Ecumenical Springtime?

(Vatican Radio) After examining new challenges in the field of mission, the World Council of Churches Assembly in Busan, South Korea returned to the crucial theme of the search for unity between the divided Christian Churches. Earlier this year, a new document from the WCC’s Faith and Order Commission showed that today there is more common ground than ever before, a development that was built on by the Busan encounter. Philippa Hitchen is following events with the Catholic delegation at the Assembly…..
Those who still talk of an ecumenical winter and an impasse on the road to Christian unity, are quite simply out of step with the spirit of the times. Firstly, because the upbeat atmosphere at this gathering of 345 churches, plus many other ecumenical partners, speaks loudly of the conviction that people who pray together, stay together and eventually find a way together. That’s why each day of the meeting begins and ends with a prayer service led by different Christian traditions: from the Orthodox blessing of loaves of bread, to the mystical, meditative Taize chanting, from Catholic or Anglican evening prayer, to the exuberant gospel choirs of the newer Evangelical communities. While not everyone can yet share the Eucharist together, we can and should do much more in the way of common worship and celebration.
Secondly, because as we’ve being hearing daily, Christians of different denominations are increasingly working together, trying to bring justice, peace and reconciliation to places of conflict and oppression. From climate change to gender justice, from fair trade to religious freedom, from the war in Syria to the conflict with nearby North Korea, Christians are constantly responding to new challenges and finding fresh ways of witnessing to the Gospel of life together. But as the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said in his message to the Assembly, there can be “no comfortable way of sitting on the Cross”. As we work to bring hope and healing to others, we are called to confess our own faults and recognize our dependency on God and on one another. Noticeably, the youngest participants at this Assembly are the ones calling most loudly for an end to the scandal of Christian divisions.
And thirdly, because I sense the General Secretary of the WCC, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit is right when he talks about a new momentum in the ecumenical movement – coinciding with new leadership in many of our churches. Though Pope Francis is not here in person at this Assembly, his name is mentioned repeatedly, in and outside the plenary meetings. His very visible determination to break down barriers, reform institutions and reach out to people in new ways has brought a real sense of hope that builds on the patient theological progress of the past few years.. How will all this bear fruit when the doors close on this Assembly on Friday? I wish I had the answer to that question. All I can tell you is that amidst the beautiful autumn colours in Korea, there’s a definite sense of springtime in the air.