Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Kathleen Murphy reflects on Pope Leo’s October prayer intention that we pray that believers in different religious traditions might work together to defend and promote peace, justice and human fraternity. Photo: Yaw Kuma Ansu-Kyeremeh, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons; DonkeyHotey, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons; Pass a Method, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
A verse of the spiritual, In Christ There is No East or West, proclaims: …Join hands disciples in the faith, whate’er your race may be! Who serve each other in Christ’s love are surely kin to me…
This strong assertion harmonizes beautifully with the Pope’s intention for this month. It states: We pray that believers in different religious traditions might work together to defend and promote peace, justice and human fraternity.
Walter Kasper, a German prelate who served as President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity amplifies the words of the hymn. He says; While nations go to war, Christian churches can stand together to witness and work for peace. Ecumenical dialogue is a peace movement because it witnesses to and works for the reconciliation of all people made possible in Jesus Christ.
Fr. Thomas Reese SJ, in his column for Religion News puts forward some of these same ideas. He writes:;
Ecumenism is not just about theological dialogue over matters of doctrine. There is also the ecumenism of friendship, prayer and social action. Ecumenical friendship at work and in neighborhoods and among families has taken us way beyond the uncomfortable tolerance of the past. “My wish is that the dialogue between us should help to build bridges connecting all people,” said Pope Francis, “in such a way that everyone can see in the other not an enemy, not a rival, but a brother or sister to be welcomed and embraced!”
In a practical vein, Father Reese offers his ideas on the top 3 steps that need to be taken to move us forward on a path to unity.
- Churches (especially the Catholic Church) must recognize the important role of ecumenical marriages in the movement toward unity.
- The unity that comes from sharing in the same baptism should trump most disagreements.
- The Catholic Church has to return to seeing itself as the “big tent” that is inclusive rather than as an exclusive club for the arrogant.
So, we can see that there is a viable call to grow in oneness as we follow Jesus. How does this connect to the Holy Father’s challenge to defend and promote peace, justice and human fraternity? We might consider a passage from Dr. Matthew Tan’s book, Justice, Unity and the Hidden Christ:
The Church forms the ‘social’ in social justice. If this is your position, then you are saying that who is or who is not a member of the Church is not very easily defined because your point of reference is not the present. Your point of reference is the end of history. Then, and only then, can you find out who is not a member of the Church. Until that time comes, you can never tell whether the person standing next to you, who may or may not be the non-believer, could one day be singing the same liturgical hymn at the end of history.
Finally, we might consider the statement of the Jesuit General Congregation in Decree 12: The signs of the times give stark proof of the fact that a faith doing justice must necessarily lead to ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and cooperation. In many parts of the world, it is precisely religious divisions that are a force contributing to injustice, violence, and even warfare. In situations of conflict, often fueled by historic confessional hostilities, ecumenism calls us to pardon and to love as essential components of a Gospel-inspired struggle for justice and reconciliation.
Let us pray that we will grow in witnessing love to one another and to the whole of God’s family as we seek the hope that peace can bring.
