"Turn to God - rejoice in hope": Roman Catholic perspectives for Harare and beyond - World Council of Churches, eighth assembly in Harare - "Turn to God - Rejoice in Hope": Unfolding the Eighth Assembly Theme

In the context of widespread post-modern scepticism about any personal destiny beyond a happy life, and any goal of human history beyond an affluent society, Christianity and the other great religions have a much-needed therapeutic task to fulfil: to liberate people from fear and to restore the network of hope and joy once woven by the Creator of heaven and earth, and promised to all the blessed of the Lord who walk on the path of the Holy Spirit of God. This "network of hope and joy" is not the elusive by-product of some religious group-dynamics, but a tangible and visible pattern of solidarity which can liberate from fear and create human dignity across all boundaries of race, nationality, class or gender. It is called God's covenant in the Jewish scriptures, umma in the Qu'ran, koinonia in the Second Testament of the church of Jesus Christ. This koinonia is not the delicate outcome of a human balance of power, but the result of God's policy and basileia: where people call upon God, and live according to the standards of God's kingdom, justice, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit of God will be their part (Rom. 14:17). We have walked along the same path, but on different journeys thus far; what would happen if we, as ecumenical pilgrims, decided to travel together towards the common "goal of our pilgrimage": the household of God (K. Raiser).

NOTES

(1) Towards a Common Understanding and Vision of the World Council of Churches, WCC, Geneva 1996, pp.5-6. This text, hereafter cited as CUV, was sent to WCC member churches and ecumenical partners for response in November 1996; and on the basis of more than 150 such responses a revised version was adopoted by the central committee in September 1997 as a policy document. While some of the passages quoted in what follows were substantially modified in the final document (which will be discussed at the Harare assembly), it is evident that the issues they raise raise remain on the agenda of the WCC and the ecumenical movement.

(2) Ibid, p. 13.

(3) See Codex Iuris Canonici, (CIC 1983), canon 755 [sections] 1.

(4) CUV p.7.

(5) Ibid, p.22.

(6) A remarkable phrase in this regard in CUV reads: "...some member churches of the WCC (...) believe that the fellowship of the WCC is impoverished by its absence" (p.23). Apparently there are others who do not!

(7) A document with the title Patterns of Relationship (The Ecumenical Review, vol. 24, 1972, pp.266ff) was prepared in view of the central committee meeting at Utrecht 1972, but could not be discussed or adopted because the Roman Catholic authorities were not satisfied with the, solutions suggested for the ecclesiological difficulties which then existed. In this report three possibilities for closer relations between the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church were mentioned: the evolution of coordinated structures for increasing collaboration; the formation of a new fellowship, differently constituted; membership of the Roman Catholic Church in the WCC. About the second possibility, though finally rejected, three suggestions were made in the report: to recognize the World Council as an organization of confessional families, as a fellowship based on national or regional Christian councils, or as a fellowship of Christian movements and organizations. As each of those suggestions was then considered unadvisable, the emphasis of the report was on possible structures for RCC membership in the WCC. This proposal, however, could not prevail and only the first possibility was retained for development in what was called -- logically but somewhat euphemistically -- "increasing cooperation, collaboration and participation".