Skip to main content

May they all be one (John 17:21)


 

Today’s visit to the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity (PCPCU) highlighted for me again the reasons why as a Christian I cannot give up on the difficult yet necessary work of ecumenism. It is not easy to convince local bishops and Heads of Churches that ecumenism can never be an appendix to the Christian life, especially when they are dealing with limited resources. Ecumenism, on the contrary, is at the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. If the Church is meant to be a counter-cultural witness in service of the reign of God, then its ecumenical commitments serve to demonstrate to people of faith and of no faith at all that there can be a different way of “being with” each other. At the PCPCU, I was excited to learn that the Church engages not only in bilateral dialogues but in several multilateral fora, including the Conference of Secretaries of Christian World Communions and the Global Christian Forum, all with the goal of building “a stronger, deeper, ontological communion with other Christian churches” (Bishop Farrell).

After the tour of the tomb of St. Peter, I walked through the crypt and then up into the basilica. As I visited altars and read about the great figures in the history of the church, I noted the names of those who had worked for Christian unity. I knew some of them such as Pope John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. However, I also learned about St. Josafat (1580-1623), bishop and martyr worked for the unity of the Church. At the altar of Saint Jerome, I saw a mosaic based on a painting done in 1614 of the “Communion of Saint Jerome” who was depicted in his old age and was accompanied by his disciples at the convent in Bethlehem to receive Communion from Saint Ephraim, who is revered in the Eastern Church. 

Finally, as I stood in front of the altar of St. Joseph, a couple approached me. “Sister,” they said, “could you tell us about this place.” They were not Christians but the woman described herself as “spiritual.” My instinctive reaction was to advise them to connect with a tour guide but then I realized that maybe the Holy Spirit had sent them to me for a reason. I decided to share with them what I knew regarding the basilica, beginning with the discovery of the tomb of St. Peter, about which I had learned so much during afternoon. It was an opportunity for encounter as I talked with them and listened to their questions.

Carla Thomas

 

Carla Thomas

Comments

  1. Thank you for writing about our trip to the Dicastery, it was a marvelous experience. Glad you were in the right place at the right moment to help share the message of the Gospel.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

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...