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Introduction
   Chapter I. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION
   Chapter II. WITNESSING TO THE KINGDOM: THREE NARRATIVES
      FROM DIFFERENT CONTEXTS

   Chapter III. DISCERNING GOD’S WILL IN THE SERVICE OF THE KINGDOM
   Chapter IV. THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE CHURCH
   Chapter V. DIALOGUE AND COMMON WITNESS
   Conclusion
   Appendix: THE THEME OF KINGDOM OF GOD IN INTERNATIONAL
      ECUMENICAL DIALOGUE
   List of Participants
FULL TEXT

Introduction

1. “The Church as Community of Common Witness to the Kingdom of God” was the overarching theme of international theological conversations sponsored by the Catholic Church and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches between 1998 and 2005. This was the third phase of the Reformed-Catholic international dialogue. Annual meetings were held in Venice, Italy (1998); Oegstgeest, the Netherlands (1999); Castel Gandolfo, Italy (2000); Cape Town, South Africa (2001); Newry, Northern Ireland (2002); Toronto, Canada (2003); and Venice, Italy (2004). A subcommittee appointed to finalize this report and prepare it for publication met in Rome, Italy (2004, 2005) and in Geneva, Switzerland (2005), and submitted the result of its work to the commission for comment and approval.

2. More than thirty-five years ago, when Catholic and Reformed representatives met to explore the desirability and feasibility of official conversations through an international joint commission, a convergence emerged around the importance of addressing three subjects: christology, ecclesiology, and the attitude of the Christian in the world.1 These three topics are reflected in the themes of the three rounds of theological conversations held since then.

3. The general theme of the first round (1970-1977) was “The Presence of Christ in Church and World”. This theme was chosen because “it seemed to have a bearing not only on the ultimate salvation of man but also on his life and happiness here and now”. It was also expected that it would “tend to bring to light the differences between the two communions and that an honest appraisal of these differences could help the two traditions to overcome them…”2 The final report, a revised version of the common statements adopted at the end of each of the five sessions, addressed the following topics: Christ’s relationship to the Church; the teaching authority of the Church; the presence of Christ in the world; the Eucharist; and ministry.3

4. The second series of conversations (1984-1990) focused on the understanding of the Church. The resulting report, Towards a Common Understanding of the Church,4 opens with a substantial effort at reconciliation of memories in which the dialogue partners share with each other the ecclesiological and reforming concerns of their sixteenth century predecessors as well as their own contemporary attitudes towards one another. The report then moves to a common confession of faith that includes affirmations of Jesus Christ as the one mediator between God and humanity, on justification by grace through faith, and on the role of the church in justification. It also identifies some distinct Reformed and Catholic understandings of the Church, its continuity throughout the ages, and its ministerial order. In its final chapter, entitled “The Way Forward”, the report notes that “‘living for each other’ as churches must also mean ‘bearing common witness.’”5

5. In choosing the theme “The Church as Community of Common Witness to the Kingdom of God” for the present series of conversations, the two communions wanted to shed new light on the two areas just mentioned, ecclesiology and common witness. They intended to make clearer the complementarity claimed by Towards a Common Understanding of the Church6 between the Reformed emphasis on the church as creatura verbi and the Catholic emphasis on the church as sacramentum gratiae. They intended also to reflect on the ecumenical significance of witnessing together to the kingdom of God.7

6. From its beginning, the Reformed-Catholic dialogue, with its aim of overcoming our historical divisions, has been attentive to the issue of the method best suited to approaching the ecumenical experiences, needs, and hopes of our communities living and witnessing in a great variety of situations around the world. Those who prepared this dialogue in the late 1960s firmly believed that it must reflect “not only the peculiar tensions between the two traditions”, but also “their common concern to make manifest the relevance of Christ in the world today”.8 The ecumenical work accomplished in Towards a Common Understanding of the Church was carried out in the framework of an effort of reconciliation of memories that engaged Catholic and Reformed communities by drawing from local case studies to illustrate the relationship between the two traditions throughout history.

7. The third phase of our dialogue was no exception to this concern about the most appropriate methodology. In fact, the dialogue was marked by an intense discussion on ecumenical methodology, discussion that sometimes cut across our respective confessional borders. At the heart of this discussion is the desire to find the most appropriate way of articulating the struggle to overcome Christian divisions in relation to the struggle to overcome what divides societies, nations, cultures and religions in today’s world. Of course, this gave rise at times to that tension which results when believers give unequal importance to one aspect of such correlative issues as practice and theory, contextual theology and universal theology, Christian life and Christian doctrine, Christian unity in the struggle for justice and Christian unity in matters of faith, sacraments and ministry.

8. The inner structure of the present report and the order in which its results are presented reflect both this vigorous discussion and the methodological convergences to which it gave rise. Thus, the joint commission decided to approach the theme of the kingdom of God first of all by a return to the sources of Christian faith – and primarily to the Scriptures. The work on biblical exegesis as well as the daily meditation on biblical texts in the context of morning and evening prayer helped us also to experience growth in mutual respect and friendship and to see the discipline of spiritual ecumenism as a vital element in the common search for that communion in faith and life that bears witness now to the future recapitulation of all things in Christ. The return to the biblical sources was followed by explorations in our common patristic heritage and of Reformed and Catholic theology after the sixteenth century. This is the essential content of the first chapter of the present report.

9.The second chapter turns to the witness to the kingdom by Reformed and Catholic Christians living in challenging situations today. To enable its reflection, the joint commission decided to hold its 2001 session in South Africa, its 2002 session in Northern Ireland, and its 2003 session in Canada.9 As a result, the essential content of chapter II includes three witness narratives in which Christian life is successively confronted with major challenges such as the apartheid system in South Africa, the search for reconciliation and peace in Northern Ireland, and the struggle for justice of aboriginal peoples in Canada.

10. In the course of this reflection on witnessing to the kingdom in challenging situations, the joint commission realized the importance of exploring ecumenically how Christian communities construe the discernment of God’s will in their particular contexts. Thus the third chapter focuses upon our common sources of discernment and upon how Catholics and Reformed make use of them in their distinctive patterns of discernment. It concludes by commenting on the possibilities of common discernment and witness.

11. The first three chapters of this report provide a promising context to investigate further some aspects of the nature of the church (chapter IV). The common work in ecclesiology undertaken by the present phase of our dialogue was marked by the hope that, by revisiting ongoing issues of ecclesiology in the light of a fresh appreciation of the kingdom of God and the contemporary search for Christian obedience, new ecumenical possibilities might be opened which could be the source of renewed perseverance and commitment to the unity to which God calls us.

12. The last chapter of this report proposes, in more meditative language, a reflection on issues of spiritual ecumenism which were central to our theme and to our common life. In a fundamental sense, our dialogue itself is already an act of common witness, a reconciling experience that calls for further reconciliation of memories as obedience leads us to unity in faith and action, to a common witness in which the signs of the kingdom are shared with the poor.

13. We explored the theme of the kingdom of God in full awareness of the fact that it had already been taken up by other bilateral dialogues. Their reports reveal a rich body of material. They treat themes such as the relationships between kingdom and church, kingdom and world or creation, and the implications of the kingdom of God for church-world relations. They also illustrate differing views among dialogue partners in regard to aspects of the kingdom. In order not to duplicate work that has been already done, this joint commission decided to review the way those bilateral dialogues dealt with the theme of the kingdom. Although the results of this review do not comprise a chapter in this report, we did draw much inspiration from them and they remain a valuable resource for further research. We therefore include our summary of them as an appendix.

14. This joint commission commends “The Church as Common Witness to the Kingdom of God” to our sponsors – the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Pontifical Council For Promoting Christian Unity – for their consideration. It humbly asks that the sponsors will give the report wide circulation, and foster reception of it in every way deemed appropriate. We also hope that this report will stimulate theological exchange, contribute to ecumenical formation and foster and intensify mutual understanding and recognition as well as common witness at all levels of our churches.

15. In the course of our meetings together we have been inspired anew by the many Christians, female and male, young and old, whose discipleship to the kingdom (Matt 13:52) proclaimed in the gospels prevents them from being conformed to a divided world and to separation among Christians. Instead, it urges them to be willing to offer their own lives as a sacrifice (cf. Rom 12:1) in order that the wounds of Christian division and human alienation may be healed. The opportunity to meet such sisters and brothers in some truly challenging situations has been a major encouragement for the participants to complete this series of theological conversations. We hope that, in due time, a fourth round of theological dialogue might be taken up, benefiting from the results of a solid reception process of this report. “May God’s Kingdom come”!

 


ENDNOTES



  1. “Preparation for the dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches”. Proceedings of the Uniting General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (Presbyterian and Congregational), Geneva, Offices of the Alliance, 1970, 204-210; The Presence of Christ in Church and World (cf. footnote 3), para. 6.

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  2. “Preparation for the dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches”, op. cit., 206.

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  3. The Presence of Christ in Church and World – Dialogue between the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity 1970-77. Geneva, 1977, 39 pp.; www.warc.ch/dt/; Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, Information Service 35 (1977/III-IV):18-34.

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  4. Towards a Common Understanding of the Church, Geneva, WARC, 1991, 61 pp; www.warc.ch/dt/; Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Information Service 74 (1990/III):91-118.

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  5. Towards a Common Understanding of the Church, para. 157.

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  6. Ibid., para. 106-109.

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  7. Cf. Ibid., para. 152-154, 157.

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  8. “Preparation for the dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches”. Proceedings of the Uniting General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (Presbyterian and Congregational), Geneva, Offices of the Alliance, 1970, 205.

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  9. On two of these occasions, a Reformed and a Catholic theologian were each commissioned to present a paper describing the way in which their churches sought to bear witness to God’s reign in their particular contexts.

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