With churches closed throughout much of the world, many events and dedicated weeks have passed us by. One of those weeks was the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Catholics who paid attention to Pope Francis’ engagements may have noticed it through his references to the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul’s Encyclical on Christian Unity, Ut Unum Sint.
Like Sherlock Holmes’ dog that famously did not bark, the Week for Christian Unity may be significant for both churches and our wider society precisely because it passed so little noticed. At one level that is a measure of its success. It began at a time of vigorous missionary activity by European and American churches with a long history of mutual antipathy. Those involved had begun to realise how far their rivalry and exclusive claims for their own church weakened their individual efforts. The non-Christians among whom they worked were also deterred by the inconsistency of people in conflict preaching a Gospel of peace and unity.
The Week for Christian Unity was one of many initiatives aimed at healing the divisions of the past, restoring unity among Christians, and praying and cooperating with one another. Together, they became known as the ecumenical movement. Attitudes towards the movement among church leaders and members were ambivalent. Most were in favour of the unity of Christians as a distant goal. But for many the issues that had initially led to their division were still alive. Christian unity had to be based on unity of belief, whether this concerned, for example, the presence of Christ in the Eucharist or salvation by faith alone. They were also divided about whether unity would mean joining one church as it was already constituted or shaping a new and diverse community.
In the Catholic Church the initial attitude to the ecumenical movement was generally suspicious. It was seen to downplay the significance of unity of belief and to see all churches as equally valid, so failing to recognise that the true Church already existed in the Catholic Church. By Vatican Council II, however, the disunity among Christians was seen as a scandal, the many elements shared with other churches recognised, and the urgency of church unity stressed. Catholic leaders and theologians joined their fellows in other churches to seek common ground on disputed points of doctrine. Local congregations of different churches prayed together and sought to cooperate on common projects. Roman statements, however,