NATIONAL and international disÂcussions about church unity have been largely replaced by local action, church leaders say this week. The Archbishop of Canterbury confesses that he “finds echoes” of impatience with national bodies within himself.
Five church leaders ”” Dr WilliÂams, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Dr Martyn Atkins (MethÂodist), the Revd Jonathan Edwards (Baptist), and the Revd Roberta Rominger (United Reformed Church) ”” responded to a set of four questions asked by the editors of the Baptist Times and the Church Times. Their replies are also published in the Methodist Recorder and Reform.
They acknowledge a loss of impetus in national efforts to bring about unity. Dr Atkins talks of “less enthusiasm for unity as an end in itself”; Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor speaks of “a slowing down of progress”, desÂpite increased commitment; and Dr Williams says: “You won’t find much interest in what you might call the ”˜negotiating’ side of unity.”
Frankly, the tendency to sink doctrinal differences in local, mainly social, action is decades old, in my experience.
No. 1: The idea that local ecumenism is most vital is indeed an old subject, but the article points to a fresh way of doing ecumenism that I think holds promise. Avery Dulles about a year ago published a very thought-provoking essay along these lines (ecumenism not merely as the negotiation of theological differences) in First Things:
http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6081
Lacking the good Cardinal’s theological sophistication but sharing some of his boldness and desire for new thinking in the typically dull field of ecumenism, I published an article called “Radical Ecumenism” in the Sewanee Theological Review in June 2008.
I hope that the archbishop of Canterbury and his ecumenical friends take a look at Cardinal Dulles’s useful ideas on this subject.
Why would you want to want to agree to disagree?
Sorry, I’m not ready for any sort of ecumenism. On the rare occasions that my parish does some sort of “joint ” thing with the methodists or the synagogue, I stay away and attend mass that day at the local schismatic Anglican parish.