Ecumenism & Conversion

Conversion to Christ and the Church – A personal experience

Living a fiction?“Can Protestantism formulate a policy for reunion with Rome…short of unconditional surrender?”

Jaroslav Pelikan (Riddle of Roman Catholicism, p221)

"The only way to effect unity is for one side or the other to convert. Normally this does not happen, which leaves two alternatives, if one wants to try to save a relationship: Learn to live with the disagreement or pretend there is no disagreement, which means to live a fiction”

- Karl Keating (This Rock magazine, Sept 1998)

Conversion: A Shortcut to Unity?

“The case for conversion to Roman Catholicism is thus the case for a reunion of Western Christendom here and now, or at least for a reunion of as much of Western Christendom as I carry in my own person”

Jaroslav Pelikan (Riddle of Roman Catholicism, p196)

“I do have my own soul to save; and if all roads eventually lead to Rome, I may as well leave the company and take the short cut directly home.”

(Ibid, p197)

…or short-circuit?

“Conversion is an individualistic solution to a church problem… The individual who rashly seeks to hasten its solution by a precipitate action of his own may well be postponing the eventual solution. The road to solution…is [not through individual conversion but] through mutual understanding, study and witness.”

(Ibid, p199-200)

No Ecumenism without Conversion

“There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a change of heart.”

Vatican II Declaration on Ecumenism §7

“It can be said that the entire Decree on Ecumenism is permeated by the spirit of conversion.”

Pope John Paul II, Encyclical on Ecumenism §35

Conversion: Personal & Communal“The Council calls for personal conversion as well as for communal conversion.”

“The desire of every Christian Community for unity goes hand in hand with its fidelity to the Gospel.

“In the case of individuals who live their Christian vocation, the Council speaks of interior conversion, of a renewal of mind. Each one therefore ought to be more radically converted to the Gospel and, without ever losing sight of God's plan, change his or her way of looking at things.”

John Paul II, Encyclical on Ecumenism, §15

Conversion to Unity

Conversion to Unity means Conversion to Christ Conversion to Truth Conversion to the Church Conversion to the Word of God

Conversion to Christ“This means that we will never be united if we are not united in Christ, and to come to live in Christ and of Christ is a question of conversion.

“In ecumenism, conversion has much to do with the purification of the memory; that is, of again seeing all these events of the past -- which have caused so much suffering and so many divisions -- in the light of Christ. Christ reconciles all in one.

“Through Christ, approaching Christ, living from Christ, we will obtain the intelligence and the strength to see the past in the light of God, and in this discover that, despite what has happened, despite the difficulties, we are and always will be more brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Bishop Farrell (Secretary of the PCPCU, 2006)

How does conversion happen?The crucial question:

• On a personal individual level?

• On a communal ecclesiastical level?

Firstly, let me describe how it happened to me on an individual level.

Then let us reflect on what is required on a communal level.

Conversion to Truth

“All men should be at once impelled by nature and also bound by a moral obligation to seek the truth, especially religious truth. They are also bound to adhere to the truth, once it is known, and to order their whole lives in accord with the demands of truth.”

Vatican II, Declaration on Religious Freedom, §2

Conversion to the Church“It is evident that, when individuals wish for full Catholic communion, their preparation and reconciliation is an undertaking which of its nature is distinct from ecumenical action. But there is no opposition between the two, since both proceed from the marvelous ways of God.”

Vatican II, Declaration on Ecumenism §4:

“Therefore, a slogan that was popular some years back:  "Jesus yes, Church no", is totally inconceivable with the intention of Christ. This individualistically chosen Jesus is an imaginary Jesus.” Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, 15th March 2006

Conversion to the Word

“Day after day, we must deepen our communion with the Holy Church and thus, with the Word of God. They are not two opposite things, so that I can say: I am pro-Church or I am pro-God's Word. Only when we are united in the Church, do we belong to the Church, do we become members of the Church, do we live by the Word of God which is the life-giving force of the Church. And those who live by the Word of God can only live it because it is alive and vital in the living Church.”

Pope Benedict XVI, To the Priests of Rome, March 2006

My Personal Conversion

• Early 1980’s: conversion to the “catholic” idea and to the ecumenical endeavour

• 1992: Ordination as Lutheran pastor• 1994-2000: Close involvement with Victorian

Council of Churches• 2000: Pastor of 3 Lutheran congregations,

remarried after divorce, a daughter and a child on the way

• Easter 2000: began reflection on the Catholic Church

The Process• July 2000: realised conversion irreversible• August 2000: began process to regularise marriage• October 2000: began receiving lessons in Catholic

faith• December 2000: Offered new ministry in Adelaide• January 2001: Announced intention to resign• March 2001: Clergy Summit meeting• Palm Sunday 2001: Concluded ministry• Easter Vigil 2001: Worshipped in Catholic parish• May 2001: Resigned membership in Lutheran Church• 16 June 2003: Confirmed in Catholic Church

Major issues in my conversion• Continuity – Incarnate communion

with Christ and apostles (“We must accept newness, but also love continuity” –

Benedict XVI)

• Authenticity – “Visible” Church leads to question of “true” church

• Authority – Real authority to answer questions of the day

Personal Issues in my conversion• Personal Surrender

• Submission to authority

• Relinquishing status

• Faith rather than fear/anxiety

• Intellectual assent

• Formation of conscience

• Sacramental reconciliation and penance

New Experience of Unity• The Church is “so much bigger on the inside”

• “like walking out of a small room into the wide outdoors” – fellow convert

• Real experience of universal communion

• Central point of communion in the Petrine Ministry

• See www.yearofgrace.blogspot.com

New Experience of DisunityExperience of broken fellowship also

• Wife

• Children

• Parents and family

• Friends (esp. Lutheran Clergy)

Is Communal Conversion Possible?

• We live in an age of individualism

• How are we to hope for conversion as communities rather than as individuals?

• How can we hope for the reestablishment of real communion among Christian communities?

• How can this even be imagined? What would it possibly look like?

• Especially today when Christian communities are disintegrating from within at an ever greater rate

Companions in ConversionIndividualism is opposed to both

• ecumenism (which is a communal idea); and

• conversion (since conversion requires a point of reference beyond the self).

Communal conversion requires

• the conviction that Christ is to be found in Community rather than individually (Matt 18:20)

• willingness to travel toward an apprehension of Truth which we do not now perfectly possess (Jn 16:13)

• willingness to travel toward being Church in the fullest sense (Eph 2:20-21)

The Catholic Vision of Unity

• The Catholic Church remains committed to an ecumenism of “full, visible unity”

• Catholic Church no longer takes a “come home to Momma” view of ecumenism

• Conversion towards Christ means we are traveling “towards” unity together rather than “back to” unity

Moving Towards Unity

“So this is very important: we must tolerate the separation that exists. St Paul says that divisions are necessary for a certain time and that the Lord knows why: to test us, to train us, to develop us, to make us more humble. But at the same time, we are obliged to move towards unity, and moving towards unity is already a form of unity.”

Pope Benedict XVI, To the Priests of Rome, March 2006

Further Reading

• About my conversion:www.yearofgrace.blogspot.com

• For resources on Ecumenism:see: www.melbourne.catholic.org.au/eic

• About Ecumenism and Conversion: Groupe des Dombes “For the Conversion of the Churches” (1993)

“For the Conversion of the Churches”

From the back of the book:“…The conviction that church unity can come about

only through a process of conversion. Recognising that the conversion required for church unity is not only that of individuals nor of the Church of Christ as a whole, but also “confessional conversion”, the document faces squarely the great obstacle to such conversion—the fear the distinctive elements of “confessional identity” will be lost in the process– by showing that Christian, ecclesial and confessional identities are inseparable from and indeed grounded in conversion.”