Every time a document from the Vatican causes a controversy it seems to surprise Vatican officials, who always say that it is intended primarily for Catholics. The notion that in the information age nothing can be addressed just to a selected audience seems to have passed them by. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's recent document, Responses to some Questions, hurt many Protestants and embarrassed many Catholics, writes Breda O'Brien.
It may seem perverse to claim that nonetheless, it could potentially advance the cause of reconciliation between the churches, and not just because it will cause those who are ecumenically-minded to rush to repair whatever damage has been perceived to have been done. Indifference, or a sense that we have achieved so much we can relax, is the greatest enemy of progress in ecumenism. The latest declaration provides an antidote to any complacency.
Ecumenism, the movement to restore unity among Christian traditions, tends to be an interest of older people. Many young people are not engaged by it, because "they are all much the same anyway, aren't they?"
Well, no, actually, they are not, because if they were, the Orthodox Church would not have split off from the Western Church in 1054, and the Reformation would never have happened. If they were all the same, we also would not have all the rich expressions of aspects of Christianity that we have today, from the singing of the Methodists to the pacifism of the Quakers. To deny the real differences is to deny the real richness of different traditions. It is also to declare that history is bunk, or at least irrelevant.
In any relationship, pretending that differences do not exist is a great way to let them fester. One day, something hits a nerve, and suddenly, all the "let's just be nice to each other" in the world is not enough to contain the upsurge of anger.
When I lived in the US, friends of mine who were involved in a Christian fellowship and who only had my best interests at heart, used to leave tracts lying around whenever I visited them, detailing the excesses of the whore of Babylon, aka the Catholic Church. They genuinely believed that because I was a Catholic, I was going straight to hell and they were desperately anxious to save me from that fate.
Until the Second Vatican Council, a significant number of Catholics would have been a mirror image of my American friends, that is, convinced that Protestants were going to hell in a handcart. It may not sound like much of an improvement to declare about reformed churches that "the spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation". However, this Second Vatican Council declaration is very important, because it recognises that salvation can come through communities that are not in full communion with the Catholic Church.
Yet nothing alters the fact that the Catholic Church is stating that although imperfect, it approaches closest to the church that God intended, because it has an unbroken link to the first Christian communities, and has preserved the succession of bishops from Peter and therefore the celebration of the Eucharist from the earliest times.
It is easy to see why these claims appear triumphalist. However, it would be equally true that some of the churches that lack, for example, the papacy, are delighted about and proud of their alleged lack. They would claim that this "lack" is a positive thing, and a sign that they are closer to being a church in the way that God would want. Is that triumphalist, or a sincerely held conviction?
The most common misunderstanding of this teaching of the Catholic Church is that it is claiming greater holiness for itself, or that Catholics are somehow better than other Christians.
In fact, in many places, including in the commentary on this document found on the Vatican website, the Catholic Church talks about "its own members who are sinners" that is, all Catholics, as one of the factors responsible for the fact that church unity remains an ideal rather than a reality.
In an imperfect analogy, democracy is seen by most people as a good thing, but that does not mean that the democratic system is not open to corruption and indifference, or that people who have the right to vote will exercise that right sensibly. So while Catholics may believe that their church has all the most important characteristics of a church, they are painfully aware that it does not guarantee that any individual Catholic is anything to write home about, and that includes some of the more colourful popes.
What about the point that the Catholic Church is entitled to believe what it believes, but does it have to keep harping on about it in a way that seems at best positively rude? Would it not be better off heeding the words of the Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism, that is, that Catholics' "primary duty is to make an honest and careful appraisal of whatever needs to be renewed and achieved in the Catholic household itself?"
There is no doubt that Catholics could learn much from our Protestant brothers and sisters. Most Catholics only have the sketchiest acquaintance with scripture, for example, which is hard to justify. However, any church is entitled to reiterate core beliefs, although it helps if it is sensitively done. The language of the Decree on Ecumenism is much warmer and more conciliatory than this current document. However, it is unwise to believe that pretending differences do not exist will aid unity.
By reminding us how long the road to unity really is, this document may provide a motivation to co-operate more deeply at the practical level. It is already happening in many parishes, where there is real friendship between different traditions.
The threat facing the entire globe in the shape of climate change also presents a challenge and an opportunity. Churches have a vital role to play here, particularly in counter-acting a kind of fatalism that says there is nothing we can do, so we may as well just go on happily consuming on the road to destruction. As a side-effect of co-operation in the face of such a threat, some of our more petty differences may be dissolved.