Digging Out the Embedded Church - The Maranatha Community

It changed nothing in respect of doctrines and dogmas. Views which many Protestants have
traditionally considered stumbling blocks to intercommunion and even fellowship, such as
the invalidity of Anglican Orders, the place of Mary in Catholic devotion (which was, if
anything, heightened by the Council), the doctrines of transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of
the Mass, belief in purgatory and the practices of praying to and for the dead and granting
indulgences, were all confirmed strongly by the Council. Above all, the Pope came out of the
Council with just as strong a teaching authority as before, even though the collegiality of
bishops was embraced as a principle relevant to modern days.
Yet at „grass roots‟ level much has changed as a result of the Council. Before the Council,
many local priests regarded contacts with Protestants as undesirable. I remember talking to
two young Catholic priests in 1967 about my beliefs as an Evangelical. One responded
enthusiastically and wanted an exchange of views in the spirit of Vatican II, quoting some of
Luther‟s views with approval, while the other was very reserved and obviously embarrassed
by his companion‟s openness.
Today there are many examples of Protestants and Roman Catholics praying and serving
together in social action and witness, and cooperating to form pressure groups on a variety of
moral issues.
The openness to Bible reading fostered by Vatican II is another clear change which draws
Protestants and Catholics together. And the rise of the Charismatic Renewal in the 1970s
created movements like the Maranatha Community in which Catholics feel free to share
regularly at a deep level with other Christians of many denominations.
Surprising things happen. Perhaps the most surprising for many staunch Protestants is the
way in which esteemed Protestant Evangelical teachers are now willing to say, despite their
differences with Roman Catholicism, that they are able to come together in worship and
witness with Catholics.
Surprising things are happening from the Catholic side, too. The intransigence and
dogmatism of Pope Pius XI (1922-1935), who taught that unity for Protestants and Orthodox
meant coming back to submission to Rome, seems bizarre to many Catholics today.
Pius Xl forbade Roman Catholics to take part in conferences with non-Catholics. His
treatment of the Benedictine Dom Lambert Beauduin, exiling him from his Amay
monastery in Belgium, would be seen as reprehensible by many Catholics today.
Dom Lambert Beauduin had a desire for liturgical renewal in the Catholic Church, with an
emphasis on the Biblical foundations of liturgy. He also had an ecumenical spirit which was
inspired by his contacts with the Eastern Orthodox faith. Daily Bible Reading was to be an
important part of the life of the monks in his Abbey at Amay: the whole Bible was to be
covered from Genesis to Revelation.
Equally, he sought ecumenical contacts for his monks with Eastern Orthodox believers at a
time when the Church expected his monks to work only for the conversion of the Orthodox.
There followed an inevitable clash with the Papacy. Beauduin resigned as Abbot of Amay,
was condemned by the Church for „errors‟, and ultimately was exiled to the South of France
for 20 years. He returned to the Community in 1951, when it had relocated at Chevetogne.
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