Paradigm of Church as Communion changes ecumenism, says speaker at inaugural talk of new De Margerie Series on Christian Unity and Ecumenism

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1 By Kiply Lukan Yaworski NEWS ARCHIVE: Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon Understanding the Church as communion changes ecumenism, said the inaugural speaker of a new De Margerie Series on Christian Unity and Reconciliation. A paradigm of church as a communion or Koinonia shifts the understanding of Church from a focus on our adherence to particular doctrines, to God s action at work in us, said Bishop Gregory Cameron, inaugural guest speaker of a new De Margerie Series on Christian Unity and Reconciliation held Jan. 21, 2013 at St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon. The Anglican bishop of St. Asaph in Wales, Cameron was director of worldwide ecumenical relations for the Anglican Church from 2003 to Editor: Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Communications Phone: ; Toll Free: , Ext. 844 communications@saskatoonrcdiocese.com Paradigm of Church as Communion changes ecumenism, says speaker at inaugural talk of new De Margerie Series on Christian Unity and Ecumenism Bishop Gregory Cameron Anglican Church of Wales Communion clearly implies that the Church is not merely an institution or organization, it is a fellowship of those who are called together by the Holy Spirit and who in baptism, confess Christ as Lord and Saviour. They are thus fully committed to him and to one another, asserted Cameron. The understanding of Church as communion which is clearly expressed in the New Testament has been rediscovered and deepened in recent decades, he described. The shift has come about via a new emphasis of understanding the Church less as a body of confessing believers, and more as a supernatural reality brought into being by God s grace, he said, after emphasizing the influence of paradigms in determining our ongoing understanding of any theological concept. The Church is a gathering of people not filled with the correct faith but brought by God s grace into relationship with him and therefore with each other, he said of the idea of church as communion.

2 PAGE 2 A shift from orthodoxy to communion as the governing paradigm of the church means that the initiative for the creation of the church lies with God working in Jesus Christ, Cameron stressed. As God, the Trinity, exists in relationship, in communion, so we too are drawn into communion with God through Jesus, and therefore, into communion with one another. He noted that this understanding of church as communion is expressed in such Vatican II documents Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) and Unitatis Redintegratio (decree on ecumenism). It has also been the understanding expressed in several dialogues, including the Anglican-Roman Catholic joint statement The Church as Communion and in the Anglican Orthodox theological dialogue statement The Church of the Triune God. This emphasis on communion brings a number of consequences to the ecumenical movement, Cameron said. First, we must now affirm that we belong to one another, because we belong to God. And we cannot allow ourselves to live apart. Ecumenism becomes not so much prove you wrong, prove us right sort of endeavor as a recognizing of the common work of God in our lives, Cameron said. God has made us one, and we are called to the same destiny we journey towards God all the more effectively when we journey together, he said. Secondly if we have responded to God, it is because God has been at work in us. His Spirit has been manifested in the call to faith and in our response, and the gifts of the Spirit are evidenced among us all. Cameron quoted from an International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) 2007 statement: We believe in a God whose life is communion and pure love, and that we ourselves share God s life in Christ through the Holy Spirit. All that we do as Anglicans and Roman Catholics, and, in particular, all that we seek to do together, should therefore be done in communion, with grace and generosity so that we do not obstruct the proclamation of the Good News. It is the call to generosity that is leading us now to share our gifts and our lives with one another, and it is the same call to generosity that prompts us to share with all people what God has given to us. The Church s mission flows intrinsically from our participation in the life of the one true God. We should always be seeking to share with one another and with the world at large the good gifts of the living God.

3 PAGE 3 The paradigm of Church as communion leads to a spirit of receptive ecumenism an attitude that looks at the gifts each tradition can offer to the other, he said. And it is a rich diet indeed! There is the enormous heritage of liturgy shaped in each of our churches in a different but exciting way. There are the gifts of spiritual writing, ways in which the understanding of Christian discipleship have been elaborated and explored by writers in very different contexts. There is the glorious heritage of Christian music, of art, and of all elements of the Christian patrimonies of the different traditions whereby we learn from one another. Allowing communion to become the paradigm of our understanding of Church does not usurp or invalidate orthodoxy or the ongoing dialogue of truth among Christian denominations, said Cameron. However, I do believe that it brings us back to the doctrinal space in a different way from where we started. The paradigm of Church as communion has led Christians of different traditions to discover each other as people of faith, as people of prayer, as people in whom the Spirit of God is at work, he stressed. It allows us to act in a receptive way, not just to the different gifts of our different traditions, but to see the truths which our different beliefs defend. And will those differences be resolved? Well, all differences look different in changing context. What seems essential or central at one time or another can cease to drive a dialogue and a debate in another context, Cameron said, recalling advice from a theology tutor that sometimes theological problems must be put on a top shelf and left for a time, to be taken down later and looked at again, before progress can happen. We have to have the ability to say sometimes that this matter or this subject is a bit too hard for us at the moment, so we will put it away and not allow it to affect our relationship. And as our relationship goes forward, by God s grace, there will come a day when we will say, hang on a minute, let s look at that problem again, and find that it is resolved. Communion has changed ecumenism because it has set a different agenda, it has created friends, it has opened up the vast variety of Christian heritage in different forms to one another so we can learn and grow from one another, Cameron concluded. It has allowed us to see that we belong to one another and the ecumenical quest cannot be abandoned. The De Margerie Series on Christian Unity and Reconciliation has been established by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon and St. Thomas More College, with pland to make it an annual event. This year, it coincided with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

4 PAGE 4 Father Bernard de Margerie (left) and Bishop Gregory Cameron after the inaugural lecture of the new series named in recognition of De Margerie s commitment to Christian unity and reconciliation. The series has been named in honour of Rev. Bernard de Margerie, well known for his lifelong commitment to ecumenism and his work in founding the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism in 1984, and serving as its first director for the next decade, said Nick Jesson, ecumenical officer for the diocese of Saskatoon. Father Bernard has taught us at least three things about ecumenism: that the heart of the ecumenical movement is prayer, that the ecumenical movement is an ecclesial movement (that is a movement of the churches, not just of individuals), and that Christ is the focus of the ecumenical movement. Each of these ideas, drawn from Vatican II and found originally in the gospel has given direction and significance to Bernard s ministry among us, said Jesson. At the inaugural lecture, de Margerie expressed his gratitude for the creation of the series. And I thank God the Holy Spirit for the grace of ecumenism, God always offers his grace, he doesn t force it on us. It is a question of wanting to welcome that grace. When God offers grace, he also gives us a task. And the ministry of Christian reconciliation and unity is exactly that: response to the grace of the Holy Spirit offered to us, de Margerie said. I pray for the deeper conversion of all churches to the ministry of Christian unity and reconciliation. Conversion takes a lot of grace, and it s also takes time, lots of time, de Margerie added. When is the time ready to do great things for God? The time is now. As part of the new series, Cameron also provided an ecumenical workshop Jan. 19 and a workshop for those involved in pastoral leadership Jan. 23 (see Page 5), in addition to speaking at the opening service of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Saskatoon Jan. 20. The Week of Prayer concluded Jan. 27 with a closing service at St. John Anglican Cathedral, with guest speaker Lutheran Bishop Cindy Halmarson. -30-

5 PAGE 5 Christian leaders and ministry personnel stand in prayer at the start of an ecumenical workshop led by Bishop Cameron Jan. 23, 2013 at the Cathedral of the Holy Family in Saskatoon. Bishop Gregory Cameron reflects on key ecumenical principles at Saskatoon workshop By Kiply Lukan Yaworski Ministry leaders, priests and pastors from different Christian denominations in Saskatoon gathered Jan. 23, 2013 for a workshop held at the Cathedral of the Holy Family as part of a new De Margerie Series on Christian Unity and Reconciliation. Bishop Gregory Cameron of the Anglican diocese of St. Asaph in Wales led the morning workshop held in the middle of the 2013 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, offering leaders pointers for the ecumenical quest and encouraging discussion and practical goal-setting for the year ahead. Looking for Christ in the other is vital, said Cameron. There is a danger I think in the ecumenical context, that we start using our head quite a lot, and begin our critique of other traditions, without remembering to look for the Christ who is at work in one another. He described his own life story, relating his own growing understanding of ecumenism, and his conversion of heart from a time as a young deacon and priest, when he looked down on other traditions. I am glad to say that I have repented of those attitudes. I have repented of them because I have seen Christ at work in the other. I have seen enormous holiness exercised by Baptist and Presbyterian friends. I have seen huge endeavours in mission in social justice and working for peace and reconciliation amongst my Baptist and Catholic friends, I have seen powerful works and testimonies of faith in contexts now all around the world and all of that impels me to be ecumenical. Cameron recommended friendship as a sound ecumenical principle. When you begin to become friends of those from other traditions, then you can begin to appreciate the integrity of their own positions; appreciate the things about Christian faith which work for them and drive them forward in their faith. And when you become friends, you are able to ask questions and to be honest in a way which is impossible if you keep each other at a distance.

6 PAGE 6 When ecumenical relationships are difficult, that s the time to redouble our friendship and commitment, Cameron stressed. This is the time to build communion and not break communion. He pointed to his own time as a leader of worldwide ecumenical relations for the Anglican Communion, when his strong friendship with Don Bolen of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity (now Bishop Bolen of Saskatoon) helped to smooth the way between Anglican and Roman Catholic dialogue partners. We could have honest conversations about the issues that were going on, and we were only able to do that because we had learned to trust one another as friends. Generosity and hospitality are another double principle of the ecumenical quest, Cameron stressed. He quoted the prayer of a character created by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas: And Thou God, I know, wilt be the first to see our best side, not our worst. Cameron urged pastoral leaders to be just as generous in their assessment of others. Look at what is good in that tradition, what is life-giving in that tradition, give the best interpretation to the texts we are presented with and do not look for the worst. Hospitality is an attitude of mind that allows others to come into your space and to be true to themselves, even when that is really different. Hospitality is allowing people to be true to their own integrity, he said. Cameron also recommended reading widely as a principle in the ecumenical quest. Absorb the texts and teachings and the spiritual writings of other traditions as well as of our own, he said. We will learn. We will understand. We will be enriched in our faith. Speaking truth in love is vital in the important dialogue of truth that we undertake with Christians of different traditions, he continued. We need to be able to speak the truth in love and to justify what we believe but to do that in a way which is not condemnation. He added: I think there is a huge difference in ecumenical dialogue between saying: We believe this because we understand this to be true, and you are wrong in believing that because it doesn t meet our standards. Cameron emphasized the importance of speaking from our own convictions, rather than critiquing or condemning the beliefs of others. To be honest, I believe there are several questions in the dialogue of truth that I think will be almost impossible to see a way through at the moment. There are disagreements between our Christian traditions, and it is enormously difficult to see how we are going to resolve some of them, he said. But I am certain in this: that if we are faithful in prayer and in praying together, the Lord will see us through. Cameron quoted former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams: To be a Christian is to stand at the foot of the cross and therefore, as Christians, we stand together at the foot of the cross, rather than running away. To turn away from each other is to turn away from the cross. -30-