A Word from Rome

Several weeks ago the Vatican issued a document entitled Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church. That's a mouthful of a title, although the document itself is quite brief: a short introduction and a five part Q&A. I hope you'll take a few minutes to click on the link and read what this is all about.

Here's what I wrote in my letter in the bulletin the week following the document's release:

I see that the Vatican has issued another document, Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church. I’m not sure who’s asking questions requiring the responses offered by this document. While Responses is meant to clarify, I fear that at the grass roots level it may make things muddier.

First you should realize that very little in this document is new. It’s what the Catholic Church has been teaching for centuries. In the last 50+ years, however, something new has happened: ecumenical and interfaith advances made in religious circles have been revolutionary, good, fruitful and clearly the work of God’s Spirit. But in the course of these events, our new found open relationships with other Christian denominations and other faiths have led some to conclude that, “It doesn’t really matter what you believe, as long as you believe something, and as long as you believe that loving your neighbor is the way to live.” Well, virtually all faiths hold that what we believe does matter. While many articles of faith unite us, there are some that divide us and understanding what we believe helps to define who and what we are - and who and what we are not. What we believe and how we put our belief into practice makes significant differences in how we live and share our faith with others.

No one should be surprised to read that Catholics name Christ as the one source of salvation and the Catholic Church as the Church established by Christ: thus the Church has taught since it’s early times. What’s new in the document at hand is what we have come to in the last half century: “(A)ccording to Catholic doctrine, it is correct to affirm that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the churches and ecclesial Communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, on account of the elements of sanctification and truth that are present in them” and that such bodies of faith have real “significance (and) importance in the mystery of salvation” and that, “in fact, the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church." Responses lifts up such faith communities as channels of grace and affirms their relationship in the work of salvation and the fullness of grace and truth with which Catholics believe their church has been entrusted. The document’s message also reminds that all Christians (Catholic and Protestant) bear responsibility for our not having yet realized in history that fullness of one Communion that is eminently the desire of Christ for all his brothers and sisters.

I acknowledge that the language of Responses is difficult and is made even more so when reduced to headlines and sound bytes. Let the language and message of Responses not compromise the respect, reverence and love various Christian faith communities have for one another, through which they have nurtured a fruitful relationship in our own times. As we who profess one faith, one Lord and one baptism open ourselves more fully to the Spirit of grace and truth, we will find ourselves drawn closer to one Communion of all who name Jesus as Lord.