True vs False Ecumenism

What is true ecumenism? And what must Catholics always bear in mind when dialoguing not only with non-Catholic Christians but with non-Christians?

By Deacon Frederick Bartels
27 September 2024

Ecumenism is a modern movement aimed at Christian unity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks about ecumenism in the context of working to establish unity among all Christians through sharing the truth, with the goal of entrance into the one fold of the Catholic Church. It thus seeks to bring separated Christians into full union with the Church founded by Jesus Christ.

Catholics and other Christians should desire and work for Christian unity, as our Lord prayed: “That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, . . . so that the world may know that you have sent me” (John 17:21). However, the oneness for which Christ prayed can never become a reality so long as millions of Christians find themselves in various communities separated from the Catholic Church.

Ecumenism, then, is not simply a project of engaging in common work with other Christians or merely praying with them (as good as these things may be); nor is it found in an attitude of fruitless dialogue in which everyone’s beliefs and doctrines are treated in a relativistic manner, as if they all were true, and the best we can do is set aside the truth and “agree to disagree.”

Joseph Ratzinger spoke about these kinds of errors when he wrote the preface to Paul Hacker’s book, Faith in Luther and the Origin of Anthropocentric Religion:

“It must be conceded that here and there something like an “Ecumenism of Resignation” has come into vogue, an ecumenism which considers it old-fashioned to carry on any kind of debate for the purpose of arriving at the truth. However, from such an ecumenism Christianity can hope to arrive at nothing. It would spell its termination, because a peace which rests on a surrender of truth would be the equivalent of burying the faith.”

Similarly, Pope St. John Paul II wrote:

“True ecumenical activity means openness, drawing closer, availability for dialogue, and a shared investigation of the truth in the full evangelical and Christian sense; but in no way does it or can it mean giving up or in any way diminishing the treasures of divine truth that the Church has constantly confessed and taught” (Redemptor Hominis, 6 § 2).

While ecumenism involves sharing and discussing beliefs, the goal is full incorporation into the Catholic Church, the physical and mystical body of Christ, as Vatican IIs Decree on Ecumenism explains:

“For it is through Christ’s Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained. It was to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe that our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one Body of Christ into which all those should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the People of God” (Unitatis redintegratio 3 § 5).

These same principles can be applied to discussions of a religious nature with non-Christians. It is never correct to imply or purposefully convey the notion that non-Christian religions are equal in value to the Christian religion transmitted by the Church. Nor is it ever praiseworthy to suggest that salvation can be found outside of Jesus Christ, the one and only unique Savior of mankind. In fact, doing so is an offense against Christ, who said of himself: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).