Kardinal Kaspers foredrag for alle Kirkens kardinaler fredag 23/11 om økumenikk er blitt trykt på italiensk i L’Osservatore Romano, og oversatt til engelsk av www.chiesa – les det her. Han tok i foredraget opp forholdene til fem ulike kirkefamilier:
– with the pre-Chalcedonian Eastern Churches;
– with the Orthodox Churches of the Byzantine, Syrian, and Slavic traditions;
– with the ecclesial Communities born of the Protestant Reformation;
– with the «evangelical» Communities;
– with the Charismatic and Pentecostal Communities.
Med kirkesamfunn som springer ut fra reformasjonen nevnte han både det positive som har skjedd, men også den nye uenigheten som har kommer i etiske spørsmål – implisitt tar han her opp det nye vedtaket om samlevende homofile personer i Den norske kirke.
We now move on to relations with the ecclesial Communities born from the Reformation. Encouraging signs have also appeared in this area. All the ecclesial Communities have expressed their interest in dialogue, and the Catholic Church is in dialogue with almost all of the ecclesial Communities. A certain agreement has been reached in the realm of the truths of faith, above all regarding the fundamental questions of the doctrine of justification. In many places, there is fruitful collaboration in the social and humanitarian sphere. There has been the gradual spread of an attitude of mutual trust and friendship, characterized by a profound desire for unity, which endures even though there are, from time to time, some harsh exchanges and bitter disappointments. In fact, the solid network of both personal and institutional relationships that has been developed is capable of withstanding the occasional tensions.
There has been no stoppage of the ecumenical situation, but rather a profound transformation. This is the same transformation experienced by the Church and by the world in general. I will limit myself here to citing just a few of its aspects.
1) After reaching a fundamental agreement on the doctrine of justification, we now find ourselves having to discuss again the classic controversial themes, above all that of ecclesiology and the ecclesial ministers (cf. UUS 66). In this regard, the «Five responses» released last July by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith have raised perplexity and have occasioned a certain discontent. The agitation that arose around this document was, for the most part, unjustified, because the text does not affirm anything new, but restates Catholic doctrine in a concise form. Nonetheless, it is to be hoped that the form, language, and public presentation of such declarations could be reviewed.
2) The different ecclesiologies necessarily lead to different views of the aims of ecumenism. So there is a problem in the fact that we lack a common concept of ecclesial unity as the goal to be attained. This problem is all the more serious if we consider that ecclesial communion is for us Catholics the precondition for Eucharistic communion, and that the absence of Eucharistic communion brings great pastoral difficulties, above all in the case of mixed couples and families.
3) While, on the one hand, we are struggling to overcome the old controversies, on the other hand new divergences are emerging in the ethical field. These concern in particular the questions related to the defense of life, to marriage, to the family, and to human sexuality. Because of these new divisions that are being created, common public witness is significantly weakened, if not impossible. The crisis taking place within the respective Communities is clearly exemplified by the situation that has arisen in the Anglican Communion, which is not an isolated case.
4) Protestant theology, marked during the first years of dialogue by the «Lutheran Renaissance» and by Karl Barth’s theology of the Word of God, has now returned to the motifs of liberal theology. As a result, we are seeing that, on the Protestant side, the Christological and Trinitarian foundations that were until now common presuppositions are sometimes diluted. What we held to be our common heritage has begun to melt here and there like the glaciers in the Alps.
But strong countercurrents have also arisen in reaction to the phenomena mentioned above. All over the world there is the strong growth of evangelical groups, whose positions mostly coincide with ours on the fundamental dogmatic questions, especially in the ethical field, but are often very divergent on ecclesiology, the theology of the sacraments, biblical exegesis, and the understanding of tradition. There are high Church organizations that want to bring into Anglicanism and Lutheranism elements from the Catholic tradition, in regard to the liturgy and the ecclesial ministry. To these are added an increasing number of monastic communities which, often living according to the Benedictine rule, feel close to the Catholic Church. Furthermore, there are pietist communities that, in the face of the crisis over ethical questions, feel a certain discomfort in the Protestant ecclesial Communities; these look with gratitude to the clear statements of position by the Pope, of whom they had spoken in less kind tones not long ago.
Her er litt om Kasper…og artikkelen sier en del om hans innstilling til definerte dogmer.
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/news_2.html
«Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, told The Catholic Herald: “It’s not our policy to bring that many Anglicans to Rome.”
– Jaha? Ikke det? Er det kjedelig å leke i den økumeniske lekegrind når det blir færre der til å leke med?
Var det ikke en viss Kristus som leverte noe som het misjonsbefalingen?
Han sa meg bekjent noe sånt som «Gå ut og omvend mennesker» og ikke «gå ut og driv dialog.»
Reiste misjonærene på dialogturer? Ofret f.eks martyrene i øst sitt liv for at Kirken skulle drive dialog med de deler av den ortdodokse kirke som senere kom hjem til Rom, og helst oppfordret dem til «å bli der de er?»
Slik tale som Kasper kommer med, vanærer martyrenes ofre.