Christian Ecumenism (Karl Barth Quote)

Christian Ecumenism

To listen to this in mp3 format click here

To be sure, one of the most valuable achievements of the Second Vatican Council is the improved relations with non-Catholic Christians and the great strides that have been taken in what is commonly called “ecumenism.” There is, unfortunately, a false ecumenism that is easily and often confused with the ecumenism that the Council had promoted.

One false impression that many Catholics have is that Catholicism is simply one Christian denomination among many. That is, one path to God among many other equally legitimate paths offered by the other Christian denominations and perhaps even other non-Christian religions. Nothing could be further from the truth. Both before and after Vatican II, the Catholic Church understands itself to be the One and Only Church established by Christ, and that the fullness of divine revelation can be found nowhere else. This is why the conversion of Protestant Christians is still worth facilitating and rejoicing over.

To ignore the profound differences that still divide Catholics and non-Catholic Christians, it to miss the importance of some of the most central Catholic teachings, such as the authority of the Papacy, the veneration of Our Lady, and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Ironically, this is a lesson of which we Catholics can be reminded by one of the great anti-Catholic Protestant theologians, Karl Barth, who said, “If we are truly following Christ, we are not placed above our differences, we are (rather) all the more bound up in them.”