The fruits of dialogue

A continuing story: that’s how Vatican Council II is described by the bishops and representatives of the Churches whom we asked to evaluate the progress made and prospects for the future. Greece: basic ecumenism. Small but continuous steps forward: that’s how the progress of the Greek Catholic Church after Vatican Council II is described by the president of the Greek Episcopal Conference, Archbishop Nikolaos Foskolos. “From the Council to the present day – says the archbishop of Athens – we have made progress in our local Church not only in the liturgy but in almost all the sectors examined by this important event in the life of the Church. Our efforts to absorb the contents of the Council have been aimed, in particular, at liturgical life, and at ecclesiology with the emphasis on local ecclesial life and the participation of the laity”. In particular, he adds, “there are many laypeople who participate in the parish Councils, and who are involved in catechism, and in spite of our limited number, we are also trying to respond to the Council’s teachings on mission. We have missionaries in Africa, in Romania, two women religious in Bulgaria. We don’t want to be a closed Church”. But a lot still remains to be done: “An area where we have still not made much progress is that of the permanent diaconate and this is due to the formation of deacons. Here in Greece – explains Archbishop Foskolos – we don’t have suitable centres of formation and are therefore forced to send our deacons abroad; this causes language and other problems, especially for married people”. Nor are ecumenism and interreligious dialogue being forgotten: “Here in Greece the Catholic Church is a small minority and must come to terms with an Orthodox majority. Ecumenism in Greece has a twofold dimension. First, there is the ecumenism of relations between the ecclesiastical institutions, which is experiencing some difficulties and risks being stifled, especially because the Orthodox Church is fearful of the secularism coming from the West and the effects of globalization. Second, there exists, by contrast, an ecumenism at the grassroots level, promoted by personal contacts, reciprocal esteem and understanding. That is the ecumenism in which we all hope”. Germany: visible signs. “The Council’s impulse has given rise to many changes, and the traces it has left are profound”: so says Bishop Gebhard Fürst of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. The visible signs left by the Council in Germany include the rebirth of the permanent diaconate; the commitment of some 200,000 volunteers active in the Church (without whom her “pastoral service would long have been impoverished”); the foundation of associations and organizations; and the presence of women in the Church. “All of them – says the bishop – help to create a living Church, as wished by the Council”. And he adds: “Sharing responsibilities and contributing to decision-making processes reinforces identification with the Church. Moreover, in this way it is possible to formulate and take decisions with a greater understanding of the root causes”. What still remains to be implemented? “I would like to cite – says Msgr. Fürst in reply – just three aspects that seem to me important: first, the spiritual dimension of our Church needs to be reinforced, by paying greater attention to the Gospel and acting consequently in society, on the basis of the motto: ‘acting for life!’. Second, it’s important to create a contemporary pastoral image of our Church, in which services and charisms, the main office-holders and lay volunteers may collaborate effectively together. Third, I think that the whole richness of the liturgical celebration must be more fully exploited, to make it more fruitful for the transmission of the faith”. Russia: from the lips of the metropolitan. “A personal story”, the memory of which still lights up his eyes. The story is told by Archbishop Tadeus Kondrusiewicz of Moscow who prefers to talk of Vatican Council II with a personal reminiscence. “It was in 1965 and I was a student at the polytechnic institute in Leningrad. At Christmas Mass, I became aware that an Orthodox patriarch was standing next to the parish priest. I had no idea who he was. Only later did I find out that it was the metropolitan of Leningrad, Nicodemus. After Holy Mass, the metropolitan addressed the congregation and told how he had just returned from Rome where he had been an observer of the Russian Church at Vatican Council II. It was the first time I had heard these words being pronounced: Vatican Council II. So I first heard of the Council from the lips of an Orthodox metropolitan! it’s really curious, an event that I have always considered a sign. Only in the 1970s, once I had entered a seminary in Lithuania, was I able to gain access to the texts of the Council. I recall that I was so struck by them that I chose them as the subject of my doctorate”. Looking to the present, Archbishop Kondrusiewicz observes: “Our task today is to realize the Council in the life of the Church. We need above all to bring home to people the concept of the Church as people of God. There’s also the task of adapting the liturgical texts to the Russian tradition, also bearing in mind the Orthodox and Byzantine tradition, and of translating them into Russian. Lastly, there’s the whole chapter of the social teaching of the Church that needs to be developed. But all this we want to realize in collaboration with the Orthodox Church”. Switzerland: “gifts” for all the Churches. “The Swiss Church – recalls Giovanni Paolo di Sury, one of the priests serving the ecumenical parish centre of Meyrin – was very quick to harvest the fruits of the Council, thanks to her particular social and cultural situation. Ecumenism, in particular, was one of the essential aspects of the Council that was taken into a great deal of consideration in our country”. The Meyrin centre is one of the fruits of Vatican Council II in French-speaking Switzerland: it’s a parish centre equally divided between a Catholic and a Protestant community. 124 different nationalities have passed through it. An experience full of “gifts” for both Churches. “It may be said – says the priest – that Catholics have given to Protestants, especially in Switzerland, a sense of liturgical celebration and that, thanks to Protestants, Catholics have rediscovered the richness of the traditions more rooted in the Bible. Our parish centre forms part of one of the many ecumenical projects that Vatican Council II produced in the world”. Unfortunately, notes Father Sury, “at a time when far-reaching transformations are taking place in the Church, there are those who are deciding to abandon her. With the movement of Msgr. Lefebvre in Switzerland, we have witnessed a step backwards, a return to a distant past. Insisting on the importance of Latin has represented a wish to obscure the religious message. The rejection of collegiality, freedom of conscience and human rights were at the origin of this separation. The dialogue with Lefebvre’s movement has now been resumed, in the name of ecumenism, but it won’t be easy”. Today, Switzerland is waiting impatiently for a Vatican Council III: “Ecumenism – he explains – is an irreversible movement and could be the main focal point for the next Council but there are also other issues that need to be discussed again, such as interreligious dialogue”.