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MONSIGNOR JOHN A. RADANO
MARY AND ECUMENISM
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One important aspect of ecumenism, in trying to overcome divisions, includes dialogue among Christians to try to resolve the theological issues over which they have been divided, including those concerning doctrine and devotion about Mary.
Mary in Baptist-Catholic Dialogue Unlike most other Christian World Communions, the Baptist World Alliance did not
Mary and The Current Ecumenical Situation As is well known, Blessed Pope John Paul II had a very deep devotion to Mary. In his encyclical Redemptoris Mater, he says of Mary:
and the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) on the international level. The dialogue
Why should we not all together look to her as our common Mother who prays for the unity of God’s family and who ‘precedes’ us all at the head of the long line of witnesses of faith in the One Lord, the Son of God, who was conceived in her virginal womb by the power of the Holy Spirit? (30). Certainly, Catholics look to her in this way. Among other Christians, the Orthodox have a deep devotion to Mary, and Catholics and Orthodox share much in common concerning doctrine and devotion about Mary. But in the complex 16th-century Reformation, some positions emphasized by Protestant reformers led to strong reactions to Catholic Marian doctrine and devotion.The Reformers re-emphasized Christ as the seemed to take away from Christ as that one Mediator. They emphasized “Sola Scriptura,” Scripture alone, as the singular authoritative source to which we refer in identifying Christian faith, rather than Scripture and Tradition. Thus, Protestants would later question Catholic dogmas such as the Immaculate Conception and Assumption as lacking Protestants followed. Often, when one side held strongly to a particular position, the other deemphasized it. A recent author has stated that the complex Mariology of the Roman Catholic Church contrasts sharply with the virtual absence of Mary in Protestant evangelical thought.1 Some Protestants have been critical of what they consider excesses in devotion to Mary on the part of some Catholics. Pope Paul VI, with such criticisms in mind, while promoting strong Catholic devotion to Mary, emphasized that such devotion must be free of excesses: “every care should be taken to avoid exaggerations which could mislead the Christian brethren about the true doctrine of the Catholic Church…(and) any manifestation of cult…opposed to correct Catholic practice should be eliminated.”2
different times. However, the dialogue’s report, Summons to Witness to Christ in Today’s World (1990), indicated that the “Place of Mary in faith and practice” was one of the devotion that seems to compromise the sole mediatorship of Jesus as Lord and Savior, and the doctrines such as the Immaculate Conception and Assumption which Catholics proclaimed as infallible and to be believed in faith, seem to have little explicit grounding in the Bible. Roman Catholics, on the other hand, responded that devotion to Mary does not compromise the unique role of Christ. This devotion is rooted in her Intimate basis in the New Testament. Noting that Marian devotion evokes strong emotions and convictions from both communions, the report then made two brief statements aimed at initiating dialogue about Mary when this could take place. It stated that, “Roman Catholics must attempt to understand and sympathize with the serious problems Baptists have with Marian devotion and doctrine. Baptists must try to understand not only the biblical piety and religious practice.”3
report was discussed at the 1990 World Baptist Congress in Seoul, South Korea. Some questioned the biblical grounds for certain aspects of Catholic Marian devotion and therefore the wisdom of Baptists even engaging in dialogue with Catholics. While the Catholic Church in 1990 invited the BWA to engage in another phase of international dialogue, no immediate response was forthcoming.
Thus, ecumenical dialogue about Mary is necessary. The more we can resolve differences, the easier it will be for all Christians to speak together of Mary as “Mother of all Christians,” with the same understanding of who she is. In this context, let us look at developments concerning Mary in several international ecumenical relationships.
of two-day informal consultations from 2000 to 2004. The theme in 2004 was “Mary in the Life of the Church,” and the papers delivered touched on a wide range of Marian issues such as “The Blessed Virgin Mary, God-Bearer, in the Mystery of Christ and the Church” (Catholic perspective), “The Blessed Virgin Mary in Evangelical Perspective” (Baptist perspective). A good discussion took place, but no common statement resulted.4 Despite the lack of a common statement, the willingness to address the topic of Mary was important.
INSTITUTE FOR CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY
IM M AC ULATE C O N C EP TIO N S EM IN ARY S C H O O L O F TH EO LO G Y