Spain: The Ecumenism of Charity

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From 18 to 25 January, the different Churches celebrate the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity, and, in a way, we are called to reflect on the importance of Ecumenism in the Churches. We might consider Ecumenism as ‘the response that the Holy Spirit has called forth to overcome divisions between churches and ecclesial communities’, seeking full visible communion.

Perhaps we Christians speak too easily about love. To love is quickly said, but we are divided. Year after year, we pray to get out of this paralysing situation that robs evangelisation of credibility and removes coherence from missionary preaching. How do we get out of it?

Since the Missionary Assembly in Edinburgh in 1910, the churches born out of the Reformation have initiated ecumenical dynamics. In 1948, the World Council of Churches was founded in the conviction that Christ is not divided and does not want division. Jesus’ wish, expressed in the Gospel of John (Jn 17:21), is that “all may be one”. The Catholic Church will join the ecumenical movement at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). Since then, some of us have come to understand that Catholic and ecumenical are synonyms. Some of us think that ‘ecumenical’ better expresses the call to universality. But we have not always lived in the Churches with such attention. Perhaps that is why we are surprised that this Jubilee year coincides with the celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of the first ecumenical council. Yes, there was an ecumenical council in Nicaea 1,700 years ago. Hey, 1,700 years!!! What have we made of that search for unity?

It is true that in today’s Church, there are ecumenical communities that hint at a response. Both the ecumenical community of Taizé and the monastic community of religious men and women in Bose are indicators that it is already possible to overcome the barriers erected by our histories. The Churches cannot continue to deny each other communion and deep acceptance and, at the same time, continue to complain about the lack of fruitfulness of their preaching. Has the Missionary Church nothing to do and nothing to say?

We will have to be instruments of hope to help the people of God. We cannot be satisfied with the institutional fact of one week of prayer a year. We must go further. What if we were to listen more seriously to that voice that speaks of the ‘Ecumenism of Charity’?

Our Redemptorist Congregation has, in its being an ecclesial and missionary community, an open reality. It is good to know that there are Redemptorists of different rites:

  • Byzantine (Greek-Catholic from Ukraine, Slovakia and Canada)
  • Syro-Malabar (India)
  • Chaldean (Iraq, Egipt)

It is a joy to discover that the depth of ecumenism, unity in plurality, is already being lived in the Congregation. It remains to nourish it, to express it, to make it an objective of the Mission. The new times show us that there is no more Mission without an ecumenical outlook. A certain secularism reminds us that perhaps we are confusing pastoral fecundity with proselytism.

From our parish, in this Octave of Prayer for Unity, the opportunity has arisen for a gesture that updates the ‘Ecumenism of Charity’: the sending of a truck with twenty thousand kilos of food for the Orthodox brothers and sisters of Ukraine. It is true that ‘Christian unity is not only a spiritual goal, but a practical responsibility. Our common faith in Christ impels us to work together to alleviate suffering and build a more just and united world’. Thus, with the collaboration of “Acoger y Compartir”, “Ayuda Contenedores”, and the Holy Redeemer Parish Madrid, we are sending food and humanitarian aid for the Orthodox in Ukraine, through the Redemptorist Fr. Andriy Raik, to a shelter for mothers and children in Zaporishzhia, families of internally displaced persons in Lviv, orphanage in Zaluchya, Kamianske, families of fallen soldiers in Lviv, Kyiv, Zaporishshia. Yes, true Christian unity is built by concrete acts of love that transcend confessions and borders.

José Miguel de Haro, C.S.S.R.