PROTESTANT ECUMENISM. —
I. TENDENCIES
The sixteenth-century pseudo-Reformation gave rise among Protestants to two divergent and opposing tendencies that persist to this day: one openly anti-Catholic, based on the principle of private judgment, which leads to division and fragmentation; the other pro-Catholic, founded on the prayer of Our Lord to His Father, “Ut unum sint” (John 17:21), which draws and impels them toward the ancient and ecumenical unity.The first tendency is evidenced by the numerous sects into which Protestantism has divided, so numerous that, as of 1949, about 800 are counted in South Africa alone. The second tendency is attested not only by the unionist writings of eminent Protestant authors such as H. Grotius (1642), R. Baxter (1680), and S. Werenfels (1720), but also by the continuous efforts they have made to unite, whether partially, for example, the Anabaptists and Calvinists (1546), Anglicans and Easterners (1716–23), or totally, as Protestants and Catholics (1661–97). At times, civil governments intervened to impose such unions, as, for example, the King of Prussia did in 1817 with the Lutherans and Reformed in his kingdom. These attempts have increased in number and importance down to our own day.
II. INTERDENOMINATIONAL SOCIETIES
A step forward, or rather a new aspect, was given to the ecumenical movement in the 18th and 19th centuries by interdenominational or interconfessional societies. This was a sui generis movement that scarcely deserves the name of ecumenical.Such societies admitted any individual from any sect, regardless of the doctrines professed by the individuals or candidates, provided they were willing to work directly toward the goal pursued by the society. Thus, with the sole aim of evangelizing pagans, there arose in England the London Missionary Society (1799) and in the United States the American Board (1810). To translate, print, and disseminate the Bible in all languages, the British and Foreign Bible Society was founded in England in 1801, and the American Bible Society in North America in 1825. The English Religious Tract Society (1799) and the American Tract Society (1825) had no other purpose than to publish all kinds of religious and moral tracts. To unite all Churches except the Catholic one, the World Evangelical Alliance was founded in 1846. In the same year, the Young Men’s Christian Association was organized in Paris to promote the religious, physical, and intellectual well-being of young men, followed later (1855) by the World’s Student Christian Federation, which devoted itself especially to students.
All these societies, which still endure, possessed a certain semblance of ecumenicity due to their universal or quasi-universal character (some clearly or covertly excluding Catholics), for they implied some form of universal governance over their members, exercised by one or more leaders. Yet, by showing indifference or disregard for the faith and religion of individual members, they removed the principal pillar of ecumenicity—the unity of faith. In practice, however, they met with some success in achieving the goals they set for themselves.
III. FEDERAL UNIONS
In the 19th century and especially at the beginning of the 20th, Protestant Churches, driven not only by the urging of “Ut unum sint” but also by the continual divisions that were increasingly fragmenting Protestantism, devised a new kind of union—not of isolated individuals, as in the interdenominational societies mentioned above, but of entire sects or Churches, forming what are called federal or federative unions. In such unions, any sect may participate while retaining its own doctrines, governance, and worship.There is a common board or secretariat that cannot promulgate laws but can only issue norms and suggestions to protect and promote common interests; however, the individual sects are free to accept or reject them. Each sect sends two delegates to this board, who, together with those of other sects, form the supreme council; each sect also sends other representatives, more or less numerous according to the size of its membership. Around 30 American sects united in this manner in 1908 to form the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. These unions proved more successful among sects of the same origin that had separated over matters of discipline or governance. Anglicans and Episcopalians have held the Lambeth Conferences (v. CONFERENZE) every ten years since 1867; Presbyterians founded the “Alliance of Reformed Churches Throughout the World Under Presbyterian Government” in 1877; Methodists adopted the term “ecumenical” when, in 1881, they established the Ecumenical Methodist Conference; in 1905, the Baptists formed the Baptist World Alliance; and finally, in 1923, the Lutherans established the Lutheran World Convention. The federal union, while practically respecting the independence of the individual sects bound only by a weak tie, came into widespread use among many sects, even those of differing origins.
The 20th century may be called the century of the “actually” of this aspiration for organic or corporate union, from the new theory of organic or corporate union, to the paraclerical conferences that culminated in the great Ecumenical Congress of Amsterdam in 1948. Throughout this ecumenical movement, the two original tendencies remain prominent: the tendency toward union, constantly hindered everywhere by the tendency toward private judgment.
The Russian Church officially refused to participate, and the Catholic Church abstained entirely.
At the two previous paraclerical conferences of 1937 (Oxford and Edinburgh), held separately, it became clear that it would be advisable to unite the two movements known as “Life and Work” and “Faith and Order” so as not to separate religion from practice, creed from commandments.
Indeed, “Life and Work” risked reducing itself to practical and social actions at the expense of religion, while “Faith and Order” risked confining itself to doctrinal discussions without regard for practice. Since the missionary movement was closely linked to these two movements, the International Missionary Council (I.M.C.) was included in the council of churches, even though it was not a “Church” but a mere “society” upon which practically the entire Protestant missionary movement depended.
The Ecumenical Council was to convene in 1941, but due to the war that broke out in 1939, it was postponed until 1948. During the interim, the provisional committee carried out extensive relief work and prepared meticulously for the successful outcome of the undertaking.
The aim was to find the Church (the Una Sancta) among the churches—that is, to identify, among all the doctrines professed by the assembled churches, those that should be held by the Una Sancta.
Serious difficulties did not escape the intelligent and equitable secretary of the Council, W. A. Visser ’t Hooft, who wrote: “We all believe that there exists a Church within the churches, but we do not agree on how and where it exists or how and where it is realized.” On another occasion, he wrote: “The Ecumenical Council must not claim to represent the Una Sancta,” but it can and should proclaim that it is a body in and through which, when it pleases God, the Una Sancta will be manifested.
The general theme of the discussions was summed up in this motto: "The disorder of man" and the design of God. This broad subject was divided into four main points to be studied by competent men and then examined by four commissions: 1) the universal Church in the design of God; 2) God’s design and man’s testimony; 3) the Church and the disorder of society; 4) the Church and international questions. On these four topics, profound and careful studies were presented; some were even quite favorable toward the Catholic Church (K. E. Skydsgaard and F. H. Villain). All were diligently examined by the four commissions to which they belonged, and from them conclusions were drawn that were then presented for discussion at the General Assembly.
The Council was inaugurated with great solemnity on the appointed day (22 August), attended by the 400 official delegates of three Churches and about 300 other persons who could fit into the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. Everything proceeded in an orderly and peaceful manner, only slightly disturbed by the debate between the American G. Foster Dulles, who attacked communism, and the Czechoslovak Hromadka, who spoke of the benefits that religion had derived from it, as well as by Barth’s outbursts, both inside and outside the meetings, against the Catholic Church. Some remarks on capitalism left an unpleasant impression on some.
The Council concluded peacefully, and, as all noted with regret, the Churches that had come together were unable to celebrate the Lord’s Supper in common.
From the reports and conclusions of the Council, it emerges that the First Assembly of the World Council of Churches was formed, that is, an organization for collaboration among the Churches present, extending this collaboration to missions, various philanthropic works, and fostering Christian life. The Churches proclaimed their unity in Christ, but confessed that they do not possess unity of doctrine, nor in the priesthood, in the Sacraments, in the Church, or in her visible Head. All this has caused optimism in some and discouragement in others: optimism because of the love and submission shown toward Christ, the humble confession of many divisions, and the desire to seek the Una Sancta. Discouragement because it is feared that this unity will only be found in heaven.
In its final message, among other things, the Council expressed the hope that the Church it envisages and hopes to see born from the Amsterdam Conference may be the house in which all find their home. For us Catholics, such a house already exists, is open to all, is that of Jesus Christ, and is His Church founded on the rock of Peter.