The mother of unity

An international mariological symposium was held in Rome in early October, with the participation of Catholic, Protestant and Anglican theological of various European countries. For three days they discussed the Virgin Mary, reviewing the latest findings of theological dialogues and proposing new approaches for study in the future. The theme of the symposium – organized by the Pontifical “Marianum” Faculty of Theology – was “Mary in ecumenical dialogue in the West”. IMPORTANCE OF DIALOGUE . “The problem – said the theologian Salvatore Perrella of the Marianum, immediately going to the heart of the problem – is of ‘dogmatic’ nature, especially as regards the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary, the problem of the cooperation of Mary in the salvation, and “the legitimacy and consequence of prayer to Mary and her heavenly intercession”. As far as “Marian cult and Marian devotion” are concerned, on the other hand, the dialogue of recent years has been useful in elucidating many things; it has demonstrated that “a just veneration and admiration for Mary can be expressed in the context of Christian worship due to her exemplary faith”. Of the same view is the scholar and expert on ecumenism Giovanni Cereti who spoke of the document “Mary: grace and hope in Christ” published by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) in 2004. “Recurring to a language able to express the faith in an up-to-date and convincing way – said Cereti – has enabled us to rediscover with joy a common tradition around Mary, perhaps too much obscured in the age of controversy”. It offers motives for reflection not only to Anglicans and Catholics but to Christians of all Churches”. APPROACHES FOR STUDY . Carmelo Dotolo , theologian of the Pontifical Urbanian University, observed that the “ecumenical” problem of Mary arises especially from the question of “dogma”. “Does dogma – he asked – have a value as open formulation” and with “reference to the questions of history” or “does its value lie in the fact that it enunciates a truth that remains protected from any additional meaning?”. To solve this question, Dotolo spoke of the “method of ecumenically intense consensus” and explained: “it expresses the idea that the link between revelation and truth consists in conceiving the truth as origin and source more than just a mere object of discovery”. The insight of the Catholic-Protestant group of Dombes (France) on the symbolic value of dogmas was born in this context. Thus we read under number 326 of the document “ Mary in God’s plan and in the communion of saints“: “If the Protestants of the Dombes Group cannot accept the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary as belonging to the faith of the Church, especially because these dogmas are not attested in Holy Scripture, they are nonetheless sensible of their symbolic value and accept that their Catholic brothers consider them dogmas of faith… We can affirm that the interpretation of these dogmas does not involve anything that is contrary to the preaching of the Gospel. So, in this sense, these dogmas do not generate separatist divergences”. ANGLICANS . The ARCIC document “Mary: grace and hope in Christ” dates to 2004. The situation of Catholic-Anglican dialogue on Mary was reviewed by John Flack , Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome. “The great and unsolved problem is how Anglicans can receive and understand the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. Anglicans tend to have a negative view of the term ‘dogma’ and are not inclined to turn these two doctrines into articles of faith. The Assumption perhaps represents the simpler problem. Many Anglicans could accept it as devotion but few would be willing to give it the status of dogmatic formula”. The Immaculate Conception, on the other hand, is the harder nut to crack, for two reasons: first, because “it is not a dogma promulgated by a General Council of the Church but a diktat of Pius IX”. And second, because “it seems to many theologians to diminish the incarnation of Jesus”. Anglican Bishop Flack also emphasized the diversities that exist between Anglicans and Catholics on devotion to Mary. If for example the prayer “Ave Maria” is taught to Catholics from earliest childhood, for Anglicans it’s not so “natural” “to pray to the saints: they are taught instead to pray directly to Christ himself”. In short, dialogue on Mary must continue. It requires “a process of long-term and substantial reception” but only on condition that “each side be ready to understand from where the other is coming”. And if the ARCIC document “Mary: grace and hope in Christ” has been “extremely useful”, dialogue must now continue on the Marian dogmas. “It’s an effort worth making, because the Mother of Christ ought to be a source not of division but of unity among Christians”.