This exclusivist claim for the Catholic Church does not come out of nowhere, but is consistent with all previous Catholic teaching, as well as that of Lumen Gentium. It does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right [it does not rejoice in other Churches’ difficulties but rejoices in their spiritual success]. Spiritual ecumenism, which Unitatis redintegratio describes as the “soul of the ecumenical movement”; 2. 7, ed. Modern hermeneutics has familiarized us with Hans-Georg Gadamer’s principle of the “history of effects” (Wirkungsgeschichte). There is no hint that any doctrine of the Church should be hidden or obscured from the view of non-Catholics. This was confirmed in Unitatis Redintegratio §1: Everywhere large numbers have felt the impulse of this grace, and among our separated brethren also there increases from day to day the movement, fostered by the grace of the Holy Spirit, for the restoration of unity among all Christians. (UR, 20) Although they may differ from the Church even on weighty doctrines of Christology and soteriology, the Council rejoices that they look to Christ as the source and center of Church unity. The purpose of ecumenism is to bring all Christians to the one faith, so we must try to overcome verbal and conceptual obstacles to assenting to the faith. He sends his Spirit and his charisms, often with the identical external manifestations, on believers of quite different churches, including those whose beliefs we had thought were the furthest from ours. According to this method, to understand a text we need to take into account the effects it produced in history, placing oneself within that history and dialoguing with it. The teaching of the constitution on the Church at Vatican II gave We made the mistake of reducing to a theological problem internal to Christianity what was for the apostle instead an affirmation of far-reaching and cosmic significance. The religious wars between Catholics and Protestants are over, and we have much better things to do than fight with one another! These differ not only from the Church’s constitution, but even from each other in fundamental points of ecclesiology, discipline, and doctrine. (UR, 23) This does not mean that they thereby receive grace that effects salvation, for their deficiency of unity (in obedience or in faith) remains. For he that is not against you, is for you. Instead of polemically denouncing all other forms of Christianity, Catholics are called to recognize what is good in other Christian traditions, and to acknowledge that not all errors are culpable, while at the same time faithfully representing the truth of Catholic tradition. UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO 11Mar05. Among the renewal activities oriented toward ecumenism, the Council enumerates: Biblical and liturgical movements, the preaching of the word of God and catechetics, the apostolate of the laity, new forms of religious life and the spirituality of married life, and the Church’s social teaching and activity… (UR, 6) Reforms in these areas had already taken place in the years preceding the Council, and these are pledges and signs of the future progress of ecumenism. After presenting humanity in its universal state of sin and damnation in the two preceding chapters of Romans, the apostle has the unmitigated courage to proclaim that this situation has now radically changed “through the redemption which is in Christ,” “by one’s man’s obedience” (Rom 3:24, 5:19). It is vital for the whole future of the Church for us not to miss this opportunity by remaining prisoners of the past or limiting ourselves, in more irenic tones, to determine the rights and wrongs of both parties. It is only in this structure that Christian unity is perfected. It means rather allowing the whole Church to benefit from its positive achievements once they are freed of certain excesses and hardening of positions that were due to the overheated climate of that time, and to political interference and subsequent polemics. (LG, 8) The Council does not repeat the teaching here, for it has already declared its teaching on the Church. The true and sure sign of the coming of the Holy Spirit is not, St. Augustine writes, speaking in tongues but the love of unity: “You can be sure you have the Holy Spirit when you agree to cling to unity with genuine charity.” Yesterday began the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. There are several concrete initiatives for promoting Christian unity enumerated by the Council: Here we find the basic outline of the Vatican Council’s plan for ecumenism. Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis Redintegratio … The baptized are really incorporated into the Church on some level, and so by the same token the Church has a responsibility for all Christians. Unitatis Redintegratio: The Decree on Ecumenism. [Nevertheless,] armed with all the powers, enjoying all the riches they owe to science, our societies are still trying to live by and to teach systems of values already blasted at the root by science itself. It surfaces as soon as the issue of revelation comes up, as if the Protestants had only Scripture while the Catholics had Scripture and tradition. (UR, 17) The particular Churches and their faithful are all children of the Catholic Church. The first point, suppression of certain expressions, judgments and actions that complicate ecumenical relations, is perhaps the most visibly implemented in the modern Church. Contrast, are required by Christian duty by Christ, and that is authentically Christian, since they retain constitution... 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