Il dialogo ecumenico e interreligioso: quale futuro? - Nemesistemi

scommessa ecumenica di santità e di santificazione 1 . Santificazione, si sottolinea, vuol dire
incisivamente santità relazionale e santità sociale 2 . In questa prospettiva, ciò che la gioventù
vede come maggiormente carente nelle Chiese istituzionali è la mancanza di spiritualità nella loro
offerta in seno al mondo: si tratta di spiritualità come esplorazione nelle profondità della propria
identità 3 . Con quest intento, è proprio la trasparenza dell unità che appare come cardine, e non
qualsiasi unità o l unità a qualsiasi costo .
A.
CHIARIMENTI SULL INTENTO
DIALOGALE
basilare sull'argomento: "Questa comunicazione dipende soprattutto da due principi: dalla manifestazione dell unità della Chiesa e dalla
partecipazione in mezzi della grazia La significazione dell'unità per lo più (plerumque) vieta la comunicazione. La necessità di partecipare la grazia
talvolta (quandoque) la raccomanda" (LTR 8). Quindi il decreto lascia all'autorità episcopale del luogo decidere ii concreto tenuto conto delle
circostanze di tempo, e di luogo nonché delle eventuali disposizioni della Santa Sede o delle Conferenze episcopali».
((1) Negli anni 70 una questione ha polarizzato I'attenzione dei cristiani e creato vera tensione tra le Chiese: la questione della communicatio in
sacris, o dell intercomunione' (come si diceva allora) o della "ospitalità eucaristica . I1 Segretariato per l Unione è intervenuto in vari modi. In
particolare con tre documenti: 1. Dichiarazione (7 gennaio 1970) sulla posizionc della Chiesa cattolica circa l Eucaristia comune tra cristiani di
differenti Confessioni, 2. Istruzione (1 giugno 1972) circa casi particolari di ammissione di altri cristiani alla comunione nella Chiesa cattolica, 3.
Nota (17 ottobre 1973) su alcune interpretazioni della Istruzione (1 giugno 1972) circa casi particolari di ammissione di altri cristiani alla comunione
nella Chiesa cattolica . Un talc susseguirsi di documentisullo stesso soggetto indica il problema pastorale, teologico e disciplinare, sottostante e fa
anche intuire Ia passione che una tale discussione suscitava. La questione del resto, sostanzialmentc chiara dat punto di vista cattolico, rimane aperto
nelle relazioni con gli altri cristiani che hanno teologie e prassi diverse. Quci docurnenti tuttavia hanno offerto un sussidio teologico e pastorale utile.)
1
John Paul II, Tend Towards the Ecumenism of Holiness (11 March 2002), in «Internet» 2006, http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.
cfm?recnum=4194: «4. By the masterly way she has preserved her heritage of faith and Christian life, the Orthodox Church of Greece has a special
responsibility in all this. During my stay in Athens, I recalled that "the name of Greece resounds wherever the Gospel is preached.... From the
apostolic era until now, the Orthodox Church of Greece has been a rich source from which the Church of the West too has drawn her liturgy,
spirituality and jurisprudence" (Address to Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece, n. 3, 4 May 2001). In our responsibility that consists
in tending toward the ecumenism of holiness that, with the help of God, will eventually lead us to full communion meaning neither absorption nor
fusion, but a coming together in truth and love (cf. Slavorum apostoli, n. 27)
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we must organize our collaboration and work together to make the
voice of the Gospel resound forcefully throughout the Europe that is ours where the Christian roots of the peoples must be revived».
2
J. McMaster (June 2002), Holiness and the Wider Ecumenical Perspective, in «Internet» 2006, http://www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/emtc-paperholiness_and_the_wider_ecumenical_perspective.doc:
«John Wesley envisioned the purpose of the Methodist people as the spread of scriptural
holiness throughout the land. Methodism was to have been a holiness project. This visionary project was about the reform of the nation and the
practice of just economics. It was the growing affluence of the Methodists that led him at the end of his life to judge the Methodist project a failure. 1
This socio-economic and political emphasis has rescued Wesley from the criticism that he was purely individualistic in his theological method and
content. The criticism has some validity but though there are serious gaps in Wesley's theology his description of holiness as perfect love is
essentially a relational and social vision. Wesley's scriptural holiness may not always have been developed into the great social and political ethic it
had the potential to become, yet the latter two decades of the 20th century have produced positive developments in this direction 2 ».
((1) See the paper Wesley on Social Holiness, Dublin, January 2002 by Johnston McMaster. / (2) There are at least five notable contributions towards
the expression of a Wesleyan social and political ethic; M Douglas Meeks, in God the Economist: The Doctrine of God and Political Economy,
(Fortress Press, 1989; Theodore W Jennings in Good News to the Poor: John Wesley's Evangelical Economics, (Abingdon Press, 1990); Manfred
Marquardt in John Wesley's Social Ethics, (Abingdon Press, 1992); Theodore Runyn in The New Creation: John Wesley's Theology Today,
(Abingdon Press, 1998); Theodore R Weber in Politics in the Order of Salvation: Transforming Wesleyan Political Ethics, (Kingswood Books,
2001).)
3 st
S. Kobia, Challenges Facing the Ecumenical Movement in the 21 Century. Keynote address by Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia General Secretary World
Council of Churches, in «Oikumene» (22-10-2005), in «Internet» 2006, www.oikoumene.org/.../ 22-10-05-challenges-facing-the-ecumenicalmovement-in-the-21st-century.html:
«What is it that so many churches and the ecumenical movement to which they have been exposed fail to
provide? The term that usually comes into play in discussing this phenomenon is spirituality
a spirituality understood as existing over against
organized religion. This yearning must be taken into account as we discuss the challenge facing ecumenism in the 21 st century. I fear that the
emphasis on spirituality in contemporary religious discourse provides one more enticement to battle-weary church leaders, and members, to retreat
from social action and public controversy. If people are obsessed with the purely spiritual , runs the argument, then it might mean that our theology
and our practice will turn inward once more. It seems to me that the issue of spirituality as we know it arises as a question of identity. Just as this
question arises in matters of interchurch cooperation and interfaith dialogue, it also affects us both in personal and public life. Unlike the 20 th century,
which was dominated by the politics of ideology, the 21 st century will most likely be dominated by the politics of identity. Who are we? What is the
meaning of our lives and of our relationships to God and one another? How can we explore the depth dimension of human existence? Over the past
two decades, it has become almost politically correct to speak of spirituality in positive terms, where use of the word religion may breed suspicion
and contempt. So let me risk saying one or two politically incorrect things about spirituality as it is often described. The contemporary concept of
spirituality too often embraces a vaguely psychological orientation toward the search for identity and meaning. It may present itself as an adjunct to
the therapeutic, yet often in an uncritically self-affirming way. Indeed, especially in Western culture, the self can easily become the object of an illdefined,
egoistic spirituality. Joseph Campbell s mantra, Follow your bliss , has been used as an excuse for selfishness when it could as easily be
interpreted as an invitation to discover the bliss of engaging creatively with the world».