Skip to main content

Ecumenical Views

The hotel that we are staying at is at the top a hill close to the Vatican. Although this sounds lovely, the location’s disadvantage become painfully obvious whenever we have to walk up the hill in the midday heat and sun. The daunting 110-stair climb mentioned in a classmate’s blog post is actually the “short cut” up the hill. However, you are in for a beautiful surprise if you choose the longer, winding route of the quiet street that vehicles use to mount the hill. As you go around a certain bend on your descent or have the good fortune to turn around at just the right moment of your ascent, you are blessed with a beautiful view dominated by the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. 

Just before dusk on my first day here and before learning about the short cut, I met a woman, who I presumed was a tourist, standing in the middle of the road at that spot taking a photo of the view. In my broken Italian, I told her how I too thought the view was beautiful. Pointing at the small apartment building next to the road, the woman explained that she lives here and that every day she takes a photo from this exact spot. Depending on the light, the time of day, the season and the weather, this photo of the same dome always looks slightly different.

This got me thinking of how the dome doesn’t change while everything else around it does in small and sometimes dramatic ways, making for a new photo every day. Reflecting on this week’s learnings from our ecumenism course, I see how this view is a good metaphor for the Christian Church. Like the dome of St. Peter’s, the core beliefs of the Christian faith remain unchanged and agreed upon by all Christians through times of schism, reform, and often violent interdenominational persecution. And like the dome, these core beliefs also remain unchanged in the various denominations even though the practices, teachings and rituals that surround the beliefs paint a different picture of Christianity for each denomination.

Ecumenism can be a tall, hard hill to climb, but on the way, God’s grace and love and the central beliefs of our faith are always there for all Christians to focus us, comfort us and unite us.

Rosemary

  


 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Catacombs of Domitilla

The story of Christianity is awe-inspiring.  This is true whether you are a believer or not.  Within 50 years of the physical death of Christ, 12 believers had directly and indirectly converted thousands to the new faith.  Within 300 years, they had converted an empire. This tour begins at the walls of Rome within sight of St. John Lateran where we get our ride to the countryside of Rome.  Making our way outside the walls, the city changes to country quickly.  The Roman countryside is quite beautiful.  The hills begin to roll and the gated villas extend to farms of vegetables, rose hips, or barley.  The air cleaner and the sound clearer. Flavia Domitilla was the granddaughter of the emperor Vespasian.  As daughter of Domitilla "the Younger", Flavia was also the niece of the emperors Titus and Domitian.  These catacombs were founded on her property in about the year 120 A.D.  Flavia and her husband, Flavius Clemens, were likely ...

We're Off on the Road to... Assisi!

Last weekend, a few members of our "gang," as Mike calls us, went off to Assisi. When we got there, we saw the tombs of two major saints—Francis and Clare—and, of course, a plethora of gorgeous churches. We also had a chance to meet up with the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, one of whom gave us a tour of "a town that has so much influenced [his] life and, in which, in [his] opinion, the spirit of Francis is so strong!" What can I say, apart from that going to Assisi is like stepping into a Catholic fairy tale? It is a visit that I would highly recommend to anyone—Catholic or not—who wants to explore Italy because even if the basilicas hold no interest for you, its médiéval atmosphere is sure to charm you. There's so much that I could speak about, but one thing that stood out from yesterday in a surprisingly personal way was to see the resting place of Blessed Carlos Acutis. This young man, who died well before his time at 15 years old, is everywhere to be ...

The Splendour of Santa Maria Maggiore

  Today our group visited the remarkable Marian church, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Its inner core with its dazzling mosaics remains intact from the time that it was built around 430 CE in response to the Council of Ephesus, which declared Mary to be the Mother of God. Many additions have been built onto the original basilica over the centuries, reflecting developments and changes in the Catholic Church. As someone who studies decolonial theology and the interplay of Christianity and empire, I was especially fascinated by this church structure, which was built a mere fifty years after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire with the Edict of Thessalonica in 380. While I could not help but be in awe at Santa Maria Maggiore’s grandeur, beauty and sheer size, I also could not help but think about how much of this magnificence came into being at the expense of imperial oppression. The two long rows of pillars running the length of the original church c...