attitudes within the Reformed are not uniform towards the Catholics, with a range from brotherly love to outright hate.
The same is true for Catholics (or anyone)–which got me thinking recently about ecumenism in general and its merits. It’s certainly good to clarify what the real differences actually are, to remove prejudices, and to work together toward the common good.
From the Catholic perspective, the ultimate purpose of ecumenism, according to Vatican II, is ultimately corporate unity in the one Church . The problem with seeking corporate unity is that not everyone in a particular religious community is the same or at the same place in their faith journey. Our Lord calls people into the vineyard at different times (Matt 20:1-16)–not to mention the fact that many are called, but few are chosen (see the end of the same passage). People range from obstinately hating the Catholic Church to being a friendly invite away from being on the road to conversion, and everywhere in between.
Plus there is the fact that non-Catholic communities may have different end goals for ecumenism (ie not to have everyone profess the Catholic faith!).
I even had a non-Catholic person tell me how offensive the idea of corporate reunion was, since everyone should be able to make their own decision in their own time–in fact, the Catholic Church teaches just that, but corporate reunion doesn’t account for it.
It just seems to me, given all this, the Catholic Church should place more of an emphasis on reconciling individuals (on paper it says both are good), especially in conjunction with the current Pontiff’s emphasis on “meeting people where they are,” since different people are in different places spiritually. One size fits all reunion doesn’t really account for this it seems to me.
There’s plenty of official ecumenical programs put on by bishops and the Pope, but very few that help Catholics reach out and seek the conversion or reconciliation of non-Catholic Christians. Obviously, a non-Catholic convinced of his religion will think this is bad, which hurts feelings and relationships.
Ecumenism therefore, ultimately seems self-defeating…
End musings.
