Ut Unum Sint and Catholic Involvement in Ecumenism

Ecumenical Review, The, April, 2000 by William Henn

Recognition of the authentic discipleship of other Christians and of the ecclesial qualities of their communities led to a famous change in the draft of paragraph 8 of Lumen Gentium.(8) The Council substituted the verb "subsists in" for the verb "is" in the sentence which thus came to read: "This church [the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church of the creed], constituted and organized as a society in the present world, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him." By choosing not to affirm simply that the church of Christ "is" the Catholic Church, the Council refused to identify the two in an exclusive way. This change was made so that what was affirmed about the Catholic Church would not contradict the recognition that "many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible confines". These elements are "ecclesial", which means that the church of Christ is present and active in a Christian community to the degree that these elements are present. Ut Unum Sint summarizes this in the following way:

   To the extent that these elements are found in other Christian communities,
   the one church of Christ is effectively present in them. For this reason
   the Second Vatican Council speaks of a certain, though imperfect communion.
   The Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium stresses that the Catholic Church
   "recognizes that in many ways she is linked" with these communities by a
   true union in the Holy Spirit (para. 11).

One of the more succinct ways in which the Second Vatican Council described the church is in the opening paragraph of Lumen Gentium, which calls the church a kind of a "sacrament", that is a sign and instrument of union with God and among men and women. The Council applied a similar "sacramental" terminology to other Christian communities in the Decree on Ecumenism, which John Paul quotes:

   It follows that these separated churches and communities, though we believe
   that they suffer from defects, have by no means been deprived of
   significance and value in the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of
   Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive
   their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the
   Catholic Church [Unitatis Redintegratio, para. 3, quoted in Ut Unum Sint,
   para. 10].

Here we encounter a point which may seem offensive, even insulting. By what right can the Vatican speak of the "defects" of other communities? Does not the Catholic Church have its share of "defects"? And whatever "fullness" of grace and truth may be said to have been entrusted to the Catholic Church, is it not true that sinfulness and error not only can be but have been found among the members of that community?(9)

Both the Second Vatican Council and Ut Unum Sint wish to affirm the presence and action of Christ and the Holy Spirit in other Christian communities. At the same time, they wish to say that there are differences between the churches to the extent that each embodies within its faith, sacraments and communal life more or less of the elements with which Christ intended the church to be endowed. Besides recognizing the ecclesial value of other Christian communities, the choice of the verb "subsists in" used in Lumen Gentium was meant to acknowledge frankly what the Catholic Church believes to be its own distinctiveness vis-a-vis these other communities. Pope John Paul takes this up in the third chapter of his letter, just before entering into the discussion of the ministry of the successor to Peter: