USCCB - (Office of Media Relations) - Plans for �Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A.' Move From Vision Toward Reality

Plans for 'Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A.' Move From Vision Toward Reality

WASHINGTON (February 28, 2003) -- A vision for the most inclusive Christian organization ever in the United States advanced dramatically when a diverse group of 46 national church leaders agreed January 29 on a concrete proposal to take back to their church bodies for consideration.

The proposal-for what is provisionally called Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. (CCT)- builds on more than two years of behind-the-scenes work by church leaders. Agreement on the proposal signifies that "we have moved from the phase of visioning to begin implementation," said the Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, who is general secretary of the Reformed Church in America and who currently chairs CCT's steering committee.

Over the next few years, the proposal will be placed before the top decision-making bodies of many denominations (or communions as some bodies are called) and other Christian organizations, as their regularly scheduled assemblies take place. The proposal calls for a fellowship that is committed "to grow closer together in Christ" in order to strengthen its "Christian witness in the world."

Granberg-Michaelson reported that the 46 church leaders, who met on the campus of Fuller Theological Seminary, in Pasadena, Calif., also agreed that implementation "would require at least 25 denominations or communions to say 'yes,'" They further agreed that the new organization "would not be inaugurated until the numbers reflect the diversity of the Christian families present at the meeting," Granberg-Michaelson said. "Having a mix is the whole point."

Church leaders who participated in the Jan. 27-29 Pasadena meeting represented five families within Christianity that the proposal describes as "Evangelical/Pentecostal, Historic Protestant, Orthodox, Racial/Ethnic (for example, predominantly African American churches), and Roman Catholic."

The Catholic Church was represented at the meeting by His Eminence William Cardinal Keeler, Archbishop of Baltimore; Bishop Tod D. Brown of Orange; Rev. Ronald G. Roberson, CSP, Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs at the USCCB; Sr. Joan McGuire, OP, Director of the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Archdiocese of Chicago; Sr. Joan Delaney, MM, former representative of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity to the Mission and Evangelism office of the World Council of Churches; Rev. Rafael Luevano, Ecumenical Officer of the Diocese of Orange; and Deacon Thomas McGowan, former Ecumenical Officer of the Diocese of Oakland. Rev. Arthur Kennedy, Executive Director of the SEIA, represented Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, the Chairman of the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, who was unable to attend.

Representatives of at least ten churches that belong to the National Association of Evangelicals attended the meeting, and the Southern Baptist Convention sent an observer. Also among those present were participants from thirteen Protestant and five Orthodox churches that also hold membership in the National Council of Churches. The degree to which CCT and the NCC duplicate functions is a question for "discernment" by the NCC's 36 member communions over the next few years, Granberg-Michaelson said.

Given the breadth of the group at Pasadena, which he described as "expanded significantly" from the last meeting, April 2002, in Chicago, Granberg-Michaelson said that any agreement "was an open question going in."

"We were not at all sure we would have something to circulate, and it was an inspirational moment when we decided to do that," he said.

In the next few weeks, members of the steering committee will invite still other denominations and Christian organizations to join the CCT process. The committee hopes to draw an even broader group of participants to the next planning meeting, projected for late 2003 or early 2004.

"CCT is the best chance that we will have in this decade to really change the ecumenical landscape and to create a body that more fully reflects the life of the churches in the United States," Granberg-Michaelson concluded. "It could be a very powerful tool for the mission of the church."

Cardinal Keeler said it was clear at this meeting that the concerns that had been raised by various participants were met in a practical way. "Now it is up to the various churches to study whether they wish to enter into discussions to further refine what needs to be done," he said. "Please God, we are moving towards creating an instrument that will help make more visible the spiritual bonds among Christians in the United States."

From a Catholic perspective, this initiative parallels developments that have been taking place around the world, especially in other English-speaking countries. The Catholic Church is already a member of similar organizations in such places as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the Caribbean. The 1993 Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism (nos. 163-171)issued by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity addresses ways in which the Catholic Church can participate in ecumenical organizations on the national and regional levels. Cardinal Keeler commented that when he has attended meeting of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in the Vatican, "I have been struck by the number of bishops who tell me that their churches have a role in national or regional ecumenical organizations."

For his part, Pope John Paul II has strongly encouraged such ecumenical initiatives since the beginning of his pontificate. When he addressed the members of the Working Group of Christian Churches in Switzerland in 1984, the Pope said that in view of the growing secularization of society,

a great historical responsibility lies before us, regarding which no Christian community can remain isolated unto itself, but is called to the highest possible measure of common witness for the Gospel in all areas of life. As disciples of the one Lord, Jesus Christ, we have an obligation, founded on Holy Scripture and on the early creeds, our common heritage, to follow this call according to the best counsels of conscience�

Addressing an ecumenical group of Christians in Toronto, Ontario, on September 14, 1984, the Pope said:

Ecumenical collaboration, as we have discovered, can take many forms: working together in projects of fraternal service, engaging in theological dialogue and joint ventures to understand our troubled past, cooperative actions for justice and the humanizing of the technological society, and many others. All of these are of great value and need to be continued in earnest, especially those which help promote the truth and help us grow in fraternal charity.

In 1995 Pope John Paul II spelled out the ecumenical vision of the Catholic Church in his encyclical, Ut Unum Sint. He spoke of the rediscovered brotherhood among Christians as a fruit of the contemporary ecumenical movement (nos. 41-42), and affirmed that the quest for unity among Christians "is not something added on, but stands at the very heart of Christ's mission. Nor is it some secondary attribute of the community of his disciples. Rather, it belongs to the very essence of this community" (n. 9).

At the General Audience in the Vatican on January 22, 2003, the Holy Father surveyed the current ecumenical situation in these hopeful words:

Looking at the whole ecumenical scene, I feel duty bound to thank the Lord for the distance traveled till now, both for the quality of the fraternal relations knitted among the different communities and for the results of the theological dialogues, even if they are different in their methods and levels. We can say that today Christians are more close-knit and solidary, even if the road towards unity continues to be uphill with its obstacles and bottlenecks. Following the path indicated by the Lord, they advance with confidence, because they know that they are accompanied by the Risen Lord, as the disciples of Emmaus, toward the goal of full ecclesial communion that actually leads to the common "breaking of the Bread."