Ecumenism - Maltese style

It is a well known fact that the Christian religion has been present on our islands for the last two millennia. As a consequence, our people are quite familiar with some of the main activities of the Church, such as Sunday Mass, sermons, sacraments, funerals and feasts; so much so that these occurrences have become part and parcel of our national culture.

However, there are certain other initiatives that are not so deep-rooted because they were introduced more recently. Hence our people are less informed about them and perhaps take less interest in them than they should.

One of these more recent initiatives is ecumenism - the movement to achieve worldwide Christian unity - for which a World Week of Prayers is to be celebrated from January 18-25.

Much emphasis on this aspect of the Church's mission was placed during Vatican Council II. Even so, however, the average Catholic in Malta has but a vague idea of the ecumenical movement and a number of them even entertain grossly mistaken opinions on the subject. As a result of poor ecumenical formation, their involvement in this kind of apostolate is in dire need of improvement.

For example, a number of people run away with the untenable idea that all religions are equally good and practising any of them is enough to lead an individual to eternal salvation.

Yet, Vatican Council II teaches us precisely the opposite, while asserting that the Catholic religion contains within it the whole truth for a safe passage to salvation. Moreover, it is through Christ's Church alone that the fullness of the means of salvation may be obtained.

Then, there are others who are unable to make a clear distinction between ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue. Both enterprises are very actual and highly desired by Church leaders but we should not fail to bear in mind the difference which exists between them. Strictly speaking, ecumenism takes place among those who believe in Christ, accept his doctrine, and have received a Christian baptism. Inter-religious dialogue, on the other hand, can take place between everyone who believes in God or, at least, those who are sincerely searching for truth about the transcendental reality.

Meanwhile, a fairly widely held view in this country is that ecumenism should not concern us because practically the whole of our population is Catholic, at least nominally.

This mentality may have been tolerable in past centuries but it is no longer acceptable today after Vatican Council II which states that "concern for restoring unity pertains to the whole Church, faithful and clerics alike. It extends to everyone according to the potential of each".

There are also obvious benefits to be gained from participation in this movement, such as giving us the opportunity to learn from one another and helping us to understand and tolerate each other in a more fruitful way than we do at the moment.

This week of prayers for Christian unity in many communities is a good opportunity to stir up ecumenical sensibility and obtain further information about progress in ecumenical relations.

It would be ideal if this week were celebrated in each and every parish and not just on a diocesan level because in this way more people would take part in the celebration enabling it to produce far better results.