Paulist Fathers: Ecumenism and Interfaith


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Full Communion: The Catholic Understanding

by Thomas Ryan, C.S.P.

The 1985 Extraordinary Synod of Bishops identified communion (koinonia or communio) as the key theological theme to emerge from the Second Vatican Council. Catholics have communion with the triune God in history in the Church through faith, sacramental life and the ecclesial bonds of communion maintained through its hierarchical ministry.

In the Council, the Church recognized a real, if yet imperfect, communion among all baptized believers in Jesus Christ (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Catholics and other Christians are united in a certain communion by a common baptism, common affirmation of the apostolic faith, and commitment to unity with one another. Full communion in the Catholic Church itself entails agreement in the same apostolic faith, sharing the same sacraments and communion among the churches, which is maintained by the communion among their bishops and with their head, the bishop of Rome. (Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism 12-14)

The Catholic Church finds expression in local churches in full communion with the See of Rome and with each other. Clearly, however, this full communion does not require uniformity. The Eastern and Latin Catholic Churches, for example, experience full communion in a way that honors the theological, liturgical, spiritual and canonical diversity with which the Holy Spirit has gifted them in their separate development within the one koinonia.

Together with its ecumenical partners, the Catholic Church has formulated common elements necessary for full communion to be realized. These were outlined in a 1991 text resulting from dialogues in Faith and Order. The Catholic Church has been a formal member since 1969:

The unity of the church to which we are called is a koinonia given and expressed in the common confession of the apostolic faith; a common sacramental life entered by the one baptism and celebrated together in one Eucharistic fellowship; a common life in which members and ministries are mutually recognized and reconciled; and a common mission witnessing to the gospel of God's grace to all people and serving the whole of creation. The goal of the search for full communion is realized when all the churches are able to recognize in one another the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church in its fullness. This full communion will be expressed on the local level and the universal levels through conciliar forms of life and action. In such communion churches are bound in all aspects of life together at all levels in confessing the one faith and engaging in worship and witness, deliberation and action. (The Unity of the Church as Koinonia: Gift and Calling, Canberra, World Council of Churches 2.1)

Obviously, this statement articulates an agenda of issues to be resolved, as well as an agreement on the nature of the Church and its unity as the goal of our relationship.

Among our partner churches and ecclesial communities, levels of communion have been achieved which do not yet exist between any of them and the Catholic Church. The Orthodox churches are in full communion among themselves but do not have the full communion with the bishop of Rome and the churches in communion with him that existed during the first millennium.

After decades of dialogue, certain Reformation churches have been able to move into full communion. Agreements on the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist have enabled three Reformed churches (Presbyterian, United Church of Christ and Reformed Church in America) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and many of their European counterparts, to come into full communion. Disagreements on ordained ministry were not church dividing in the sixteenth century among these Reformation communities and are not so today. The Moravian and Evangelical Lutheran churches have also come into full communion.

Anglican and Evangelical Lutheran churches have been able to come into full communion, based on common theological views of soteriology and the sacraments and on the willingness of the

Lutherans to have their bishops ordained by bishops in the apostolic succession as Anglicans affirm it. These achievements of full communion include three elements Catholics identify as necessary:
a) unity in faith, b) unity in sacramental life, and c) unity in ministry. These agreements on full communion do not yet have the same content that Catholics would see as necessary for full communion with the Catholic Church.

On the road to full communion, specific steps are taken to remove obstacles and resolve theological differences. Common Declarations with some Eastern Churches on the Christological doctrine were based on the recognition that the separations that followed the Council of Ephesus (431, Assyrian Church of the East) and the Council of Chalcedon (451, Oriental Orthodox Patriarchates) were based on differences in theological formulation rather than on fundamental differences in faith. The 1999 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the churches of the Lutheran World Federation marks the beginning of this process with Reformation communities. In a similar manner, our ecumenical partners are taking definite steps to remove obstacles to full communion among them.

In January 2002, nine Protestant churches in the United States took one step closer to full communion by moving from forty years of serious theological and canonical dialogue in the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) to become Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC), with the hope of achieving full communion after 2007. For these churches, full communion entails resolving differences over scripture and tradition, baptism, the Eucharist, ordained ministry, and some ethical issues, like racism. The hope is that the question of ministry in the apostolic succession through ordination by bishops will be resolved, so that the step of full communion can take place. Only careful theological dialogue, however, will enable this process to move forward in due course. Setting a particular date on the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Christian community is not possible.

While the Catholic Church was only an observer of this Consultation, some steps were taken that will contribute to the theological convergences which enhance our common quest for full communion. Catholic theologians have been involved at every stage of the theological, canonical and liturgical formulations that are making these steps possible.

The real, if imperfect, communion that is shared by the Catholic Church and other churches and ecclesial communities makes the steps taken by others toward deeper communion of significance to Catholics. The Catholic Church has observed closely all of these stages in reconciliation. The USCCB is in dialogue with all the CUIC communities. (Presbyterian, Episcopal, United Methodist, African Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion churches, United Church of Christ, Christian Church/Disciples of Christ, and International Council of Community Churches)

It must be recognized that the notion of full communion is being used analogously. Catholics believe that full communion is a reality in the Catholic Church. Koinonia is used in different ways by communities that are divided by various issues; however, for all Christians it is rooted in an understanding of the koinonia among the three divine persons of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Our formulations of faith, sacramental communion and canonical structures give form to koinonia in the Church. As a biblical understanding of the Church and rooted in the patristic and biblical renewal of the nineteenth century, koinonia came into wider use in the foundation of the World Council of Churches and the theological research that led to the Second Vatican Council. Our communion is deepened by internal renewal, theological dialogue and conversion of heart, all of which are central to our common calling. (Ut Unum Sint, 16, 17) For the Catholic Church, full communion is both a hope shared with ecumenical partners and a self-understanding of our own unity among the churches in communion with the See of Rome.

The most Rev. Tod Brown, Bishop of Orange, CA, and Chairman of the Bishop's Committee on Ecumenical Affairs, sent this resource to all members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in May 2002 in light of "full communion" agreements taking place among some ecumenical partners.