Pre-General Convention: Ecumenical Relations
Diocesan Press Service. August 7, 1964 [XXIII-5]
The role which the Episcopal Church will play in current ecumenical undertakings will be determined by its 61st General Convention in St. Louis.
If the three Commissions which now deal with the area of church unity have their way, the three Commissions will, themselves, merge. In order to streamline and better coordinate the Church's activity in the ecumenical area, the three Commissions - the Joint Commission on Approaches to Unity, the Joint Commission on Co-Operation with the Eastern and Old Catholic Churches and the Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations - have recommended that they be discontinued and that one all-inclusive Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations, to consist of 10 Bishops, 10 Presbyters, and 10 lay persons, continue their work and also include relations with the Roman Catholic Church and with other parts of the Anglican Communion and the Wider Episcopal Fellowship within its scope of action.
The Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations, which has kept in communication with both the National Council of Churches and with the World Council of Churches and which has sought to keep the Episcopal Church informed on ecumenical matters, has completed a study of the National Council of Churches, which it was directed to do by General Convention in 1961, and recommends that the Episcopal Church continue its membership in the organization. Its study states that charges of Communism against the National Council of Churches are not founded on fact and, while recognizing the often unwieldy nature of an inter-church group, praises its work in the field of social service, and points out that no statement of the National Council of Churches is binding upon a member church. In another area of ecumenical concern, the Commission asks the Convention to call the Church to pray for the Vatican Council and to convey to authorities of the Roman Catholic Church the desire of the Episcopal Church for talks, both formal and informal, between the two churches on matters of Christian life and Church unity.
The Joint Commission on Approaches to Unity, which has been engaged primarily in unity conversations with other churches, known as the Consultation on Church Union, recommends in its report to Convention that the Episcopal Church continue to participate in the Consultation on the basis of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, which sets forth the four essential elements upon which the Episcopal Church will discuss reunion: the Holy Scriptures, the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, the historic Creeds, and the apostolic ministry. Although the Consultation has asked member churches to obtain authorization to draft a plan of union, the Committee feels that there should be "sufficient theological consensus to support this activity with the promise of achievement. To date, there have been only two meetings of the Consultation at which the conversations have grappled with profound issues of division among the Churches. Encouraging as the progress has been, the exploratory phase of the conversations is still proceeding." In its report, therefore, the Committee does not recommend that a plan of union be negotiated now.
The third ecumenical Commission, the Joint Commission on Co-Operation with the Eastern and Old Catholic Churches, was formed to continue conversations with representatives of the Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches in order to increase mutual understanding. In its report it makes clear that this work calls for a specialized agency and recommends that a distinct section for Orthodox and Eastern Church matters be included within the structure of the proposed Joint Commission on Ecumenical Relations.
These three reports, in general, point toward more co-ordinated and efficient work in the field of ecumenical relations and a continued involvement in ecumenical conversations with various Christian communions.