wfn.org | Cardinal Cassidy Homily at Lambeth Ecumenical Vespers

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

ACNS LC034 - 20 July 1998

Homily at Lambeth Ecumenical Vespers Service-July 20, 1998

Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy President, Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity

Your Grace, dear brothers and sisters in Christ,I am most
grateful to the Archbishop of Canterbury for graciously inviting
me to preach at this Ecumenical Vespers service as the Lambeth
Conference gets under way. I am honoured to be asked to address
you. As President of the Pontifical Council which assists Pope
John Paul II and the whole Catholic Church with the task of
promoting the unity of all the disciples of the one Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, I take the invitation most seriously.

In what I make bold to say I cannot presume to speak for all the
other ecumenical guests. However, I am sure that I can say on
behalf of all how much we appreciate the opportunity to share
this important moment in the life of the Anglican Communion as
the second Christian millennium draws to a close. We will all be
praying that the life in Christ of your churches, and their unity
with one another, will be deepened through this Conference.

The last thirty years or so have seen our relationships renewed,
our brotherhood and sisterhood rediscovered. Now a commitment to
seek visible unity, enhanced contacts, dialogue and discussion
are normal for most Christian Churches and communities. In
particular, praying for unity, as we do here this evening, has
become almost commonplace. This is all the fruit of God's grace
for which we do not cease to give thanks. At the same time, as
ecumenical commitment loses its novelty, there are new risks of
which I will speak in a moment.

Our prayer for unity often returns to the priestly prayer of
Jesus Christ in chapter 17 of Saint John's Gospel. Sometimes it
may seem that its words are used almost like an ecumenical
proof-text--when the going gets tough we turn to them to be
reminded that here the New Testament speaks particularly clearly
about unity. We need anchor-holds in storms, but the significance
of John chapter 17 is greater than that.

Among the many reasons for seeking Christian unity the primary
one is the desire to do Christ's will. Slowly, our Churches have
been relearning this lesson, especially by reflecting on the
prayer of Christ in verses 20-21: "I pray not only for these, but
for those also who through their words will believe in me. May
they all be one. Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me
and I am in you". When this prayer, which is our prayer too, is
answered, there may indeed be greater efficiency, better
husbandry of resources, or the elimination of competitiveness,
perhaps solutions to other organisational concerns as well. But,
crucially, we will have become more obedient to Christ's will for
his Church.

It is clear that John's Gospel challenges us to seek unity of a
particular and demanding kind. It is unity in the truth, a unity
grounded in more faithful obedience to every aspect of the Gospel
of Christ. Our oneness is to reflect the unity between Christ and
his Father which was manifested in the Lord's obedience in all
things, even unto death. He glorified his Father by finishing the
work he was given to do (cf. Jn 17: 3-4). "I know him and I
faithfully keep his word", he says Jn 8:55). "What I have spoken
does not come from myself; no ... what I had to speak was
commanded by the Father who sent me" Jn 12:49). To those who
follow him he has made known everything he learned from his
Father; they will be his "friends" if they do what he commands
(cf. Jn 15: 14-15). "I have given them

the teaching you gave to me" (Jn 17:8). Before praying for their
unity, he asks the Father: "Consecrate them in the truth; your
word is truth" (17:17). As the very first ARCIC statement on
Authority put it, "The Church is a community which consciously
seeks to submit to Jesus Christ"1. The Lord gives his Spirit to
create and perfect this koinonia2.

If we are to reach a unity grounded in such deep faithfulness,
there has to be continual conversion. The Second Vatican Council
underlined this in its Decree on Ecumenism with those remarkable
words: "There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a
change of heart"3. Pope John Paul II, in his Encyclical,
similarly, prefaced his consideration of the practice of
ecumenism by reflecting on renewal and conversion4. Indeed,
having expressed the conviction that the Bishop of Rome's mission
today is "particularly directed to recalling the need for full
communion among Christ's disciples"5, he asks everyone to join
him in praying for his conversion indispensable if, like Peter,
he is to serve his brethren6. Truly to desire unity we have to
pray for our conversion to Christ and his truth.

Why, then, mention risk, as I did earlier? For two reasons. The
first comes if we lower our sights. Doubts are expressed about
whether we shall ever reach the goal of full, visible unity.
Should we not concentrate on shorter-term goals, greater
understanding and cooperation, a peaceful coexistence (which, I
believe, would itself prove illusory)? Three years ago Pope John
Paul II said quite unambiguously that the Catholic Church
continues to be irrevocably committed to the re-establishment of
full, visible unity among all the baptised7. If we believe the
Church to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic then mutual
understanding and doctrinal convergence, vital as they are,
cannot be sufficient.

The second threat is more insidious. It comes when prayer for
unity and ecumenical engagement are compartmentalised,
hermetically sealed off from other areas of Church life and
decision-making. If these are just part of a series of concerns,
perhaps left to the enthusiasts, the ecumenical imperative
becomes subtly marginalised. Different approaches, important
decisions, in other areas of the Church's life can conflict with
it and may even undermine it. The commitment to unity is
relativised if diversity and differences that cannot be
reconciled with the Gospel are at the same time being embraced
and exalted. It is put in question when pluralism in the Church
comes to be regarded as a kind of 'postmodem' beatitude. It will
be lost sight of altogether if radical obedience, and the
necessity of costly ethical choices for faithful discipleship,
are swept aside by a naive overemphasis on our innate goodness,
underestimating the reality of sin in our lives and our world and
also the power of Christ's redemption and the grace-filled
possibility of conversion. Are we not experiencing in fact new
and deep divisions among Christians as

a result of contrasting approaches to human sexuality for
instance? When such attitudes are in the ascendant, disunity
between Christians will remain unresolved. Moreover, disunity
becomes an increasingly grave matter within the still-separated
Churches as well. Authoritative proclamation of the Gospel of
Christ is diminished.

I believe this Conference is, to give considerable attention to
The Virginia Report. It is concerned with how the Anglican
Communion makes authoritative decisions which, in the final
analysis, means how the Gospel is to be proclaimed
authoritatively and faithfully. You have shared this report with
your ecumenical partners. This is a sign of trust in us. It shows
that we are joined in an imperfect but real degree of communion,
as brothers and sisters in Christ, so that the lives of our
Churches are increasingly bound up with each other. I hope it
also represents an awareness of how important the renewal and
strengthening8 of Anglican instruments of communion is for
progress towards full communion between the Anglican Communion
and the Catholic Church.

^From the beginning of Anglican-Catholic dialogue Authority in the
Church has had a prominent place in our discussions. In fact, it
lies at the heart of how and why we have diverged. Great progress
was made by the first ARCIC, and the present Commission may soon
complete a further agreed statement. More and more we are coming
to realise in all our theological dialogue just how important the
question of authority is for real progress towards unity. We are
constantly faced with fundamental questions that demand an
answer. What are the means with which the Church of Christ has
been endowed to ensure the Good News is proclaimed with
authority? How will it pass on in its entirety what we ourselves
have received (cf. 1 Cor 15:3), what was seen and heard (cf. 1 Jn
1:3)? How are Christians to respond to new questions and remain
faithful to the Gospel of Christ? How is the authority of Christ
appropriately exercised at different levels in the Church? And
when we reach ecumenical agreement can our Churches recognise it
authoritatively so as to be sure that the results will be taken
into their life? Again and again, such questions bring us back to
the Johannine vision of unity in loving, faithful obedience.

We are in dialogue because we know that brothers and sisters in
Christ should be able to give united testimony to him. What
happens in one Christian community affects others. The deepening
of communion within any Christian Church is a gift to the others;
its impairment diminishes us all. As you reflect on how Christian
authority is exercised within the Anglican Communion, I pray that
your deliberations may lead to a strengthening of those
"restraints of truth and love", of which the 1920 Conference
spoke. They are not a restraining of the Holy Spirit. Rather,
they are his work, as he leads us to the complete truth by saying
"only what he has learnt" Qn 16:13). The Spirit, again to use
some words of ARCIC, "safeguards [the People of God's]
faithfulness to the revelation of Jesus Christ".9

I want to express in Christian love the concern of the Catholic
Church when new and conflicting interpretations of the Gospel
result in fresh disagreements, especially where these touch
ministry and strain ecclesial communion, above all at the
Eucharist. The Virginia Report is surely right to argue that "At
all times the theological praxis of the local church must be
consistent with the truth of the gospel which belongs to the
universal Church"10; and that the universal Church sometimes has
"to say with firmness that a particular local practice or theory
is incompatible with Christian faith"11. In ARCIC's words, "A
local Church cannot be truly faithful to Christ if it does not
desire to foster universal communion, the embodiment of that
unity for which Christ prayed"12. Is not some form of universal
authority the necessary corollary of communion at a universal
level, even while Christians are on the way towards full
communion? Indeed the Spirit does bestow a diversity of gifts but
their purpose is that "we all come to unity in our faith and in
our knowledge of the Son of God" (Eph 4:13).

As we go into a third Christian millennium the Risen Lord still
calls us to go and make disciples of all the nations (cf. Mt
28:19). Even where the Church has long been present there are
many who have not heard the Gospel preached to them and in their
search for meaning have turned to other beliefs and to
superstitions. The ecumenical  movement has taught us not to be
complacent any longer about the effects on mission and
evangelisation of our disunity and conflicting voices. Our
divisions may have contributed to the growth in society of a
do-it-yourself, a la carte attitude towards what should be
believed and which decisions are important. In obedience to
Christ we have to address the world sympathetically, but with
clarity and conviction, about the Good News of ever-lasting life
in Jesus Christ. May each of us hear the urgency in the Lord's
prayer for unity - "May they be one in us, as you are in me and I
am in you, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me"
(Jn 17:21).

1 1 Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, Authority
in the Church 1, 4. 

2 Cf. Ibid., 1-4 and passim.

3  Second Vatican Council, Decree on Ecumenism Unitatis
Redintegratio, 4

4 John Paul 11, Encyclical Letter on Commitment to Ecumenism Ut
unum sint, 15-17.

5 Ut unum sint, 4. 6 Ibid.7 Ibid. 77.8 Cf. Inter-Anglican
Theological and Doctrinal Commission, The Virginia Report, 1. 14,
3.54 and passim.9 Authority in the Church 1, 3.10 The Virginia
Report., 4.25. 

11 Ibid. 12 Authority in the Church 1, 13.

Lambeth Conference Communications-5

For further information, contact:

Lambeth Conference Communications
Canterbury Business School
University of Kent at Canterbury
Telephone: 01227 827348/9
Fax: 01227 828085
Mobile: 0374 800212

http://www.lambethconference.org