CHAPTER 1: ECUMENICAL PROGRESS AND STAGNATION 17 Church. In the lead up to the Council, questions were raised about the nature of the communities to which other Christians belonged. The ecumenism of return model, which focusses on the return of non-Catholic individuals to the Catholic Church, was not yet abandoned. However, the question of membership in, or (gradual) belonging to, the church through Baptism, opened the discussion on the status of other communities.27 The Council then utilized this space to appreciate other churches and ecclesial communities,28 and to introduce the concept of gradual communion with other Christians.29 These important presuppositions have governed the attitude of the Catholic Church towards other Christian communities and its engagement in the ecumenical movement ever since. As a result, the unilateral ecumenism of return advocated previously gave way to an “ecumenism of common return, or common conversion to Jesus Christ.” 30 Bernd Jochen Hilberath speaks of a paradigm shift, a Perspektivenwechsel, explaining that “[t]he question ‘How do others relate to us?’ is, in principle (not in every individual formulation), resolved by the question ‘How do we and others relate to Jesus Christ, who is central to us?’”31 The ecclesiological reevaluation of other Christians implies the necessity of dialogue and a common search for the restoration of Christian unity, which includes reciprocal efforts to bridge the dogmatic, ecclesiastical, and cultural gaps. Thus, the Council committed itself to an ecumenical movement together with other Christians, directed towards the head of the church: Jesus Christ. Moreover, the Council committed explicitly to the existing ecumenical 27 Myriam Wijlens, Sharing the Eucharist: A Theological Evaluation of the Post Conciliar Legislation (Lanham Md: University Press of America, 2000), 91–109. 28 Cf. UR, secs. 3–4; 14–17; 19–23. 29 Cf. Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 1964, sec. 15, http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_ const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html (henceforth cited as LG) and UR, secs. 3–4. 30 Kasper, That They May All Be One, 67. 31 Bernd Jochen Hilberath, “Theologischer Kommentar zum Dekret über den Ökumenismus Unitatis Redintegratio,” in Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzil, Vol. 3, ed. Peter. Hünermann, Bernd Jochen. Hilberath, and Guido Bausenhart (Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder, 2005), 103. Original text in German: “[d]ie Frage ‘In welchem Verhältnis stehen die Anderen zu uns?’ wird prinzipiell (nicht in jeder einzelnen Formulierung) abgelöst durch die Frage ‘Wie stehen wir und die Anderen zu Jesus Christus, der unser Mittelpunkt ist?’” (translation: FW).
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