfless service to the neighbor.

  4. This document is offered to the Churches. Its reflections and suggestions may serve as a basis of discussion among Christians in varied circumstances, in order to arrive at a line of conduct where they live and witness.

 

MEANING OF THE TERMS:
CHRISTIAN WITNESS, COMMON WITNESS,
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, PROSELYTISM

5.1. Christian Witness 1. Witness is taken here to mean the continuous act by which a Christian or a Christian Community proclaims God's acts in history and seeks to reveal Christ as the true light which shines for every man. This includes the whole life: worship, responsible service, proclamation of the Good News - all is done under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in order that men may be saved and be gathered into Christ's one and only Body (Col. 1: 8; Eph. 1: 22-23), and attain life everlasting-to know the true God and Him whom he has sent, Jesus Christ (cf. Jo. 17: 3).

6.2. Common Witness. Here is meant the witness the Churches, even while separated, bear together, especially by joint efforts, by manifesting before men whatever divine gifts of truth and lite they already share in common.

7.3. Religious Freedom. Religious freedom is not used here in the wider biblical sense (e.g. Rom.8:21). It is pointing to the right of the person and of communities to social and civil freedom in religious matters. Each person or community has the right to be free from any coercion on the side of individuals, social groups, or human power of any kind; so that no individual or community may be forced to act against conscience or be prevented from expressing belief in teaching, worship or social action2.

8.4. Proselytism. Here is meant improper attitudes and behavior in the practice of Christian witness. Proselytism embraces whatever violates the right of the human person, Christian or non-Christian, to be free from external coercion in religious matters, or whatever, in the proclamation of the Gospel, does not conform to the ways God draws free men to himself in response to his calls to serve in spirit and in truth3.
 


ENDNOTES



  1. Modern languages use several biblically derived terms which denote particular aspects of the announcements of the Gospel in word and deed: Witness, Apostolate, Mission, Confession, Evangelism, Kerygma, Message, etc. We have preferred here to adopt "Witness," because it expresses more comprehensively the realities we are treating.

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  2. Cf. Christian Witness, Proselytism and Religious liberty in the Setting of the WCC, of the Third WCC Assembly (1961); Declaration on Religious Freedom, of the Second Vatican Council (1965); Universal Declaration on Human Rights, of the United Nations (1948), esp. n. 18. Since the right to religious freedom operates in society, these documents also mention rules which modify the use of it.

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  3. In certain linguistic, cultural and confessional contexts, the term "proselytism," used without qualification, has acquired this pejorative sense. In those other languages and contexts in which the term still retains its more original meaning of "zeal in spreading the faith," it will be necessary always to use "proselytism in the pejorative sense" or some phrase which denotes defective attitudes and conduct.

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