April 14 - Reaching the Middle Men in the Ecumenical Movement

Unity among Christians is a priority for the Church at the highest level, with Pope Francis joining his predecessors in leading the prayer for unity.
 
To fix that problem, an international group founded by Matteo Calisi, a past member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, United in Christ, is hosting a Pastors, Leaders, Clergy Summit 2014. ZENIT spoke with organizer Deacon Darrell Wentworth about the conference and progress in the ecumenical movement.

ZENIT: Couldn't we say that the Church has made Christian unity (ecumenism) a priority since Vatican II, and definitely over the last three pontificates. Are we getting anywhere? What's the ecumenical landscape today?
 
Deacon Wentworth: There are numerous efforts that are happening worldwide, I believe, directly because of the initiative of Vatican II. We have the official dialogues that have resulted in major agreements between Christian traditions, such as the Joint Declaration on Justification between the Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions. This declaration in effect ended Luther's final debate. There are also grassroots efforts among the laity that are changing the attitudes among Christians of every stream. The pro-life movement is causing Christians to rethink their prejudices of each other. The new Fatherhood campaign, the Reclaiming Easter project, Cry Out America, and The National Day of Prayer are others, to mention just a few. 
 
ZENIT: Pope Francis is following his predecessors' lead in calling for Christian unity, but his recent outreach to Kenneth Copeland has been called unprecedented. What is your analysis of what happened?
 
Deacon Wentworth: Pope Francis took the relationship from theological formation to human formation. We are too busy most of the time trying to prove our point, instead of trying to relate to our fellow Christians and members of the same family. We theologically recognize their baptism, but we treat them as the prodigal son. The Holy Father modeled the father in the parable of the prodigal son. We get to choose if we are going to model the father or if we are going to act like the older brother.
 
ZENIT: Tell us about the upcoming conference and its goals.
 
Deacon Wentworth: We desire to foster relationships between the pastors of all Christian traditions. John 17:21-22 states that unless the Church is acting as ONE the world will not believe. The two largest Christian streams are Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism/Charismatic Christianity. These two traditions are engaged in the largest evangelization endeavor in the history of humanity: The New Evangelization and Empowered 21. The root of both processes of evangelization is to encounter Christ personally first, then fully embrace a relationship with the Holy Spirit as part of our baptismal charisms. In the Roman tradition, our bishops have produced three important documents that lead the way: Apostolicam actuositatem, Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord, and Disciples Called to Witness. All three documents encourage the clergy to empower the laity in their charisms. Archbishop Miller clearly stated that need at the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in 2012