The Second Vatican Council: the legacy viewed through Methodist eyes.

Wainwright, Geoffrey

From a Methodist viewpoint the most precise legacy from the Second Vatican Council resides in the bilateral dialogue to which the then-Secretariat for Christian Unity invited the World Methodist Council. The Roman invitation came in 1966, and the dialogue began in 1967. It is not my purpose here to offer a chronological account of the nine rounds of the dialogue and the regular reports coming from the Joint Commission for Dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church. Rather, the main and formal part of my presentation will start from the ninth and most recent report, whose title and internal structure offer a way of approach to some of the chief themes and documents of Vatican II and the related developments that have occurred in the intervening years, both on the Catholic side and on the Methodist side, and sometimes together. The ninth report of the joint commission--informally known as "Durban 2011" (a nickname that I will explain later)--is titled Encountering Christ the Saviour: Church and Sacraments. (1)

I will, however, begin informally, even anecdotally, in order to recall memories from almost a half-century ago. In the academic year 1966-67, I was still a graduate student, and I was awarded a European Fellowship that allowed me--as a Briton-to continue my work at any place of my choice on "the Continent." Intrigued as a mere Protestant by what I had picked up, both formally and informally, about Vatican If, I chose Rome as the place to go, where there was still excitement about the council that had recently concluded. My place of registration--necessary in order to gain admission cards to libraries--was the Facolta Valdese di Teologia, the Waldensian Faculty of Theology. From there, warning signals went up early, since the Waldensians derived from Pietro Valdese, a "reformer" from the twelfth century; their small community had endured a long and bitter history with the Catholic Church, from which they had separated. I attended the lecture course of Professor Vittorio Subilia, in many ways a respected dogmatician, who nevertheless refused to be "fooled" by Vatican II. He wrote a book under the ironic title La nuova cattolicitd del cattolicesimo (The New Catholicity of Catholicism), which attempted to show that Rome was, in fact, simply up to its old tricks.

I spent most of my research time in the great libraries of the Biblicum and the Gregorianum; my main personal contacts came with Catholic students of around my own age whom I met there or in informal contexts. Those from mainly Catholic countries were interested to meet with a studious Protestant who was accompanied by his wife and infant daughter. I was squeezed into a group of Catholic students in order to attend a formal audience with Pope Paul VI; as we walked up toward him one by one, I bowed before the pontiff, although I did not kiss his ring. Several of the students invited me to their ordinations, and I was fortunate to attend a couple of them in the magnificent Sistine Chapel of the Vatican. This kind of informal, friendly relationship had been anticipated in 1963-64, while I was a graduate student at the University of Geneva; the initiative for contacts had been taken by some English Benedictines from the abbeys of Ampleforth in Yorkshire and Downside in the county of Somerset.

When I finally began my teaching career, I worked for six years at the recently founded Faculte de theologie protestante at Yaounde in Cameroon, which was intended to serve several Protestant churches along the French-speaking West coast of Africa. There we enjoyed cordial relations with the priory established by Benedictine monks from Engelberg, Switzerland.

Several of these friendships, begun in various places, persisted well after my return to Britain in 1973 and even into my time in the United States from 1979 onward. They all helped to mediate to me the event and the early achievements of Vatican II. Such friendly encounters extended as far as the one-on-one conversations graciously accorded me by Joseph Ratzinger while he was Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and we could talk--in theological German--about Methodism and its Catholic dialogue, as well as other matters. Officers of the World Methodist Council have been able to make occasional ad limina visits to Rome during the papacy of Benedict XVI.

Now, as promised, I will look at that new stage in the life and relationships of the Catholic Church introduced by Vatican II and its sequel--especially its relationship with my ecclesiastical family of Methodism. The broader history of our relationships must go back to the presence of Methodists among the invited ecumenical observers at Vatican II itself. The most vocal of our observers was the American historian and theologian, Albert C. Outler (1908-89). His regular reports home may be read in his book, Methodist Observer at Vatican II. (2) My own favorite contribution of Outler from around that time came in his essay, "Do Methodists Have a Doctrine of the Church?": Methodists are "une eglise manquee, theoretically and practically.... Methodism's unique ecclesiological pattern was really designed to function best within an encompassing environment of catholicity.... We need a catholic church within which to function as a proper evangelical order of witness and worship, discipline and nurture." (3)

That thought may not be too distant from one of the possible "ways of being one church" envisaged for a state of "organic unity" by the Methodist/Catholic dialogue commission in its "Nairobi 1986" report:

   [F]rom one perspective the history of John Wesley has suggested an
   analogy between his movement and the religious orders within the
   one Church. Figures such as Benedict of Norcia and Francis of
   Assisi, whose divine calling was similarly to a spiritual reform,
   gave rise to religious orders characterized by special forms of
   life and prayer, work, evangelization and their own internal
   organization. The different religious orders in the Roman Catholic
   Church, while fully in communion with the Pope and the bishops,
   relate in different ways to the authority of Pope and bishops. Such
   relative autonomy has a recognized place within the unity of the
   Church. (4)

The way we tread between Durban 2011 and Vatican II will be bi-directional: The move from the Catholic Council toward the report of the bilateral dialogue will largely be in terms of influence; the way from Durban 2011 toward Vatican II will largely be in terms of interpretation. The main documents to be examined from Vatican II will be of a "faith-and-order" kind: the constitution on the sacred liturgy, Sacrosanctum concilium; the dogmatic constitution on divine revelation, Dei vetbum; the dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium; and the related decree on ecumenism, Unitatis redintegratio. Along the way there will be points belonging to "multilateral ecumenism": notably the World Council of Churches' Faith and Order document, Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry (5) (in the composition of which Roman Catholic theologians participated, having since 1968 had twelve representatives on the Plenary Commission of Faith and Order; I, a Methodist, served as a drafter and editor of the so-called "Lima text" and a collator of the churches' responses); and then the 1995 encyclical of Pope John Paul II, Ut unum sint--on account of the pope's perception that "at the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church committed herself irrevocably to following the path of the ecumenical venture." (6)

But, let us now properly begin, as promised, with Durban 2011. The Joint Commission for Dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church has from the beginning met in rounds of five years, presenting its report on particular themes to the quinquennial assemblies of the World Methodist Council and--in notional simultaneity--to the Holy See. The commission's reports quickly became known stenographically by the place and the year of their presentation to the World Methodist Council, and that same shorthand usage has even become informally practiced on the Catholic side. Durban 2011 is, then, the report of the ninth round of the joint commission's work, and its formal title, as noted above, is Encountering Christ the Saviour: Church and Sacraments. Its structure is also important for our purposes: Scriptural Meditation (Philippians 2:1-11), Chapter One (The Paschal Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ), Chapter Two (Baptism: Participation in Christ's Death and Resurrection), Chapter Three (The Eucharist: Presence and Sacrifice), Chapter Four: Ordained Ministry as Service to the Baptized), and Conclusion.

Scriptural Meditation

It is significant that the Durban 2011 report begins with a "scriptural meditation" (on Phil. 2:1-11). This implies on the commission's part a more serious engagement with scripture than might be the case with the mere citing of "proof texts" in the course of footnotes. The commission is following the twofold exegetical principle laid down by Vatican II's dogmatic constitution on divine revelation:

   [T]he exegete must look for that meaning which the sacred writer,
   in a determined situation and given the circumstances of his time
   and culture, intended to express and did in fact express, through
   the medium of a contemporary literary form....

      But since sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted with its
   divine authorship in mind, no less attention must be devoted to the
   content and unity of the whole of Scripture, taking into account
   the Tradition of the entire Church and the analogy of faith, if we
   are to derive their true meaning from the sacred texts. (7)

Here are principles--taking into account both what the apostle taught in his day and its interpretation for today--that the joint commission has intended to follow in its own work, and which it reckons to be vital to the mission and unity of the Church:

   This present report considers in detail how Catholics and
   Methodists understand Baptism and Eucharist as giving and
   sustaining life in Christ, and more particularly as giving and
   sustaining a participation in Christ's saving death and
   resurrection. It also considers how Catholics and Methodists
   understand the nature and role of ordained ministers in the Church,
   those who go out in mission to preach the gospel and baptize (Matt
   28:19), and who also lead the people of God in the celebration of
   the Eucharist (cf. Luke 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24-25). It is by the Word,
   Baptism and Eucharist that the members of the body of Christ live
   in him. These questions are vital for unity, peace and
   reconciliation in the Church today, because what Paul teaches the
   Philippians is still true, namely that it is by living in Christ
   and in his paschal mystery that the Church finds its unity and
   peace. (8)

The Paschal Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ

That brings us nicely to chapter one of the 2011 Methodist/Catholic report: "The Paschal Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ." The term "paschal mystery" came into great prominence around the middle of the twentieth century, thanks largely to initial work by patristic and liturgical scholars. Biblically, it derives from God's deliverance of Israel from Egyptian captivity through the Exodus and the annual commemoration of that event in the Jewish feast of Passover. In Christian terms, the paschal mystery achieves a universal scope through the galvanic work of Jesus Christ. Theologically, the paschal mystery bears a trinitarian shape: "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Heb. 9:14); and "if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Sprit which dwells in you" (Rom. 8:11). Historically, the paschal mystery was decisively enacted in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Calendrically, it is commemorated through Good Friday and Easter Day. Sacramentally, it is celebrated particularly in baptism and the eucharist.

"Paschal mystery" furnishes a good rubric under which to treat two general-or fundamental--ecclesiological categories in relation to Vatican II: the Church as sacrament, and the Church as communion. With "sacrament" the direction will be chiefly that of the positive influence exercised by Vatican II; with "communion" the direction will be that--more mixed--of the interpretation properly to be given to the notion as an ecumenical "lever."

Vatican II famously began its dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen gentium, with the quasi-definition of the Church in "sacramental" terms: "Since the Church, in Christ, is in the nature of sacrament--a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all men--she here proposes, for the benefit of the faithful and of the whole world, to set forth, as clearly as possible, and in the tradition laid down by earlier Councils, her own nature and universal mission." (9) When the international Methodist/Catholic commission began to concentrate on ecclesiology--in Nairobi 1986--that sacramental notion figured very early, introduced (naturally) from the Catholic side but finding gradual acceptance among Methodists:

8. The Church lives between the times of the life, death, resurrection and exaltation of Jesus Christ and his future coming in glory. The Spirit fills the Church, empowering it to preach the word, celebrate the eucharist, experience fellowship and prayer, and carry out its mission to the world: thus the Church is enabled to serve as sign, sacrament and harbinger of the Kingdom of God in the time between the times.

9. Christ works through his Church, and it is for this reason that Vatican II speaks of the Church as a kind of sacrament, both as an outward manifestation of God's grace among us and as signifying in some way the grace and call to salvation addressed by God to the whole human race [cf. Lumen gentium, 1,1]. This is a perspective that many Methodists also find helpful.

10. The Mystery of the Word made flesh and the sacramental mystery of the eucharist point towards a view of the Church based upon the sacramental ideas i.e. the Church takes its shape from the Incarnation from which it originated and the eucharistic action by which its life is constantly being renewed. (10)

The joint commission was bold enough to head its Nairobi 1986 report with a definitional paragraph that, by virtue of its precision and biblical foundation, was to be reckoned by the Dominican theologian Jean-Marie Tillard, in an official Roman Catholic evaluation of the text, as "among the most beautiful definitions of the Church." (11) Thus, "Because God so loved the world, he sent his Son and the Holy Spirit to draw us into communion with himself. This sharing in God's life, which resulted from the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit, found expression in a visible koinonia of Christ's disciples, the Church." (12)

As the decades have gone by, the sacramental perspective on and in the Church has in fact grown more and more prominent in the reports of the Methodist/Catholic dialogue. By the time of Seoul 2006--where "Catholics and Methodists reflect further on the Church"--the sacramental nature of the church could be massively expressed in terms of visibility and invisibility, which also allowed those failings to emerge that it is the business of ecumenism to correct. (13)

Thus, "The Church is indeed a visible reality; its visibility is essential to its nature and mission. But there is more to the Church than meets the eye, and only the eye of faith can discern its deepest reality, its invisible mystery." (14) "The invisible and the visible come together, and the former is made known through the latter. This holding together of the invisible and the visible is essential to our understanding of the Church as Catholics and Methodists. It is rooted in Christ himself, the invisible Word made visible in the flesh, fully divine and fully human." (15) Catholics and Methodists both "confess that the life and actions of the pilgrim Church have at times made it particularly difficult to look beyond its visibility to the invisible presence of God. The Church is a community of weak and vulnerable human beings who often fail and fall, alone and together"; it is "always in need of purification and renewal." (16)

Yet, in the journey "from sinfulness to holiness ... God in his grace leads us forward.... [W]e are confident of Christ's promises and the transforming presence of the Holy Spirit. We place our trust in Christ who says to his Church: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness' (2 Corinthians 12:9)." (17) Furthermore:

   It is time now to return to the concrete reality of one another, to
   look one another in the eye, and with love and esteem to
   acknowledge what we see to be truly of Christ and of the Gospel,
   and thereby of the Church, in one another.
   Doing so will highlight the gifts we truly have to offer one
   another in the service of Christ in the world, and will open the
   way for an exchange of gifts which is what ecumenical dialogue, in
   some way, always is. (18)

Now I turn to "communion ecclesiology." In conjunction with the conciliar relaunching of "communion ecclesiology," the Extraordinary Synod of Catholic Bishops in 1985 stated, "The ecclesiology of communion is the central and fundamental idea of the Council's documents." (19)

Here is what Ratzinger said in an address on "The Ecclesiology of Vatican II" at the opening of a pastoral congress of the Diocese of Aversa (Italy) in 2001:

   Around the time of the extraordinary Synod of 1985 which attempted
   to make an assessment of the 20 years since the Council there was a
   renewed effort to synthesize the Council's ecclesiology. The
   synthesis involved one basic concept: the ecclesiology of
   communion. I was very much pleased with this new focus in
   ecclesiology and I endeavored, to the extent I was able, to help
   work it out. First of all one must admit that the word "communio"
   did not occupy a central place in the Council. All the same if
   properly understood it can serve as a synthesis of the essential
   elements of the Council's ecclesiology. All the essential elements
   of the Christian concept of "communio" can be found in the famous
   passage from the First Letter of Saint John [1:3]; it is a frame of
   reference for the correct Christian understanding of "communio".
   "That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that
   you may have fellowship (communio) with us; and our fellowship is
   with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing
   this that our joy may be complete." (20)

Ecumenically, it is above all a single sentence in the conciliar decree on ecumenism that--in regard to "communio"--has attracted attention both for its promise and its problems. I will emphasize it when we arrive, in a moment, at the particular quotation from Vatican II's Unitatis redintegratio.

In Lumen gentium, its dogmatic constitution on the Church, Vatican II had in no. 7 employed the sacramental theme in order to expound the nature of the Church as a communion in Christ. In its very next paragraph the document made an ontological identification between the one Church of which it has been speaking and the Roman Catholic Church, while nevertheless opening the door--by at least a crack--to the presence of some ecclesial elements beyond the visible confines of the latter, which may thus eventually make for an integration of other Christian communities into "Catholic unity":

   This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present
   world, subsists in [subsistit in] the Catholic Church, which is
   governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion
   with him. Nevertheless, many elements of sanctification and of
   truth are found outside its visible confines. Since these are gifts
   belonging to the Church of Christ, they are forces impelling
   towards Catholic unity. (21)

The simultaneously issued decree on ecumenism, Unitatis redintegratio, declared:

      The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the
   principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council....

      The Lord of the Ages ... [i]n recent times.., has begun to bestow
   more generously upon divided Christians remorse over their
   divisions and longing for unity.

      ... Taking part in this movement, which is called ecumenical, are
   those who invoke the Triune God and confess Jesus as Lord and
   Saviour. They do this not merely as individuals but also as members
   of the corporate groups in which they have heard the Gospel, and
   which each regards as his Church and indeed, God's. And yet, almost
   everyone, though in different ways, longs for the one visible
   Church of God, a Church truly universal and sent forth to the whole
   world that the world may be converted to the Gospel and so be
   saved, to the glory of God. (22)

The decree then moves fairly quickly to consider the ecclesial status of the "separated brethren," both as individuals and in their own professedly churchly communities, and here we come to the provocative notion of "communio, etsi non perfecta":

   [O]ne cannot charge with the sin of ... separation those who at
   present are born into these communities and in them are brought up
   in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with
   respect and affection as brothers. For men who believe in Christ
   and have been properly baptized are put in some, though imperfect,
   communion with the Catholic Church [in quadam eum Ecclesia
   catholica communione, etsi non perfecta, constituuntur]. Without
   doubt, the differences that exist in varying degrees between them
   [the "separated brethren" or "'dissentient communities"] and the
   Catholic Church--whether in doctrine and sometimes in discipline,
   or concerning the structure of the Church--do indeed create many
   obstacles, sometimes serious ones, to full ecclesiastical
   communion. The ecumenical movement is striving to overcome these
   obstacles. But even in spite of them it remains true that all who
   have been justified by faith in baptism are incorporated into
   Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and
   with good reason are accepted as brothers by the children of the
   Catholic Church. (23)

If other individual Christians may be said to be "in some, though imperfect, communion, with the Catholic Church," then one may ask in what sense and in what degree their "ecclesial communities" may be said to be in communion with the Catholic Church. That is the bigger ecclesiological question.

The ecumenical decree of Vatican II, in fact, immediately goes on to give positive appreciation, in a nuanced way, to the worship practices of the separated communities:

      The brethren divided from us also carry out many liturgical
   actions of the Christian religion. In ways that vary according to
   the condition of each Church or community, these liturgical actions
   most certainly can truly engender a life of grace, and, one must
   say, can aptly give access to the communion of salvation.

     It follows that the separated Churches and communities as such,
   though we believe they suffer from the defects already mentioned,
   have been by no means deprived of significance and importance in
   the mystery of salvation. For the Spirit of Christ has not
   refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their
   efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the
   Catholic Church. (24)

   [L]ittle by little, as the obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical
   communion are overcome, all Christians will be gathered, in a
   common celebration of the Eucharist, into the unity of the one and
   only Church, which Christ bestowed on his Church from the
   beginning. This unity, we believe, subsists in the Catholic Church
   as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue
   to increase until the end of time. (25)

As for the dissentient communities in the "Protestant West":

   [W]e rejoice that our separated brethren look to Christ as the
   source and center of ecclesiastical communion. (26)

      Although the ecclesial communities separated from us lack the
   fullness of unity with us which flows from baptism, and although we
   believe they have not preserved the proper reality of the
   eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the
   absence of the sacrament of Orders, nevertheless when they
   commemorate the Lord's death and resurrection in the Holy Supper,
   they profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and
   await his coming in glory. For these reasons, the doctrine about
   the Lord's Supper, about the other sacraments, worship, and
   ministry in the Church, should form subjects of dialogue. (27)

The notion of "imperfect communion"--highlighted in the quotation from Unitatis redintegratio, no. 3--presumably furnishes an initial ground for the possibility of occasional admission of non-Catholics to Catholic communion that, in certain circumstances, has been allowed since Vatican II. Protestants have been included in the provisions made in the Ecumenical Directories of 1967 (no. 55) (28) and 1993 (nos. 129-131) (29)--and endorsed by John Paul II both in the 1995 encyclical Ut unum sint (no. 46) and in the 2003 encyclical Ecclesia de eucharistia (no. 46) (30) for rightly disposed non-Catholics to receive, upon request, the Catholic eucharist in the emergency circumstances of mortal danger, persecution, imprisonment, or serious spiritual need. A condition is that the sacramental faith of such seekers be consonant with the Catholic faith. That pastoral opening may have hitherto unexplored implications for the way in which the Catholic Church might view the sacramental and ecclesial reality of Protestant bodies, for where else would such communicants have come to their faith except in their own communities? In the other direction, the encyclical of 2003 repeats the injunction that "Catholics may not receive communion in those communities which lack a valid sacrament of Orders." (31) In that light, the communion discipline of the Methodist Church of Great Britain seems ecumenically responsible. The British Methodist Worship Book of 1999 reads thus:

   One of the keynotes of the Methodist revival was John Wesley's
   emphasis on "The Duty of Constant Communion", and it is still the
   duty and privilege of members of the Methodist Church to share in
   this sacrament. The Methodist Conference has encouraged local
   churches to admit baptized children to communion. Those who are
   communicants and belong to other Churches whose discipline so
   permits are also welcome as communicants in the Methodist Church.
   (32)

As to "degrees of communion" at the communal or corporate level between the Catholic Church and other "ecclesial communities" (as the Roman saying goes), the nearest we find to such a notion comes in the Singapore 1991 report:

   Catholic and Methodist formularies differ over the concrete
   location of the Church which they both confess. While Wesley and
   the early Methodists could recognize the presence of Christian
   faith in the lives of individual Roman Catholics, it is only more
   recently that Methodists have become more willing to recognize the
   Roman Catholic Church as an institution for the divine good of its
   members. For its part, the Roman Catholic Church since Vatican II
   certainly includes Methodists among those who, by baptism and faith
   in Christ, enjoy "a certain though imperfect communion with the
   Catholic Church"; and it envisages Methodism among those ecclesial
   communities which are "not devoid of meaning and importance in the
   mystery of salvation'" (Unitatis redintegratio, no. 3). (33)

In that same Singapore 1991 report, the joint commission envisaged that

   [w]hen the time comes that Methodists and Catholics declare
   their readiness for that "full communion in faith, mission and
   sacramental life" toward which they are working, the mutual
   recognition of ministry will be achieved not only by their having
   reached doctrinal consensus but it will also depend upon a fresh
   creative act of reconciliation which acknowledges the manifold yet
   unified activity of the Holy Spirit throughout the ages. It will
   involve a joint act of obedience to the sovereign word of God. (34)

At its meeting in Durban, South Africa, in 2011, the World Methodist Council formally endorsed "full communion in faith, mission and sacramental life" as the goal repeatedly set by the joint commission for dialogue since its Nairobi 1986 report.

Returning to Durban 2011 and its general ecclesiological chapter, "The Paschal Mystery," we fred Lumen gentium, no. 8, invoked for the notion of the Church as "a 'complex reality', both present and future, earthly and heavenly, 'that place where [in a phrase from the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline, no. 101, 1] the first signs of the reign of God are identified and acknowledged in the world'." (35) Employing a christological concentration, Durban 2011 continues:

   Proclaiming the word, celebrating the sacraments and living in
   charity are its [the Church's] fundamental activities as the body
   of Christ. Both Catholics and Methodists believe that when the
   scriptures are faithfully proclaimed and preached it is Christ
   himself who speaks, just as he expounded the scriptures to the
   disciples on the road to Emmaus before breaking bread with them
   (cf. Luke 24:13-35); that when the sacraments are celebrated it is
   Christ himself who is the minister (cf. Luke 24:31, 35); and that
   the love that Christians practise is "the love of God in Christ
   Jesus our Lord" (Rom 8:39), the love now "poured into our hearts
   through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Rom 5:5). The
   proclamation of the word and the celebration of the sacraments are
   therefore actions of Christ in and through his body, the Church, so
   as to build up his body in love and constantly draw new members to
   it. (36)

Thus, "Methodists and Catholics no longer polarize word and sacrament," (37) nor indeed worship and mission: "In Christ.... the Church is essentially 'a community both of worship and of mission'." (38) The joint commission cited its own Brighton 2001 report to the effect that "a key point of agreement between Methodists and Catholics is the need for graced, free and active participation in God's saving work." (39) That was a crucial point when it came in 2006 to the World Methodist Council's association with the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, since the Lutherans had habitually suspected Methodists of an inappropriate "synergism" in their soteriology.

If there is "a divergence between Methodists and Catholics with regard to where exactly the Church is to be found," the difference may have to do with apostolic continuity: "For Methodists, it is also important for the Church to be in faithful continuity with the early church, especially in mission," but there is "a Methodist understanding of Christian history in which there have been faith-filled risks and discontinuities at various points. Methodists understand such discontinuities to be embraced by the reforming, renewing and indeed recreating power of the Holy Spirit as the Church journeys through history." (40) But, then,

   [t]he Catholic Church, too, places great emphasis on the objective
   realities of word and sacraments, and recognizes that the Church
   needs "continual reformation" as it makes its pilgrim way [citing
   Unitatis redintegratio, no. 5, and invoking also Lumen gentium, no.
   8, and indeed all of chapters 2 and 7 of that dogmatic
   constitution]. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church also stresses the
   importance of visible continuity in the Church's life; it teaches
   that "the order of bishops ... succeeds to the college of apostles"
   [Lumen gentium, no. 22], and that the Church that Christ founded
   and entrusted to Peter and the apostles after his resurrection,
   "constituted and organized in the world as a society, subsists in
   the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter
   and by the Bishops in communion with him" [Lumen gentium, no. 8].
   In that light, it is indeed notable that Catholics and Methodists
   "nowadays see the opportunity of setting Methodist ministry within
   a more recognizable framework of apostolic succession" [citing
   Seoul 2006, no. 106]. (41)

We come now to chapters two, three, and four of Durban 2011: "Baptism," "Eucharist," and "Ordained Ministry."

Baptism: Participation in Christ's Death and Resurrection

      In accordance with the Second Vatican Council's understanding of
   Baptism as "the sacramental bond of unity" [Unitatis redintegratio,
   no. 22], and following the recommendation regarding the recognition
   of Baptism that was made in the World Council of Churches' document
   Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry [BEM, "Baptism," no. 15], Catholics
   and Methodists in many parts of the world formally and explicitly
   recognize each other's baptisms. As stated in the Seoul report [no.
   78], "'Our common Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and
   the Holy Spirit is our sacramental bond of unity, the visible
   foundation of the deep communion which already exists between us
   and which impels us to ever deeper unity with each other and
   participation in Co., 2007), pp. 138-176.
   the life and mission of Christ himself." (42)

"Both Methodists and Catholics recognize that our churches, in many contexts, have much work still to do both in pre- and post-baptismal preparation and catechesis." (43)

   The rediscovery of the importance of the catechumenate as the
   proper approach to Baptism, embodied for contemporary Catholics in
   the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), emphasizes this
   sense of the journey of faith. That Methodists similarly emphasize
   the importance of preparation for Baptism indicates that our
   communities are coming together in an understanding of the process
   of faith.

      ... If we see faith as a process and a journey, it is easier to
   accept that this one Baptism, as the sacrament of faith, may be
   celebrated for different individuals at different points in this
   journey of faith. (44)

The document further encourages both Catholics and Methodists today toward "a common cultural and missiological concern with the pastoral practice of Baptism." (45)

In fact, "[s]hared reflection on faith and Baptism opens up questions of mission and evangelization of concern to all who seek to be Christ's disciples in contemporary cultures." (46) That is a matter to be ardently considered fifty years after Vatican II. On the Catholic side its importance can be judged from the "lnstrumentum laboris" issued at Pentecost, 2012, in preparation for the thirteenth general assembly of the Synod of Bishops scheduled for October, 2012, "The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith." (47) Already in the second paragraph of the introduction, the connection is made with Vatican II:

      The convocation of the next synodal assembly comes at a
   particularly significant moment for the Catholic Church. In fact,
   the time of its celebration will coincide with the fiftieth
   anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, the
   twentieth anniversary of the publication of The Catechism of the
   Catholic Church, and the inauguration of The Year of Faith,
   proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI. The Synod will therefore provide a
   good opportunity to focus on the subject of conversion and the
   necessity of holiness, emphasized by all these anniversaries. The
   Synod will also be the place to grasp and repropose to people the
   invitation to rediscover the faith. This invitation was initially
   made at the Second Vatican Council and restated in The Year of the
   Faith proclaimed by Pope Paul VI [in connection with the jubilee
   2000], and again addressed to us in our time by Pope Benedict XVI.
   All this will serve as the framework for the synod's work of
   treating the topic of the new evangelization. (48)

Returning to Durban 2011: As to Methodists and Catholics, both sides share a concern "when there are baptized people who seem not to be living the new life in Christ." (49) In John Wesley's case, that certainly led to fluctuations in his doctrine of regeneration. Catholic teaching

   affirms both the necessary effectiveness of Baptism as a divine
   act, and the necessity of growth in the life of grace begun in this
   act.... As the Second Vatican Council taught: "Incorporated in the
   Church through Baptism, the faithful are destined by the baptismal
   character for the worship of the Christian religion; reborn as sons
   of God they must confess before men the faith which they have
   received from God through the Church." (50)

"Catholics also recognize that baptismal grace can be effective apart from the rite itself in certain circumstances," (51) and the "baptism of blood" and "baptism by desire" are, of course, invoked. Then, however, Durban 2011 continues (in a Catholic voice): "New birth is a proper effect of Baptism, but it may precede Baptism or even be present in a person's life without their being baptized at all"--and, for the only time in the document, Vatican II's Gaudium et spes is quoted: "The Second Vatican Council taught: 'All this holds true not only for Christians, but for all men of good will in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way. For, since Christ died for all men, and since the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one, and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery'." (52)

Coming in the ninth report to "Baptism and Church," we find it jointly and biblically stated that "[a]s the initial sacramental act by which God draws believers into the paschal mystery of Christ's death and resurrection, Baptism not only brings [believers] into communion with Christ but also incorporates them into Christ's body, the Church." (53) In that same paragraph, the United Methodist statement of 1996, "By Water and the Spirit," is quoted for its "remarkable accord" with Vatican II's Lumen gentium: "Baptism is the sacrament of initiation and incorporation into the Body of Christ." Clearly, "[qor both our communities, Baptism is incorporation into Christ's body, the Church." (54)

Returning to the famous Unitatis redintegratio, Durban 201 1 reports that "the [Vatican] Council teaches that communion among Christians can be understood in terms of 'degrees' of communion in the body of Christ," and continues, "Baptism is ordered to the 'full communion' which finds its most profound realization in eucharistic communion." (55) While the cases of individual and ecclesiological communion may not be quite the same, an understanding of "participation in the Christian life in terms of process," as recognized above, might "help Methodists and Catholics to understand both the real and incomplete nature of the communion which is expressed in our mutually recognized Baptism." (56) The baptismal chapter of Durban 2011 ends missiologically: "As the sacrament of faith and new life, Baptism calls us also into mission together, a koinonia of service to God's kingdom." (57)

On the Catholic side, the "vocational, living sense of the sacrament of Baptism was given special attention in the Second Vatican Council's teaching on baptismal incorporation into Christ's mission and his offices as priest, prophet and king. Being baptized does not so much place us statically in a particular community; rather it commissions us as disciples for mission in service of the coming kingdom." (58) The United Methodist Church's "By Water and the Spirit" declares that "Baptized believers and the community of faith are obligated to manifest to the world the now redeemed humanity which lives in loving relationship with God and strives to put an end to all human estrangement." (59) The joint commission speaks for both sides when it concludes regarding Baptism:

      Baptism as a call into ongoing life and mission in Christ is a
   theme which deserves further reflection by our communities. This
   more active and explicitly missiological understanding of Baptism
   might provide a fresh and potentially fruitful context for our
   reflection together, and allow our call to unity to be explored in
   the context of a call to holiness and shared mission, and the
   service of grace in the world. Fundamentally, Baptism as
   participation in Christ's saving death and resurrection emerges
   throughout these conversations as a call--to discipleship and to
   the daily taking up of the cross for the sake of the kingdom (Matt
   16:24). (60)

The Eucharist: Presence and Sacrifice

In its chapter on the eucharist, Durban 201 1 treats in detail only the two topics that historically have been most controversial between Protestants and Catholics: the modes of Christ's presence in the sacrament, and the character of the sacrificial action.

The chapter opens, however, by quoting a full paragraph from the Seoul 2006 report, which gives a theologically rich, strongly trinitarian description of the eucharist as a whole:

"Methodists and Catholics are already agreed ... that when the Eucharist is celebrated, we hear afresh the Word of God spoken to us; we enter together more deeply into the saving mystery of Christ; we encounter Christ anew in a way which ensures the living presence of Christ at the heart of the Church; we are anointed by the transforming love which is God's Holy Spirit and become more truly the Body of Christ; we are sent forth together in Christ to share more deeply in God's work in our world; and we share together a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. As we celebrate the Eucharist, called together by the Father, the Risen Lord makes us more fully what he wills his Church to be, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Together these affirmations already provide a rich foundation from which we can face the remaining issues in the hope that one day Catholics and Methodists will be able to gather together in full communion around the table of the Lord". (61)

In the course of the chapter, current liturgies both on the Roman side and from various Methodist churches are cited in support, where the influence of a shared "Liturgical Movement" can easily be seen (notably The United Methodist Book of Worship, and The Methodist Worship Book in Britain). Another--now somewhat shared--resource is the Wesleyan Hymns on the Lord's Supper (1745), which, since Denver 1971, have been viewed as offering a hopeful basis for doctrinal discussion on the eucharist.

As to the modes of Christ's presence, Vatican II's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum concilium, (62) is invoked in the Durban report for the fact that

   Christ is always present in the liturgical celebrations of his
   people and makes his presence known in various ways: in the midst
   of the assembly (Matt 18:20), in the proclamation of the word, in
   preaching, in song, and in the prayers. Catholics teach that Christ
   is also present in the person of his ordained minister [again
   Sacrosanctum concilium, no. 7]; Methodists affirm that Christ may
   be present in the faithful human heart. (63)

"Christ's eucharistic presence, however, is unique--a 'distinctive mode or manifestation'. Catholics and Methodists agree that.., his presence is mediated through the elements of bread and wine and these become the 'sign par excellence of Christ's redeeming presence to his people'." (64) Whereas the Council of Trent may still be quoted after Vatican II for "transubstantiation," (65) Methodists "seek not to define the mystery of the transformation of the bread and wine, and trust that the presence of Christ and the gift of his grace are 'sure and real' while the manner remains unknown." (66)

An epiclesis of the Holy Spirit both on the eucharistic elements and on the worshiping people is common--in various forms--to Catholic and Methodist liturgies, (67) and the Holy Spirit figures as "the Remembrancer Divine" (a phrase from the Wesleyan Hymns). (68) The rediscovered biblical notion of "anamnesis" is variously employed in exposition of the eucharistic sacrifice, so as to safeguard the once-for-all character of Christ's oblation. (69) Not only the major eucharistic prayers of the Roman Liturgy after Vatican II may be quoted (70) but even the Eucharistic Prayers for Masses with Children (1975): "Then we can offer to you what you have given to us," and "He put himself into our hands to be the sacrifice we offer you." (71) That "Christ includes his people in himself and unites their sacrifice of themselves with his great sacrifice" (72) can claim the support not only of the Wesleyan hymn texts but also of Benedict XVI's Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Church's Life and Mission, Sacramentum caritatis (2007), (73) where "source and summit" echoes Lumen gentium, no. 11. An anticipation of Christ's final advent and the eschatological banquet belongs to both Catholics and Methodists, in which connection Sacrosanctum concilium, no. 8, may be invoked. (74) Issues "regarding purgatory and prayer for the dead" remain to be addressed. (75)

Ordained Ministry as Service to the Baptized

In the chapter of Durban 2011 on ministry, the section on Ministry from BEM is quoted almost as often as Vatican II's Lumen gentium (especially nos. 20-21 and 28-29). BEM's "Ministry," no. 34, is cited for its many-stranded description of apostolicity in the Church. The Durban document states: "Ministry, mission, faith, worship and witness are all interconnected as aspects of apostolic continuity, and all stem from the work of the Holy Spirit among the people of God. Whereas Catholics tend to emphasize the importance of continuity in apostolic ministry, Methodists traditionally emphasize the importance of continuity in apostolic witness and mission." (76) BEATs "Ministry," no. 5, is quoted for the "diverse and complementary gifts" bestowed by the Holy Spirit "for the common good of the whole people," which "are manifested in acts of service within the community and to the world." (77) BEM's "Ministry," no. 11, is cited to support the fact that "both our communions particularly identify apostolic ministry in the Church with ordained ministers, believing that 'as Christ chose and sent the apostles, Christ continues through the Holy Spirit to choose and call persons into the ordained ministry'." (78)

In these matters, the joint commission cites its own Rio 1996 report in illustration of the fact that

      Catholics and Methodists already share to a great degree a common
   practice of ordained ministry: "'In the Methodist and Catholic
   churches some receive by ordination a special calling, and are
   consecrated and authorized ... to lead the worshipping community to
   the throne of grace and administer the sacramental gifts of God,
   and to guide the life of the Church, its care for the needy and its
   missionary outreach". (79)

Then comes the Catholic invocation of Lumen gentium for the facts that "[i]n the Catholic Church these tasks are entrusted primarily to the bishops ordained in the apostolic succession, along with their presbyters and deacons," (80) that "[i]n Catholic teaching the apostles' office of 'shepherding the Church' is 'a charge destined to be exercised without interruption by the sacred order of bishops' [citing Lumen gentium, no. 20], and that '[t]rue succession in ministry is guaranteed only by episcopal laying-on of hands in historical succession and authentic transmission of the faith within the apostolic college' [citing Dublin, no. 85]." (81) As to the status of such as the Methodists, and remembering the teaching of Vatican II that "the sole Church of Christ ... subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him," (82) it is Catholic teaching that "If]or an ecclesial community or tradition fully to be recognized as 'Church' there must be an episcopal succession from the apostles. An ecclesial community that does not possess such a ministry lacks something essential, though Catholics recognize that the one Church of Christ may still be 'effectively present' in it." (83)

As to "[t]he priesthood of the ordained ministry and the common priesthood of the faithful," it is "Catholic understanding" that they "are distinct but related." The "essential difference" is described in terms from Lumen gentium, no. 10: "The ministerial priest, by the sacred power that he has, forms and rules the priestly people; in the person of Christ he effects the eucharistic sacrifice and offers it to God in the name of all the people." (84) Methodists, on the other hand, share a background colored by "Reformation disputes" and "tend to speak of priesthood in the Church primarily with reference to the people of God as a whole and are not accustomed to referring to their ordained ministers as 'priests'." (85) Nevertheless, "contemporary ordination rites in Methodism have been considerably shaped both theologically and liturgically by the ecumenical insights of the modern liturgical movement," and it is likewise the case that "[t]he present ordination rites in the Catholic Church stem from liturgical reforms following the Second Vatican Council." (86) Hence,

      The clear intention in both Methodist and Catholic ordination
   rites is to ordain individuals into the apostolic ministry of the
   one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. Moreover, Methodist and
   Catholic ordination rites are constructed so as to signify the
   conferral of the particular ministerial charism by the invocation
   of the Holy Spirit ....

      ... Within the sacramental economy, Methodists and Catholics "look
   upon ordination as an effective sign by which the grace of God is
   given to the recipient for the ministry of word and sacrament".
   (87)

As we approach the conclusion of this bi-directional navigation between Vatican II and the Methodist/Roman Catholic dialogue, one large topic remains, and it bears several aspects that must at least be mentioned: I mean the theme and question of infallibility, which occupies nos. 182-183 of Durban 2011 under the heading, "The Ministry of Oversight."

Infallibility?

According to Durban 2011, Vatican II "teaches that 'the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them is listening to Christ." (88) Moreover, "Catholics believe that 'the bishops of the Church enjoy the special assistance of the Holy Spirit, when, by a collegial act with the Bishop of Rome in an ecumenical council, they define doctrine to be held irrevocably'."89 Indeed, says Durban 2011:

   The Second Vatican Council refers to the bishops teaching
   infallibly when, in communion with the Bishop of Rome, the
   successor of St Peter, they teach authoritatively and unanimously
   on matters of faith and morals even when they are dispersed
   throughout the world; this is called the "ordinary universal
   magisterium". It also repeats the doctrine of the First Vatican
   Council that the Pope himself teaches infallibly when "as supreme
   pastor and teacher of all the faithful ... he proclaims in an
   absolute decision a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals". (90)

These are exercises of '"the Church's charism of infallibility', a gift of the Spirit with which the Church is fundamentally endowed by Christ himself." (91) However, "Methodists do not claim a charism of infallibility for any ministry or institution but instead rely on the indefectibility of the Church.... In Methodist understanding, the exercise of authority in the Church is necessarily provisional and subject to revision under the guidance of the Holy Spirit who leads the Church into the truth." (92) In sum: "As a result of the Spirit's work, the Church is understood to be indefectible by Methodists, infallible by Catholics. Our differences relate as to how this basic characteristic of the Church is embodied in the ministry of those who authoritatively exercise episcope or oversight." (93)

As early as the Nairobi 1986 report, it could be affirmed that "Catholics and Methodists are agreed on the need for an authoritative way of being sure, beyond doubt, concerning God's action insofar as it is crucial for our salvation." (94) According to the Seoul 2006 report:

   Catholics would wish to suggest to Methodists that the disputed
   issue of 'infallibility' can be approached from within this very
   confidence in Christ's own action in word and sacrament. Just as
   Catholics believe that Christ can unfailingly wash, teed and
   forgive his people through the sacramental ministrations of the
   Church and its ministers, so too they believe that he can
   unfailingly teach his people. Not only does he do so whenever the
   Scriptures are proclaimed [cf. Sacrosanctum concilium, no. 7], for
   every such proclamation is in truth infallible, but he can also do
   so through the teaching of the Church on a matter of vital
   importance. (95)

What now remains to be done in some way is the pursuit of that invitation launched by John Paul It in Ut unum sint to a "patient and fraternal dialogue" (96) as to how the Bishop of Rome might best exercise his historic ministry in the service of an intentionally universal unity in the circumstances shaped by "the ecumenical movement in our century" (97) and, more precisely, a half-century's impact of Vatican If. In that encyclical letter of Ascension Day, 1995, John Paul II repeated from Vatican II the Catholic Church's "irrevocable commitment" (98) to ecumenism and concluded by stressing the indispensability of churchly unity to the task of evangelization. (99)

(1) Available at http://worldmethodistcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/202/l0/final-version-dialoguebook-from-Clark.pdf

(2) Albert C Outler, Methodist Observer at Vatican II (Westminster, MD: Newman Press, 1967).

(3) Albert C. Outler, "Do Methodists Have a Doctrine of the Church?" in Dow Kirkpatrick, ed., The Doctrine of the Church (New York and Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1964), pp. 25-27.

(4) "Towards a Statement on the Church," no. 24b; available at http://www.vatican.va/roman curia/ pontifical_councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_1986 church-nairobi en.html

(5) Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, Faith and Order Paper 111 (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1982); hereafter, BEM.

(6) John Paul II, Ut unum sint, no. 3, May 25, 1995; available at http://www.vatican.vahaoly_father/ john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25051995_ut.unum.sint_en.html; emphasis in original.

(7) ei verbum, no. 12, in Austin Flannery, ed., Vatican Council II, vol. 1: The Conciliar and Postconciliar Documents, new rev. ed (Northport, NY: Costello Publishing Co.; Dublin: Dominican Publications, 1996), pp. 757-758.

(8) Durban 2011, no. 7. Pope Benedict XVI took up the exegetical principles of Det verbum in the preface to the first volume of his Jesus of Nazareth, tr. Adrian J. Walker (New York: Doubleday, 2007), and the Synod of Bishops followed that track in 2008. In his post-synodal apostolic exhortation Verbum Domini, Benedict mentioned in particular the importance to ecumenism of "listening and meditating together on the Scriptures," where "we experience a real, albeit not yet full communion," and he called for "an increase in ecumenical study, discussion and celebrations of the word of God" as an aid to the eventual attainment of communion at the table of the Lord (Benedict XVI, Verbum Domini, no. 46; September 30, 2010; available at http://www.vatican.va/holy father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/ hf_ben-xvi_exh_20100930_verbum-omini_en.html).

(9) Lumen gentium, no. I, in Flannery, Vatican Council 11, vol. 1, p. 350.

(10) Nairobi 1986, nos. 8-10.

(11) Jean M. R. Tillard, "Commentary on 'Towards a Statement on the Church,'" Information Service (The Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity), no. 62 (1986/IV), p. 216.

(12) Nairobi 1986, no. 1.

(13)"The Grace Given You in Christ: Catholics and Methodists Reflect Further on the Church"; available at http://www.vatican.va/roman-curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc-chrstuni_doc 20060604_seoul-report_en.html.

(14) Seoul 2006, no. 47.

(15) Ibid., no. 48.

(16) Ibid., no. 50, citing Lumen gentium, no. 8.

(17) Ibid., no. 95.

(18) Ibid., no. 97, citing Ut unum sint, no. 28; emphasis in original.

(19) Available at http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/SYNFlNAL.HTM

(20) Joseph Ratzinger, "The Ecclesiology of Vatican II," September 15, 2001, at the opening of the Pastoral Congress of the Diocese of Aversa (Italy); available at http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/ cdfeccv2.htm

(21) Lumen gentium, no. 8, in Flarmery, Vatican Council II, vol. 1, p. 357.

(22) Unitatis redintegratio, no. 1, in Flannery, Vatican Council II, vol. 1, p. 452.

(23) Ibid., no. 3, p. 455: emphasis added.

(24) Ibid., pp. 455-456.

(25) Ibid., no. 4, p. 457.

(26) Ibid., no. 20, p. 468.

(27) Ibid., no. 22, p. 469.

(28) In Flannery, Vatican Council II, vol. I, p. 499.

(29) Available at http://www.vatican.va/romancuria/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pcchrstuni_doc 25031993_principles-and-norms-on-ecumenism_en.html.

(30) John Paul II, Ecclesia de eucharistia, no. 46; April 17, 2003; available at http://www.vatican.va/ holy_father/special_features/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_20030417_ecclesia_eucharistia_en.html.a

(31) Ibid.

(32) Methodist Worship Book (Peterborough, U.K.: Methodist Publishing House, 1999), p. 114.

(33) "The Apostolic Tradition," no. 100: available at http://www.vatican.va/roman curia/pontifical _councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_1991_apostolic-tradition_en.html.

(34) Ibid., no. 94, quoting Nairobi 1986, no. 20.

(35) Durban 2011, no. 19.

(36) Ibid.

(37) Ibid., no. 20.

(38) Ibid., no. 22, quoting from a 1999 statement of the British Methodist Conference, "Called to Love and Praise: The Nature of the Christian Church in Methodist Experience and Practice," [section] 1.4.1.

(39) Durban 2011, no. 26; citing "Speaking the Truth in Love: Teaching Authority among Catholics and Methodists" (Brighton 2001), no. 52, which is available in Jeffrey Gros, Thomas F. Best, and Lorelei F. Fuchs, eds., Growth in Agreement III: International Dialogue Texts and Agreed Statements, 1998-2005 (Geneva: World Council of Churches; and Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing

(40) Durban 2011, no. 24.

(41) Ibid.

(42) Ibid., no. 29.

(43) Ibid., no. 42.

(44) Ibid., no. 44; emphasis in original.

(45) Ibid., no. 61.

(46) Ibid., no. 43: emphases added.

(47) At an NAAE meeting in Nova Scotia it may be appropriate to mention an item from "the auld country," Scotia Antica: "The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith in Scotland" was a paper presented to the British Methodist-Roman Catholic Commission on May 1, 2012, by Monsignor William R. McFadden of Kirkcudbright in Western Scotland. He reported that "many Catholics have drifted from the Church in the last fifty years and adherence to the Church is now looser than it ever was in living memory." More generally, "the Catholic community in Scotland is suffering noticeably from the general malaise of Catholic communities in western Europe.... In that sense it is the whole Catholic Church in Scotland which is in need of a new evangelization, and not only those who have 'drifted' from the faith." I am informed that "the British Methodist-Catholic Commission is presently engaged in considering how Methodists and Catholics respond to a number of shared challenges in contemporary mission and ministry."

(48) See http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod doc 20120619_instrumentum-xiii en. html#The_Point_of_Reference.

(49) Durban 2011, no. 57.

(50) Ibid., quoting Lumen gentium, no. 11.

(51) Ibid., no. 58; emphasis in original.

(52) Ibid., quoting the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et spes, no. 22 (see Flannery, Vatican Council I1, vol. 1, p. 924).

(53) Ibid., no. 62.

(54) Ibid., quoting "By Water and the Spirit" (United Methodist Church, 1996), no. 28.

(55) Ibid., no. 65, referencing Unitatis redintegratio, nos. 3 and 22.

(56) Ibid., no. 66; emphasis in original.

(57) Ibid., no. 67.

(58) Ibid., no. 69, with invocation of Lumen gentium, nos. 10-17.

(59) Ibid., no. 68, quoting "By Water and the Spirit," no. 32.

(60) Ibid., no. 71 : emphasis in original.

(61) Ibid., no. 73, quoting Seoul 2006, no. 94.

(62) See Flannery, Vatican Council II, vol. 1, pp. 1-36 (no. 7 is on pp. 4-5).

(63) Ibid., no. 80.

(64) Ibid., no. 81, quoting Denver 1971, [section] 83, 1.4 and 1.6-7 (available at htlp://www.vatican. va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19710901_denver-report_en.html).

(65) Ibid., no. 83.

(66) Ibid., no. 84, quoting John and Charles Wesley, Hymns on the Lord's Supper (Bristol, U.K.: Felix Farley, 1745; facsimile repr., Madison, N J: The Charles Wesley Society, 1995), Hymn 57.

(67) Noted in Durban 2011, no. 85.

(68) Ibid., nos. 128-130, referencing the Wesleys' Hymns on the Lord's Supper, Hymn 16.

(69) Ibid., nos. 89-130.

(70) Ibid., no. 118.

(71) Cited in ibid., no. 94, n. 134.

(72) Ibid., no. 112.

(73) Sacramentum cartatis, no. 70; available at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/ apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh 20070222 sacramentum-caritatis_en.html.

(74) Durban 2011, nos. 88 andJ25-127, quoting Sacrosanctum concilium, no. 8, in no. 127.

(75) Ibid., no. 133.

(76) Ibid., no. 145.

(77) Ibid., no. 139.

(78) Ibid., no. 141: cf. no. 156.

(79) Ibid., no. 142, citing Rio 1996 ("The Word of Life: A Statement on Revelation and Faith"), no. 88; see http://www.vatican.va/roman-curia/pontifical-councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc chrstuni_doc_19951115_word-life-rio_en.html.

(80) Ibid., no. 142.

(81) Ibid., no. 143; The Dublin Report, 1976, is available at http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/meth-council-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni doc_19761230_dublin-repor_en.html.

(82) See note 20, above..

(83) Durban 2011, no. 143, citing Ut unum sint, no. 11 for the last point.

(84) Ibid., no. 166.

(85) Ibid., nos. 168 and 171, respectively.

(86) Ibid., nos. 173 and 175, respectively.

(87) Ibid., nos. 177-178, citing Singapore 1991, no. 88.

(88) Ibid., no. 182, quoting Lumen gentium, no. 20 (in Flannery, Vatican Council I1, vol. 1, p. 372).

(89) Ibid., citing Nairobi 1986, no. 68, with appeal to Lumen gentium, no. 25.

(90) Ibid, citing, again, Lumen gentium, no. 25.

(91) Ibid.

(92) Ibid., no. 183.

(93) Ibid.

(94) Nairobi 1986, no. 75.

(95) Seoul 2006, no. 135.

(96) Ut unum sinl, no. 96.

(97) Ibid., no. 98.

(98) Ibid., no. 3.

(99) Ibid., nos. 98-99. At the conclusion of Vatican II, Albert Outler wrote thus about Lumen gentium in his chapter on "Charters for Change": "There is in the Constitution on the Church the compound notion of the Church as mystery (therefore beyond all ordinary sovereignty), as the People of God (therefore a general priesthood with a universal call to witness and holy living) and the Church as governed not simply by the bishop of Rome but by the entire college of bishops (therefore representative and local). Such a conception of the Church, in this form, has no precedent in the history of Christian doctrine, but it is bound to have far-reaching consequences, not yet fully foreseeable" (Outlet, Methodist Observer at Vatican II, p. 180: emphasis in original).