Roman Catholic Involvement in the WCC

Roman Catholic Involvement in the WCC
1970

In the late 1960’s the possible membership of the Roman Catholic Church in the WCC was being studied closely. The Joint Working Group was asked to look at the structural changes (as well as other considerations) that would facilitate the entry of the Roman Catholic Church. Below is a portion of the report of the JWG study, presented in 1970.

Third Report of the Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the WCC
Excerpt from APPENDIX IV

II. The Evolution of Coordinated Structures for Increasing Collaboration

Theory and practice show the possibility of cooperation between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches. The marked increase in this cooperation has already been indicated earlier and certain structures have begun to evolve for deepening and extending it.

In the field of theological studies joint commissions, such as that on "Catholicity and Apostolicity" have done useful work. Furthermore, individual Roman Catholics, with the approval of the authorities of that Church, are members of the Faith and Order Commission and are participating in the projects of the commission.

Experience has shown that the communion already existing can be made visible. This is particularly true in the areas of social service, relief, justice and peace. Joint commissions, often on an "ad hoc" basis, have made it possible to give some needed structure to this type of cooperation. An outstanding example of this is the joint commission for Society, Development and Peace (SODEPAX).

Under the joint chairmanship of the Cardinal President of the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace and the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, SODEPAX is composed of an equal number of members from both sides with a staff consisting of Roman Catholics and persons belonging to the World Council. This agreement has provided an elastic relationship allowing for experimentation in forms of structure.

It is quite possible that other commissions of this type might develop. Mixed commissions for the study of theological problems, for common witness to the Gospel, for coordinating relief work, for promoting Christian education and the work of the laity are examples of these types of commissions.

Another type of closer cooperation could be the participation of Roman Catholics in various organs of the World Council of Churches. Roman Catholics would thus take part in the operations of the Division of World Mission and Evangelism, of the Department of Education, of the Division of Ecumenical Action, the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, the Division on Inter-Church Aid, Refugee and World Service, etc. This would involve active participation in the meetings of these various organs both on the policy-making and the staff levels.

Conversely, organs of the World Council of Churches could have direct liaison with and participate in the organs of the Roman Catholic Church. Representatives of the World Council of Churches would take part, in more than an observer capacity, in the work of the Congregation for Divine Worship, the Commission for Justice and Peace, the Council of the Laity, the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, etc.

This increased coordination of common activities would have the advantage of allowing great flexibility but would suffer from several real disadvantages.

The Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches would continue to confront one another as partners, whereas in fact they are not comparable entities.

The fact that the Roman Catholic Church would be involved in increasingly coordinated activities with the World Council of Churches while not being a member of the Council would intensify the tendency of the latter to regard itself as a fellowship of non-Roman Churches. But by its very nature the World Council of Churches is meant to include all Churches, which confess Jesus as God and Saviour. For the World Council of Churches, non-membership of the Roman Catholic Church involves a limitation of its very nature as a fellowship.

Secular institutions and the general public would continue to regard the World Council as an instrument of non-Roman Catholics on a worldwide level, thereby creating the impression that there exist two major centres of Christianity.

The continuance of the present patterns of cooperation or of similar ones would require the constant formation of new commissions and projects and would frequently involve duplication, in a new ecumenical context of work already being done. Yet precisely in these days there is a serious questioning within the Roman Catholic Church about the proliferation of organizations in it. The World Council of Churches has been forming new organizations to meet the needs of its expanding activities, a tendency, which has had some strong criticism within the Council. To these would be added a whole series of joint commissions. The question could be legitimately asked whether this would develop cooperation properly according to future possibilities in men and resources and whether the juxtaposition of new structures alongside of old ones without effecting an organic relationship between them would not often increase problems rather than solve them.

Participation by Roman Catholics in organs of the World Council of Churches creates the anomalous situation for communicants of a non-member Church taking an active part in making policy and directing operations of an organization without assuming or being able to assume the real responsibilities flowing from membership. On the other hand, it is difficult to conceive of members of a fellowship of Churches taking a direct and active part in the operations of the structures and organs of a Church. This is not done even in the cases of member Churches of the World Council of Churches.

Joint cooperation is serving a very useful purpose and will continue to do so for some time. However, it seems that joint cooperation between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches will soon reach that certain point where it will become apparent that increased learning about each other and the experience of the working of Christ in each other will be furthered only if some new and more organic form of working together may be found.

III. A new form of Christian fellowship differently constituted?

The disparity between the Roman Catholic Church as a worldwide Church and the World Council of Churches as well as the questions and problems raised at the end of Chapter I have given rise to the suggestion that improved organic relations between these two would best be served by setting up a completely new form of Christian fellowship different constituted. To some extent the question is an abstract one. While the World Council has recognized the need to reorganize its structures to correspond better to the changing exigencies of the ecumenical movement, there is no indication among its members that the fellowship, based on the principles described in Chapter I, is no longer able to serve the ecumenical movement and is ready to be dissolved. Nevertheless it seems useful to consider the possibilities of such a new form of fellowship within the framework of a hypothesis arising out of the varying demands of the ecumenical movement.

1. A fellowship based on Confessional Families
Some Churches work in a line of confessional fellowship. They understand themselves representing one tradition and they strive to give structural expression to the unity of tradition they experience.

There are some advantages to considering a new fellowship based on these families.

There would be greater parity with the Roman Catholic Church. All the confessional families are international in character and thus would correspond more to the international character of the Roman Catholic Church. A fellowship of par cum pari would be more apparent and the partners could be on the same level of speaking.
Complaints have been raised that within the present fellowship of the World Council of Churches, confessional aspects are not given enough emphasis and are not given enough weight in the Assembly. In a fellowship based on confessional families it would be more possible to define the cutting edge of confessional differences.
Such a fellowship would keep before the eyes of Christians the transnational, universal concept of the Church. The concept of the Church as a territorial entity seems to be secular in nature. The more traditional concept of the Church is based on theological and doctrinal lines, which transcend geographical boundaries.
In some of the confessional families at least there are service organizations which correspondence in their scope and activity more closely to similar organizations in the Roman Catholic Church.

It must be recognized that the world confessional families differ widely in their organization and their activities. They differ in their approach to the ecclesiological assumption that one has to form the Church on the universal level. In their present constitution, the world bodies have no authority over their constituent Churches; some cannot represent these Churches in international contacts. If they were to receive this authority, it would go counter to the ecclesiological principles of their member churches (e.g. Baptists, many Reformed Churches). Furthermore, not all Churches following a particular tradition belong to the organized world expression of this tradition (e.g. World Lutheran Federation).

The confessional families form only part of the Christian World. In many areas of the world there has been the emergence of United Churches, which do not correspond to any confessional families, nor do these United Churches have a worldwide fellowship of their own. New spontaneous developments (e.g. Pentecostalists, indigenous Churches) have no expression on a worldwide scale.

The World Council of Churches was in the process of formation; the question whether it should be launched as a fellowship of confessional families was discussed but this suggestion was soon abandoned. The diversity mentioned above seemed to militate against the formation of a truly effective fellowship. It was felt that the Churches of individual countries must have a direct share in ecumenical work.

It is true that direct contact between confessional families helps the consideration of Faith and Order issues. But on the issues of Church and Society this usefulness is much less apparent for many of these issues are not expressed along confessional lines.

The importance of confessional families and of multilateral and bilateral contacts must not be minimized. Perhaps the World Council of Churches has not given enough attention to confessional traditions or has treated them in too peripheral a way. An examination as to whether too much emphasis is given to Church and Society questions and not enough so the serious questions of Faith and Order is certainly to be desired.

A new fellowship based on confessional families, however, does not seem to be a very workable alternative.

There is the great diversity mentioned above.
Such a structure would tend to freeze confessional stances and take a purely confessional approach to problems in a way, which does not correspond to present day realities.
Local representation would not be direct but indirect. This would tend to neglect geographical and local variety. It would also go in an opposite direction to the development of the ecclesiology of the local Church in the Roman Catholic Church.
There would be no place in such a fellowship for Churches not belonging to confessional families.
Problems such as primacy, papal authority, the understanding that the Roman Catholic Church has of itself and her mission would not receive any easier solution through such a fellowship.
Proper consideration of confessional differences has a legitimate place within the present fellowship of the World Council of Churches.

2. A Fellowship based on National Christian Councils
In many countries the Churches have established Christian Councils. It is conceivable that the ecumenical fellowship of each country enter into a worldwide fellowship. The whole activity of the international fellowship would be directed to Churches already engaged in an ecumenical structure.

In the national councils, unity in each place gets more emphasis. There is a certain homogeneity in that many people of the same culture think and act on a transconfessional level for a great part of their Christian living. There are very positive values to united local action, which should not be minimized. The theology of the local Church could be emphasized more and more; attention might be given to the fact that ultimately unity will have its deep roots in contacts between people living and working together.

The experience of the World Council of Churches shows the many positive values of contacts with national Christian councils. The World Council of Churches keeps close contacts with them in carrying out its own work. The Department of World Mission and Evangelism of the World Council developed out of the International Missionary Council, which was a fellowship of local and national missionary councils. The DWME finds useful support for its work in these councils.

On the other hand, national councils very differ much from country to country. In some countries they do not exist. In others Roman Catholic participation is still difficult because of attitudes from the past, which have not yet been overcome. The Councils have no authority over their member Churches. Some have no authority to discuss Faith and Order issues but are restricted to cooperation on non-theological matters. In some areas, member Churches are approximately equal in size. In others, one Church would be overwhelmingly predominant (Greece, Italy, Scandinavia).

An international fellowship based on national Christian Councils would provide no clear place for confessional expression or for the identity of the Churches as such, nor would such a fellowship relate to the Churches themselves. It would be extremely difficult to discuss the questions of Christian unity, which in its basic analysis involves the Churches directly. Delegations to the international fellowship would represent Christians in a country, not their own Church.

It would seem, therefore, that such a fellowship would have a tendency to remain in the field of practical collaboration. It would be difficult to move on to the deeper commitment for that unity which should be the aim of the ecumenical movement.

3. A fellowship based on non-ecclesiastical membership
In the Christian world there are many movements of individuals and groups, These have taken the forms, for example. Of the Evangelical Alliance, YMCA, Pax Romana, Christian Student Movement, Youth Catholic Workers many of these existed before the World Council of Churches. In fact, the movements on Faith and Order and Life and Work were at the basis of the formation of the World Council.

Many of these movements receive support from the Churches without the Churches as such being involved. They form a useful and often necessary function in the life of the Churches and there will always be need for such associations, even on an international scale.

Yet an international fellowship based on these movements is not really an alternative to more organic relations between the Churches. If they are to serve the ecumenical movement, there is need for some ecclesial structure to involve the Churches directly. An international fellowship of non-ecclesiastical persons can inspire the Churches and push them to assume their ecumenical task. But it could never be a substitute for the Churches who have the duty of carrying out this task.

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