“It was important to examine at what point the Christian communities have reached in their reception and implementation of this Charta Oecumenica”. So said Archbishop Giuseppe Chiaretti of Perugia who in his role as president of the Commission for ecumenism of the Italian Episcopal Conference participated in the consultation at Ottmaring. In the archbishop’s view, “the Charter is not so much a document as a project of work that permits us to take steps of a practical character”. Chiaretti emphasized the “shift of emphasis in the ecumenical field from speculative theology to a more directly practical reflection. That’s what emerged from the reports, especially as a request of the young, who can no longer understand the significance of certain defensive positions and consider more meaningful the meetings and the efforts being made in practical situations”. But that insists Archbishop Chiaretti must not lead us to “deny the importance of theological dialogue”. “I think he adds that the theologians and the experts need to be encouraged to conduct reflections with particular commitment and that at the same time steps be taken to proceed on a level of practical theology”. “History needs to be lived today, not in the past says the archbishop we cannot continue to drag behind us the dead-weight of past centuries. We needs to find solutions, with a courage similar to that of the prophets”. Father Thomas Norris, secretary of the Irish Episcopal Commission for ecumenism, also spoke of the need for courage. Recalling an Irish proverb that says: “life can be a fantastic adventure or a boring journey”, Norris explained that “the ecumenical experience must be a courageous adventure, where it’s not we who command, but God, through the Holy Spirit: He’s the real protagonist who opens up ways and possibilities inconceivable to us. Our task is that of taking risks; that of listening and responding to the voice of the Holy Spirit”.
