Dialogue Document
This Bread of Life: Report of the U.S. Roman Catholic - Reformed Dialogue on the Eucharist/Lord's Supper (2012)
This Bread of Life: Report of the United States Roman Catholic-Reformed Dialogue on the Eucharist / Lord's Supper, November, 2010
In the groundbreaking ecumenical document, Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (1982), the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches declared as its aim “to proclaim the oneness of the Church of Jesus Christ and to call the churches to the goal of visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and common life in Christ, in order that the world might believe.” Similarly, the Roman Catholic Church, in the Vatican Council document Sacrosanctum Concilium (The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, December 4, 1963) listed as two of its aims “to encourage whatever can promote the union of all who believe in Christ; [and] to strengthen whatever serves to call all of humanity into the church’s fold.” In pursuit of these noble goals, we offer this report from the seventh round of dialogue between the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and four denominations in the Reformed tradition: the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC), the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. (PC(USA)), the Reformed Church in America (RCA), and the United Church of Christ (UCC).
This round of dialogue began with a discussion of the sacrament of baptism (2003-2007), which resulted in the report, “These Living Waters: Common Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Baptism.” The present document concludes this round of ecumenical discussion with its report on the second part of the dialogue (2007-2010), which focused on what is commonly called the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic tradition and the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion in the Reformed tradition. We hope that this report is read by and benefits church leaders, pastors, ministers, seminarians, and parishioners. We offer the report with the prayer that it will serve to draw our communions closer to lived unity within the Body of Christ.