THE JOINT WORKING GROUP BETWEEN
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE WORLD
COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

Foreword

    On behalf of the Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) we are pleased to present its Seventh Report to its parent bodies and recommend its study.

    The report results from seven years' work by a dedicated group drawn from the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church.

    The character of the document is intentionally educational. The group believed that it would in this way best serve the interest of all who wish to know not only the Joint Working Group's agenda but the growing relationship of the WCC and the RCC within the broader perspective of the one ecumenical movement which the group has witnessed and in some measure assisted.

    In doing so we have gone beyond, both in our report and in our work, a narrow interpretation of our mandate. We believe however that this will be accepted as a measure of the group's deep commitment to the cause of Christian unity

    In thanking all our members for their generous contribution to our common work, we would like to mention in particular those who have accompanied our work and are no longer members of the JWG. We remember with affection Professor Todor Sabev, Dr Wesley Ariarajah, Sister Monica Cooney and Archbishop Ivan Marin.

    We are conscious that this Report is published on the eve of the third millennium — a time to turn to God and rejoice in hope. It contains several suggestions for future work intended to cement further the relationship of the WCC and the RCC in our common service of our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to whom be praise for evermore.

His Eminence Elias Audi Most

Metropolitan of Beirut

Reverend Mario Conti

Bishop of Aberdeen

Co-Moderators of the Joint Working Group

 

I. INTRODUCTION

With gratitude this Joint Working Group (JWG) has accepted its mandated responsibilities to serve as an instrument which helps the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) to carry out the ecumenical vocation of the churches. The experience of the present members reaffirms our predecessors' conviction expressed in the Sixth Report (1991): "The ecumenical movement is more than ever necessary if the churches and Christian communities are to be a sign and seed of the unity, peace and hope which the human family needs."

The JWG joyfully looks forward to the celebration in 1998 of the fiftieth anniversary of the World Council of Churches. The theme of the WCC's eighth assembly (Harare, 3-14 December 1998) is "Turn to God — Rejoice in Hope." As a new millennium dawns the pilgrim people of God turns again to the one Triune God with renewed faith and sustains the hope of a restoration of that unity among all Christians which Christ wills. This holy objective, which transcends human power and gifts, engages our renewed efforts towards reconciliation while at the same time opens us to the future inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Since 1966 the JWG has made six reports. In this Seventh Report, it offers to its parent bodies an account of its work since the WCC assembly at Canberra in 1991. This report also seeks to inform readers who may be unaware of the history of the JWG and of specific RCC and WCC structures of relationships. A short history of the JWG is offered as Appendix A.