New Delhi 31 August 2021 (CCBI): Excellency Most Rev Leopoldo Girelli, the Apostolic Nuncio/Vatican Ambassador to India, accompanied by Most Rev Anil J.T. Couto, Archbishop of Delhi, Most Rev. Kuriakose Bharanikulangara, Archbishop-Bishop of Faridabad, Most Rev. Subodh C. Mondal, Delhi Episcopal Area, Methodist Church in India, Most Rev. John Mor Irenaeus, Believers Eastern Church, Delhi Diocese and Rev. Dr. Stephen Alathara, Deputy Secretary-General of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), released a handbook on a better understanding of Ecumenism or the way to re-establish full visible unity among all the baptized titled “May They All Be One: Ecumenism in Catholic Perspective” at Yusuf Sadan, Archbishop’s House Campus, Ashok Place, Near Gol Dakkhana, New Delhi.
The book is to help Christian faithful and pastors in their day-to-day ministry of building up the Body of Christ in the local Church by healing the wounds of division inflicted by history. It is to further achieve the goal of Bishops and Pastors of the Church to promote the unity of all Christians by supporting activities and initiatives undertaken for the purpose. It is to fulfill the long desire to be one single vine – as one.
The book tries to answer some of the challenging questions like Haven’t divisions weakened the Body of Christ? Are we not all in some way responsible for the mistrust and often even open hostility towards members of Churches other than our own? The book targets a tiny 2.35% of the Indian Christian population not as an exercise in archaeology, rather as a means to be more informed and involved.It is built on the sound premise that what unites all churches as members of Christ’s Body is much more than what divides them as individual ecclesial units. It traces the long history of both church unity and church division. In tracing out this history, it honestly affirms that due to lapses on the part of many leaders and members of the churches.
There have been conflicts and schisms which need to be resolved in a true spirit of fraternity and forgiveness. Speaking at the function, His Excellency Most Rev Leopoldo Girelli, the Apostolic Nuncio/Vatican Ambassador to India said: “The book proposes a common call for Christian unity made by the Second Vatican Council through prayer and dialogue. Adequate formation for the ecumenical dialogue needs to be fostered among all the churches in India. The Church is open to ecumenical endeavor for the witness of unity among all people.” In his Ecclesia in Asia (1999) Pope John Paul II exhorted the Bishops of Asia “to set up and oversee ecumenical centers of prayer and dialogue,” advising that, “adequate formation for ecumenical dialogue need to be included in the curriculum of seminaries, houses of formation and educational institutions”.
Echoing similar sentiments Archbishop of Delhi, Most Rev Anil JT Couto, who is an ardent promoter of ecumenism and lectures widely on ecumenism, says: “If ecumenism is to make any progress in India, the theological formation imparted in faculties of theology, seminaries, and formation houses of the religious should have an ecumenical thrust along with the on-going formation of priests and religious.”The book is the outcome of the long and in-depth research and study by the CCBI Commission for Ecumenism by Archbishop Anil Couto, Archbishop Felix Machado, Bishop Selvister Ponnumuthan, Fr. Jos De Cuyper S.J., Fr. Gilbert De Lima, Fr. Gilbert Aranha, Fr. Anthoniraj Thumma, Fr. Joseph Sugun Leon and Fr. Errol A. D’ Lima S.J. Foreword written by Most Rev. Francis Serrao S.J., Bishop of Shimoga and Chairman, CCBI Commission for Ecumenism. The preface is written by His Grace Filipe Neri Ferrão, President CCBI and Archbishop of Goa and Daman.