1993 Ecumenical Directory: Theological Values and Juridical Norms, The
![handle is hein.journals/juristcu56 and id is 401 raw text is: THE JURIST 56 (1996) 391-426
THE 1993 ECUMENICAL DIRECTORY:
THEOLOGICAL VALUES AND JURIDICAL NORMS
JOHN M. HUELS, O.S.M.*
In recent years numerous voices, Catholic and non-Catholic, have
lamented the lack of progress, or even regression, in the ecumenical
endeavor during the papacy of John Paul II. 1 Perhaps partly in response
to such criticisms, the pope himself strongly reaffirmed that the Cath-
olic Church at Vatican II committed herself irrevocably to following
the path of the ecumenical venture. In his encyclical on ecumenism of
May 25, 1995, Ut unum sint!, he further stated: it is absolutely clear
that ecumenism, the movement promoting Christian unity, is not just
some sort of 'appendix' which is added to the Church's traditional
activity. Rather, ecumenism is an organic part of her life and work, and
consequently must pervade all that she is and does.'2 Like the pope's
encyclical, the Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms
on Ecumenism, issued in 1993 by the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity (PCPCU) and cited frequently by the pope in Ut unum
sint!, is a major contribution of the Apostolic See to the promotion of
* J.C.D. (The Catholic University of America, 1982). Associate Professor of
Canon Law, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago.
I For example, the noted Roman Catholic ecumenist, Edward Yamold, who has
been a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission since its
inception in 1970, offers this, not untypical, assessment: It is Rome that [for Angli-
cans] has been moving away from Anglicanism. Whereas the concept of collegiality
developed at Vatican II gave many Anglicans hope that they could accept a papacy
which functioned within collegial checks and balances, Rome's reassertion of central
authority in recent years makes some wonder whether their hopes were illusory. Rela-
tions between the two Churches [Roman and Anglican] are in a state of crisis .... See
In Search of Unity (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1988) 8.
Another Roman Catholic, Norbert Greinacher of Tubingen, after recalling the growth
of the ecumenical movement in the twentieth century, gave this blunt assessment in a
1993 address: However, all these indisputable successes cannot cover over the fact that
this now eighty-year-old ecumenical movement has reached a dead end. See Practical
Theology and Ecumenism, New Theology Review 8 (August, 1995) 76.
2 John Paul II, encyclical letter Ut unum sint!, May 25, 1995: AAS 87 (1995)
921-982; nn. 3 and 20; English translation in Origins 25/4 (June 8, 1995) 49-72.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/juristcu56&div=20&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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