This response is offered as an expression of the gratitude of the Board of Faith and Order for the encyclical Ut Unum Sint and an indication of ways in which the encyclical is in harmony with the work of the Faith and Order commission. It does not purport to represent the views of member churches of the WCC, many of which are responding to the encyclical in their own name and at greater length. All the work of Faith and Order is directed to that commitment to the search for visible unity which the encyclical urges upon the churches.
The encyclical letter Ut Unum Sint appears to us in the Faith and Order commission to be a form of ecclesial reception which truly receives and opens up positively the themes of the Second Vatical Council, particularly Unitatis Redintegratio. We particularly wish to acknowledge the spirit of humility which runs through the encyclical, and which comes out so clearly in expressions like "dialogue of consciences" (para. 34), "dialogue of conversion" and "our acknowledgement, jointly and to each other, that we are men and women who have sinned" (para. 35). Coming from the bishop of Rome, it has the special significance of confirming his own and his church's ongoing commitment to the search for visible unity and his support for all those who strive for the unity of all Christians. The text acknowledges that "ecumenism is an organic part of (the Church's) life and work, and consequently must pervade all that she is and does" (para. 20).
We in the Faith and Order commission are grateful for the recognition given to our work throughout the encyclical letter. This recognition of Faith and Order work implies a relationship with all ecclesial communities engaged in the ecumenical task. The acknowledgement that the churches cannot reach the goal of full visible unity without one another's help, and that such "mutual help in the search for truth is a sublime form of evangelical charity" (para. 78) coincides fully with the conviction of the Faith and Order commission. Although the text states that "because of the lack of the Sacrament of Orders" the post-Reformation communities "have not preserved the genuine and total reality of the eucharistic mystery" (para. 67), we particularly appreciate the fact that "our brotherhood" is said to be "rooted in recognition of the oneness of Baptism" as the basis of our belonging to one another, together with the positive reference to Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (para. 42). Similarly, we are thankful for the insistence on the cooperation of Christians in the service of humanity as witnessing to the gospel (para. 43).
Ut Unum Sint conveys a sense of movement and the intention to continue moving until full visible unity is reached. Movement implies, as the text states, "the need for interior conversion" (para. 15) and for "continual reformation" (para. 16). These phrases, in our understanding, refer to what the Orthodox churches mean by "metanoia". Moreover, it is stressed that conversion must not only be personal but must also have a communal aspect (para. 15). The letter urges repentance not only for personal sins committed against the church's unity, but also for "social sins, which is to say the sinful `structures' themselves which have contributed and can still contribute to division and to the reinforcing of division" (para. 34). How can we not recognize that some of our structures, particularly structures of power, are not of the gospel, and therefore not of the church of God, but rather are infiltrations of categories of this world?
The Faith and Order commission considers it is duty to continue its work in the spirit of Ut Unum Sint with its emphasis on seeking "the necessary and sufficient visible unity" (para. 78) and therefore on not imposing on one another any burden beyond what is strictly necessary (cf. Acts 15:28). We agree that instead of being opposed to Christian unity, legitimate diversity enriches it (para. 50), and can actually be regarded as a manifestation of God's providence (para. 57). We also observe that member churches vary in their understanding of what degree of diversity is legitimate.
We appreciate the combination of personal courtesy and theological candour with which the encyclical speaks of other "Churches and Ecclesial Communities" (e.g. in para. 64). We understand that from the point of view of the Roman Catholic Church "The elements of (the) already-given Church exist, found in their fullness in the Catholic Church and, without this fullness, in the other Communities" (para. 14) and that not all ministries of word and sacraments in these communities can at present be recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as being in accordance with God's purpose for the church. It will of course be clear from the various bilateral dialogues of churches with the Roman Catholic Church and with one another that these churches believe themselves to be true churches within the wholeness of the church of Jesus Christ, though hoping to receive gifts from one another in progress to the visible unity of the church. From this position they naturally find unsatisfactory some of the references to them in the encyclical. At the same time, we see in the statement that the martyrs who died for their Christian faith, no matter which Christian tradition they belong to, as well as the saints of all our traditions, are already in perfect communion (para. 84), a very welcome attempt to locate the holiness of the church beyond the boundaries of any one church.
As the Faith and Order commission pursues its work on ecclesiology, we are happy to discover that the issues we are grappling with are also raised in Ut Unum Sint. In particular, as was requested at the fifth world conference on Faith and Order in Santiago de Compostela (1993), we intend to study the question of primacy, which is acknowledged in the text as "a difficulty for most other Christians whose memory is marked by certain painful recollections" (para. 88). It is significant that the letter refers to a ministry of unity which is not one of power, but one of service. In this respect, we are glad that the bishop of Rome appropriates the remarkable expression of his great predecessor, Gregory 1, "servus servorum Dei", in relation to his ministry. However, while we take seriously this understanding of universal primacy, as offered in Ut Unum Sint, in our work in Faith and Order, we must continue to investigate, in terms of the position of some member churches, the prior question whether there is need, or is not, for a universal primacy in the organizational dimension of the life of the church of God on earth.
We are glad to receive (para. 79) a clear indication that the question of primacy is one of a series of important issues for fuller study. We agree that those listed require our attention, along with other questions put before the Faith and Order commission by member churches of the WCC.
In conclusion we affirm with joy our sense of real progress in the dialogue and mutual understanding of the churches. In no way do we underestimate the difficulties, both old and new, in the way of that developing progress, but we continue our work, encouraged by this encyclical and by other signs of support from the churches. Truly we are engaged together in the quest for that holiness which finds its expression in the dedicated lives of those who have borne their witness even to the point of death for their faith.
COPYRIGHT 1998 World Council of Churches