Ecumenism

1
Ecumenism Conversion

• Conversion to Christ and the Church A personal
  experience

2
Living a fiction?

• Can Protestantism formulate a policy for reunion
  with Romeshort of unconditional surrender?
• Jaroslav Pelikan (Riddle of Roman Catholicism,
  p221)
• "The only way to effect unity is for one side or
  the other to convert. Normally this does not
  happen, which leaves two alternatives, if one
  wants to try to save a relationship Learn to
  live with the disagreement or pretend there is no
  disagreement, which means to live a fiction
• - Karl Keating (This Rock magazine, Sept 1998)

3
Conversion A Shortcut to Unity?

• The case for conversion to Roman Catholicism is
  thus the case for a reunion of Western
  Christendom here and now, or at least for a
  reunion of as much of Western Christendom as I
  carry in my own person
• Jaroslav Pelikan (Riddle of Roman Catholicism,
  p196)
• I do have my own soul to save and if all roads
  eventually lead to Rome, I may as well leave the
  company and take the short cut directly home.
• (Ibid, p197)

4
or short-circuit?

• Conversion is an individualistic solution to a
  church problem The individual who rashly seeks
  to hasten its solution by a precipitate action of
  his own may well be postponing the eventual
  solution. The road to solutionis not through
  individual conversion but through mutual
  understanding, study and witness.
• (Ibid, p199-200)

5
No Ecumenism without Conversion

• There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name
  without a change of heart.
• Vatican II Declaration on Ecumenism 7
• It can be said that the entire Decree on
  Ecumenism is permeated by the spirit of
  conversion.
• Pope John Paul II, Encyclical on Ecumenism 35

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Conversion Personal Communal

• The Council calls for personal conversion as
  well as for communal conversion.
• The desire of every Christian Community for
  unity goes hand in hand with its fidelity to the
  Gospel.
• In the case of individuals who live their
  Christian vocation, the Council speaks of
  interior conversion, of a renewal of mind. Each
  one therefore ought to be more radically
  converted to the Gospel and, without ever losing
  sight of God's plan, change his or her way of
  looking at things.
• John Paul II, Encyclical on Ecumenism, 15

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Conversion to Unity

• Conversion to Unity means
• Conversion to Christ
• Conversion to Truth
• Conversion to the Church
• Conversion to the Word of God

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Conversion to Christ

• This means that we will never be united if we
  are not united in Christ, and to come to live in
  Christ and of Christ is a question of conversion.
• In ecumenism, conversion has much to do with the
  purification of the memory that is, of again
  seeing all these events of the past -- which have
  caused so much suffering and so many divisions --
  in the light of Christ. Christ reconciles all in
  one.
• Through Christ, approaching Christ, living from
  Christ, we will obtain the intelligence and the
  strength to see the past in the light of God, and
  in this discover that, despite what has happened,
  despite the difficulties, we are and always will
  be more brothers and sisters in Christ.
• Bishop Farrell (Secretary of the PCPCU, 2006)

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How does conversion happen?

• The crucial question
• On a personal individual level?
• On a communal ecclesiastical level?
• Firstly, let me describe how it happened to me on
  an individual level.
• Then let us reflect on what is required on a
  communal level.

10
Conversion to Truth

• All men should be at once impelled by nature and
  also bound by a moral obligation to seek the
  truth, especially religious truth. They are also
  bound to adhere to the truth, once it is known,
  and to order their whole lives in accord with the
  demands of truth.
• Vatican II, Declaration on Religious Freedom, 2

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Conversion to the Church

• It is evident that, when individuals wish for
  full Catholic communion, their preparation and
  reconciliation is an undertaking which of its
  nature is distinct from ecumenical action. But
  there is no opposition between the two, since
  both proceed from the marvelous ways of God.
• Vatican II, Declaration on Ecumenism 4
• Therefore, a slogan that was popular some years
  back  "Jesus yes, Church no", is totally
  inconceivable with the intention of Christ. This
  individualistically chosen Jesus is an imaginary
  Jesus. Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience,
  15th March 2006

12
Conversion to the Word

• Day after day, we must deepen our communion with
  the Holy Church and thus, with the Word of God.
  They are not two opposite things, so that I can
  say I am pro-Church or I am pro-God's Word.
  Only when we are united in the Church, do we
  belong to the Church, do we become members of the
  Church, do we live by the Word of God which is
  the life-giving force of the Church. And those
  who live by the Word of God can only live it
  because it is alive and vital in the living
  Church.
• Pope Benedict XVI, To the Priests of Rome, March
  2006

13
My Personal Conversion

• Early 1980s conversion to the catholic idea
  and to the ecumenical endeavour
• 1992 Ordination as Lutheran pastor
• 1994-2000 Close involvement with Victorian
  Council of Churches
• 2000 Pastor of 3 Lutheran congregations,
  remarried after divorce, a daughter and a child
  on the way
• Easter 2000 began reflection on the Catholic
  Church

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The Process

• July 2000 realised conversion irreversible
• August 2000 began process to regularise marriage
• October 2000 began receiving lessons in Catholic
  faith
• December 2000 Offered new ministry in Adelaide
• January 2001 Announced intention to resign
• March 2001 Clergy Summit meeting
• Palm Sunday 2001 Concluded ministry
• Easter Vigil 2001 Worshipped in Catholic parish
• May 2001 Resigned membership in Lutheran Church
• 16 June 2003 Confirmed in Catholic Church

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Major issues in my conversion

• Continuity Incarnate communion with Christ and
  apostles
• (We must accept newness, but also love
  continuity Benedict XVI)
• Authenticity Visible Church leads to question
  of true church
• Authority Real authority to answer questions of
  the day

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Personal Issues in my conversion

• Personal Surrender
• Submission to authority
• Relinquishing status
• Faith rather than fear/anxiety
• Intellectual assent
• Formation of conscience
• Sacramental reconciliation and penance

17
New Experience of Unity

• The Church is so much bigger on the inside
• like walking out of a small room into the wide
  outdoors fellow convert
• Real experience of universal communion
• Central point of communion in the Petrine
  Ministry
• See www.yearofgrace.blogspot.com

18
New Experience of Disunity

• Experience of broken fellowship also
• Wife
• Children
• Parents and family
• Friends (esp. Lutheran Clergy)

19
Is Communal Conversion Possible?

• We live in an age of individualism
• How are we to hope for conversion as communities
  rather than as individuals?
• How can we hope for the reestablishment of real
  communion among Christian communities?
• How can this even be imagined? What would it
  possibly look like?
• Especially today when Christian communities are
  disintegrating from within at an ever greater rate

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Companions in Conversion

• Individualism is opposed to both
• ecumenism (which is a communal idea) and
• conversion (since conversion requires a point of
  reference beyond the self).
• Communal conversion requires
• the conviction that Christ is to be found in
  Community rather than individually (Matt 1820)
• willingness to travel toward an apprehension of
  Truth which we do not now perfectly possess (Jn
  1613)
• willingness to travel toward being Church in the
  fullest sense (Eph 220-21)

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The Catholic Vision of Unity

• The Catholic Church remains committed to an
  ecumenism of full, visible unity
• Catholic Church no longer takes a come home to
  Momma view of ecumenism
• Conversion towards Christ means we are traveling
  towards unity together rather than back to
  unity

22
Moving Towards Unity

• So this is very important we must tolerate the
  separation that exists. St Paul says that
  divisions are necessary for a certain time and
  that the Lord knows why to test us, to train us,
  to develop us, to make us more humble. But at the
  same time, we are obliged to move towards unity,
  and moving towards unity is already a form of
  unity.
• Pope Benedict XVI, To the Priests of Rome, March
  2006

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Further Reading

• About my conversionwww.yearofgrace.blogspot.com
• For resources on Ecumenismsee
  www.melbourne.catholic.org.au/eic
• About Ecumenism and Conversion Groupe des
  Dombes For the Conversion of the Churches (1993)

24
For the Conversion of the Churches

• From the back of the book
• The conviction that church unity can come about
  only through a process of conversion. Recognising
  that the conversion required for church unity is
  not only that of individuals nor of the Church of
  Christ as a whole, but also confessional
  conversion, the document faces squarely the
  great obstacle to such conversionthe fear the
  distinctive elements of confessional identity
  will be lost in the process by showing that
  Christian, ecclesial and confessional identities
  are inseparable from and indeed grounded in
  conversion.