wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: Receiving the Holy Spirit from one another

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World Council of Churches - Feature
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For immediate release - 13/05/2005

RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT FROM ONE ANOTHER

By Theodore Gill (*)

      Free photos available at
      www.mission2005.org

A leading Vatican official affirms that Catholics are "in the ecumenical
movement" to find answers to questions of Christian unity, recognizing the
World Council of Churches as "an essential partner".

"We are here to listen," said Bishop Brian Farrell, leader of the Vatican
delegation to the 13th Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, "and as
we listen, we've got to reflect, and then respond. We are in the ecumenical movement to try to clarify the questions before us all, and to come to
answers. The value of a meeting like this is that it stimulates us to want
to find answers together."

This is not the first occasion that Catholics have been present at
conferences sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC). In the years
following the Second Vatican Council and its opening to "separated
brethren" and sisters of other Christian communities, Catholics began to
attend such events as observers. Soon, the Catholic Church became a full
partner in the Faith and Order commission, the Commission on World Mission
and Evangelism and the Joint Working Group between the Catholic Church and
the WCC. For a decade, the WCC and the Vatican worked jointly in development and peace-making through a joint commission for society, development and
peace (SODEPAX). But each relationship has experienced highs and lows.

"For us," asserts Bishop Farrell, "the World Council of Churches is an
essential partner in the wider ecumenical movement. There is nowhere else
where so many strands of the modern ecumenical movement have come
together. But it is no secret, I think, that we have had criticisms of the
WCC that are also shared by some others. When Faith and Order was central
to the life of the World Council, we believe that the organization was
more effective as an instrument in the quest for Christian unity. So we
continue to look to the strengthening of Faith and Order as key to the
life of the WCC and its member churches, as well as to the Council's
understanding of other issues such as justice and peace."

The bishop, a member of the Joint Working Group and its executive
committee, is secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian
Unity. He and his colleagues have been greatly cheered by the ecumenically-minded pronouncements made by Pope Benedict XVI since his election last
month. "We are full of hope in everything we've heard regarding ecumenical
relations. The pope is totally supportive. And he has been deeply involved
in dialogue since he was a young theologian in Germany engaged in
discussion with Lutherans, and he has been a prominent figure in dialogue
with Orthodox theologians."

Arrangements are being made for the upcoming visit to Rome by WCC general
secretary, Samuel Kobia, as was formally announced on Wednesday of this
week. "Ever since Dr Kobia was inaugurated in his position at the
beginning of last year," says Bishop Farrell, "we have been looking
forward to welcoming him and presenting him to the pope. Unfortunately,
this event was delayed by the ill health and finally by the death of Pope
John Paul II. We were grateful that Dr Kobia attended the funeral at St
Peter's. Now we are eager to spend more time with him, to make a review of
our relationship, to pinpoint areas where we can work more closely."

The bishop has been encouraged by recent attempts of the WCC and many of
its partners to "map the ecumenical movement". He says that he has "long
been puzzled by what I call the geometry of the ecumenical movement, by
how the different manifestations interconnect. What the WCC has done so
far by way of mapping is a very necessary first step towards understanding, and I would like to see a broad-based event dedicated solely to analyzing
the map."

Some dimensions and angles of intersection appear to change over time. The
increased representation at this conference of Pentecostals as well as
Catholics suggests an alteration in the ecumenical configuration. The
bishop comments that Catholics and Pentecostals are coming to know each
other better in many parts of the world, as in Latin America, where
Pentecostal churches are thriving and the number of Catholic charismatics
is also rising, despite an overall drop in Catholic membership on that
continent. "The rise of Catholic charismatics is not a strategic response
to Pentecostalism, but a spontaneous movement of the Holy Spirit. This may
be a point of contact where dialogue can become more sensitive as each
side comes to appreciate the other. This may provide a language and
framework for mutual understanding."

Latin America will be the venue of the WCC's 9th Assembly, to be convened
in Porto Alegre, Brazil in February 2006. The Brazilian national conference of churches, which includes the Catholic and assorted Pentecostal
churches, will act as co-host on the campus of the Pontifical Catholic
University. "Catholics will be involved for a variety of reasons," says
Bishop Farrell, "and all these factors favour growing public interest in
the Assembly as we draw closer to the date."

Diverting from the vocabulary of church organizations, conferences and
movements, Bishop Farrell reflects, "Personal contact is all-important.
This is a profound theological truth that must not be forgotten. Everything worthwhile in the church is personal. Jesus Christ became a human being,
and he chose individual people as his followers. Christian communication
is personal. It can't be accomplished through a printed manual alone nor
by systems of mass distribution. In the end, someone has to reach out and
put his hand on you and say, 'Receive the Holy Spirit!'" [908]

(*) Theodore Gill is senior editor of WCC Publications in Geneva and a
minister ordained by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

A photo of Bishop Farrell is available on our website:
http://www.mission2005.org/People.920.0.html

Conference website: www.mission2005.org

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 347, in
more than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly,
which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally
inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.