This statement on the communion of saints (communio sanctorum) is part
of the ongoing project known as Evangelicals and Catholics Together, commonly
called ECT. The project began in 1992 with a conference occasioned by growing
and often violent conflicts between Catholics and evangelical Protestants in
Latin America. In May 1994 we issued a statement, “Evangelicals
and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium.”
In that statement we explained why it is necessary for us, as “brothers and
sisters in Christ,” to work with one another, and not against one another, in
the great task of evangelization, and to support one another in facing up to
the ominous moral, cultural, and spiritual threats of our time. The signers
of the statement pledged themselves to such Christian solidarity and, while
this initiative has not been without its critics, both Evangelical and Catholic,
we are greatly heartened by the thousands who have joined in that pledge, both
in this country and in other parts of the world.
Such solidarity, if it is to be true and enduring, must be grounded in nothing
less than the gospel of Jesus Christ. This has been an insistent theme of ECT,
reaffirmed every step of the way: the only unity that is pleasing to God, and
therefore the only unity we can seek, is unity in the Truth. This theme was
deepened and exemplified in the 1997 statement, “The
Gift of Salvation.” In that statement we together affirmed the way in which
we understand justification by faith alone as a gift received by God’s grace
alone because of Christ alone. In that statement, we were able to say together:
We agree that justification is not
earned by any good works or merits of our own; it is entirely God’s gift,
conferred through the Father’s sheer graciousness, out of the love that He
bears us in His Son, who suffered on our behalf and rose from the dead for our
justification. . . . The New Testament makes it clear that the gift of
justification is received through faith. “By grace you have been saved through
faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
By faith, which is also the gift of God, we repent of our sins and freely
adhere to the gospel, the good news of God’s saving work for us in Christ. By
our response of faith to Christ, we enter into the blessings promised by the
gospel. Faith is not merely intellectual assent but an act of the whole person,
involving the mind, the will, and the affections, issuing in a changed life. We
understand that what we here affirm is in agreement with what the Reformation
traditions have meant by justification by faith alone (sola fide).
At every step along the way, we have also
noted carefully the questions on which, as Evangelicals and Catholics, we continue
to disagree. On the long list of what might be called traditional disagreements
between evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics is the relationship between
Scripture and tradition. In fact, there are few disagreements on the list that
have been more agitated over the centuries. The disagreement is often posed
in a way that calls for a stark choice between Scripture alone (sola scriptura),
on the one hand, or Scripture and authoritative tradition, on the other. In
“Your Word is Truth,” our statement
issued in 2002, we were able to say together:
There always have been, and likely
will be until our Lord returns in glory, disputes and disagreements about how
rightly to discern the teaching of the Word of God in Holy Scripture. We affirm
that Scripture is to be read in company with the community of faith past and
present. Individual ideas of what the Bible means must be brought to the bar of
discussion and assessment by the wider fellowship. “The church of the living
God is the pillar and bulwark of truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). Because Christ’s
Church is the pillar and bulwark of truth, in disputes over conflicting
interpretations of the Word of God the Church must be capable of discerning
true teaching and setting it forth with clarity.
Each of the above statements is the result
of intensive prayer, study, and uncompromisingly candid discussion among the
Evangelicals and Catholics involved. In each statement we carefully note that
we have not resolved all our differences on the subjects addressed, and it
should be evident that we resolutely reject any thought of evading such
differences. We believe, however, that these statements go a long way toward
creating greater mutual understanding and recasting old disputes in new and
promising ways.
We understand Evangelicals and Catholics
Together as a work in progress. We are convinced that this is a work of the
Holy Spirit. This work was underway long before ECT was begun. In recent
decades, Evangelicals and Catholics have encountered one another as brothers
and sisters in Christ in many forums, and especially as they contend together
for a culture of life that will protect the unborn, the aged, the handicapped,
and others who are often deemed to be expendable. These encounters and the
patterns of cooperation they have produced are aptly described as “the
ecumenism of the trenches.” ECT can be understood as making explicit what was
implicit: that our unity in action is the fruit of our unity in faith. Our
unity in action and in faith is by no means perfect. If this is the work of the
Holy Spirit, as we firmly believe, it will continue long after the present
participants in ECT have departed this life. We do not know how or when, but we
do believe that the prayer of our Lord in John 17 will be answered, that his
disciples will be one in a way that the world will see and will
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> believe that he was sent by the Father.
style="mso-spacerun: yes">
Moreover, our historical circumstance makes
our common witness increasingly urgent. Our circumstance is one of unremitting
conflict between distinct and antithetical worldviews, or understandings of
reality. Evangelicals and Catholics together share, and must together contend
for, the Christian worldview. Whatever differences there have been between us
in the past, and whatever differences persist still today, we stand side by
side in contending for the truth of that understanding of reality. Such
solidarity in opposition to the forces of unbelief is aptly called
cobelligerency, and such cobelligerency is the more solid as it is more firmly
grounded in the Bible, the creeds, and our confession and worship of Jesus
Christ as Lord. With this statement and related undertakings, we seek to deepen
our understanding of the common faith that binds us so that we might more
effectively address the common tasks that claim us.
A century ago, the noted Protestant leader
Abraham Kuyper recognized that the common defense of a Christian worldview made
necessary precisely the kind of effort in which we are today engaged. Kuyper
argued that, when we understand Christianity also as a worldview, we “might be
enabled once more to take our stand by the side of Romanism in opposition to
modern pantheism.” In a similar way, Catholic teaching today, as notably set
forth by John Paul II, strongly encourages the fullest possible cooperation
among Christians in contending for a culture of life and of truth against the
encroaching culture of death and deceit. If then anyone asks about the purpose
of this statement and of the ongoing project of which it is part, the answer is
clear: it is to evangelize more effectively, to bear witness to the world that
Jesus is the Lord and Savior sent by the Father, and to bring that truth to
bear on every dimension of life—just as we are commanded to do.
It must be added that ECT is an unofficial
initiative. We speak from and to the communities of which we are part, but we
do not presume to speak for them. We wholeheartedly support the several
official theological dialogues between Evangelicals and Catholics. ECT is an
ancillary initiative, serving as a kind of advance scouting party to explore
possibilities, and, as such, has received much appreciated encouragement from
many sources, both Evangelical and Catholic. We have no illusions that the
centuries–long wounds of our divisions will be quickly or easily healed. We are
convinced that ECT is part of a project that is God’s before it is ours, and is
only ours because it is God’s. We offer this statement on the
>communio sanctorum in the spirit of the
concluding words of our first statement in 1994: “This is a time of
opportunity—and, if of opportunity then of responsibility—for Evangelicals and
Catholics to be Christians together in a way that helps prepare the world for
the coming of Him to whom belongs the kingdom, the power, and the glory
forever. Amen.”
Introduction
There is, as we have noted, a definite
sequence in the continuing conversation that is Evangelicals and Catholics
Together. In the first round of conversation, we affirmed that, despite serious
disagreements, we who recognize one another as brothers and sisters in Christ
are called to the missionary task of proclaiming his lordship to the world.
Acknowledging that we are together in Christ, we then turned in the second
round to address justification as the way in which we come to share in the life
of Christ. In the third round, we explored our understanding of the word of God
and found ourselves in agreement that Holy Scripture, faithfully interpreted in
the community of believers, is the divinely given rule by which we are to
understand our life and mission in obedience to Christ. In the present
statement, we examine more closely the nature of our life together. Our life
together is communion in the
>communio of the life of God, the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Evangelicals and Catholics both confess the
Apostles’ Creed, which speaks of the communio
sanctorum. In this statement, we address four aspects of that article of
faith. First, we look to God as the one who is holy in Himself and in whose
trinitarian communion we must participate in order to be holy. Second, we
examine the relationship of communion among all those to whom God has imparted
a share in His holiness. Third, we discuss our participation in sacraments or
holy ordinances, which are means of manifesting and fostering the communion
that we share. Finally, we reflect on the communion that we now share with
those Christians who have gone before us, including those who have exemplified
to an exceptional degree the fidelity to which we are all called, whom many
Christians honor with the special title of “saint.”
I
God declared to Israel and declares to us,
“I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God; you
shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). The theme of God’s
holiness permeates the entire Bible. The holiness of God is the mystery of His
ineffable being manifested to us as His glory, which includes His righteous and
merciful acts to which we are to conform our own lives. The holiness of God is
given classic expression in the trisagion
of Isaiah 6 where the seraphim cry out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of His glory.” The threefold holiness of God expressed
in this passage is understood by Christians as reflecting the life of the Holy
Trinity.
All human beings are called to participate
in the holiness of God. The life of Christians who, by the grace of God, have
responded to that call is to be a life of holiness, which is to say a life of
sanctification. Paul writes to his converts in Thessalonica and to us, “This is
the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Although our
communion with God is impeded by sin, which repeatedly alienates us from Him,
we are able to be reconciled through Jesus Christ who prayed to the Father,
“For their sake I sanctify myself, that they may be sanctified in truth” (John
17:19). To be holy is to participate in the holiness of Jesus who is “the way,
the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). The communion of saints signifies, first
of all, communion, through Christ and in the power of the Spirit, with God the
all–holy.
II
Holiness necessarily entails relationships. In the communio sanctorum, one cannot
be in communion alone. Holiness is, first of all, a relationship with God in
Jesus Christ, the mediator of all holiness. Such a relationship is necessarily
communal, for God’s own holiness is being in communion, namely, the communion
of Father, Son, and Spirit dwelling together in love. To enter into fellowship
with God is to enter into fellowship with all who share in the fellowship of
God (1 John 1:3). To be in Christ is to be one with all who are in Christ. Our
Lord prayed that those who believe in him “may all be one, even as you, Father,
are in me and I in you, . . . so that the world may believe that you have sent
me” (John 17:21). Jesus speaks of the union between himself and the Father as a
mutual indwelling that is to be extended by his and the Father’s indwelling in
the community of believers. So intimate is the union and so inseparable is the
bond between Jesus and his disciples that those who persecute them are
persecuting him, as is evident in his words to Saul on the road to Damascus
(Acts 9:4). Similarly, those who are merciful to his disciples will be rewarded
for having shown mercy to Christ himself (Matthew 10:42, 25:34–40).
We Evangelicals and Catholics do not now
live out together the fullness of the unity for which Christ prayed. Yet we do
not lack blessings of unity in the body of Christ, which includes the vast
company of believers of all times and places, from Abel the righteous one until
our Lord’s return in glory (Hebrews 11). Our task is not to create unity in
Christ, but to give full and faithful expression to the unity that is his
present gift. Our union with Christ and with one another is never complete in
this life, but it can be intensified and strengthened as we together draw
closer to him and to one another. In the body of Christ, we strengthen one
another by our strengths, even as we weaken one another by our weaknesses. “If
one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice
together” (1 Corinthians 12:26).
To give expression
to and thus to strengthen the fellowship that is already ours, we can and
should, despite our different ecclesial allegiances, do many things together.
We can gather to listen to the word of God, responding in prayer, worship, and
thanksgiving, together with the whole company of heaven. We can together pray
for the many good things that God moves us to desire, and for protection
against the evils we rightly fear. Thus do we fulfill the prayer of Paul: “May
the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony
with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one
voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:5–6).
More particularly, together and in our separate gatherings, we should pray for
one another. As Paul relied on the prayers of his fellow Christians (2
Corinthians 1:10–11), so we benefit from our prayers for one another.
Through common study of the Bible we have
gained a better understanding of God’s word in the tradition of the great
preachers and theologians of earlier centuries, and thus we have learned to
read the Bible more faithfully in and with the Church. We can together learn to
interpret the Scriptures in faithful attentiveness to the Holy Spirit who
inspired the Scriptures, the same Spirit who Christ promised would lead the
Church into all truth (John 16:3). In recent decades, this pneumatological and
ecclesial way of reading the Scriptures is being widely recovered, thus
protecting the sacred text from individualistic exegesis and those critical
methodologies that are indifferent, or even hostile, to God’s saving and
sanctifying truth.
In communal worship, Evangelicals and other
Protestants have helped Catholics to value more highly the effective
proclamation of the word of God. At the same time, Evangelicals have learned
from Catholics and Orthodox to appreciate more fully the importance of ordered
liturgy, including a lectionary based on the seasons of the Christian year.
Noteworthy also is the greater use of one another’s legacy of hymnody.
Patristic and medieval hymns are finding greater currency among some
Evangelicals, while Catholics today praise God in the songs of Isaac Watts,
Charles Wesley, and others in the Evangelical tradition. In seminaries and
programs of ministerial formation, leaders are increasingly being educated in
both the unity and diversity of the one Christian movement in world history.
Thus do we cultivate an understanding and experience of our belonging to a
common Christian tradition. This is of growing importance in a century in which
Christianity is sharply challenged by other world religions, most notably by
Islam.
Always we are brought back to mission, and
to explore how we might be more fully together in mission, for there is no
doubt that Jesus speaks to all of us when he commands that we “make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). As we are sent by the same Lord, as we go
forth in the name of the same Lord, as we proclaim the same Lord, so we ought
to evangelize with one another rather than against one another. In the words of
the Evangelical leaders gathered at the Amsterdam 2000 conference on
evangelization:
Jesus prayed to the heavenly Father
that his disciples would be one so that the world might believe. One of the
great hindrances to evangelism worldwide is the lack of unity among Christ’s
people, a condition made worse when Christians compete and fight with one
another rather than seeking together the mind of Christ. . . . In all ways that
do not violate our consciences, we should pursue cooperation and partnerships
with other believers in the task of evangelism, practicing the well–tested rule
of Christian fellowship: “In necessary things unity, in nonessential things
liberty, in all things charity.” We pledge ourselves to pray and work for unity
in truth among all true believers in Jesus and to cooperate as fully as
possible in evangelism with other brothers and sisters in Christ so that the
whole Church may take the whole gospel to the whole world.
We participants in Evangelicals and
Catholics Together join in the pledge of Amsterdam 2000, agreeing also with the
words of John Paul II in the 1990 encyclical Redemptoris Missio (The Mission of the Redeemer):
The relationship between activity
aimed at Christian unity and missionary activity makes it necessary to consider
two closely associated factors. . . . We must recognize that the division among
Christians damages the holy work of preaching the gospel to every creature and
is a barrier for many in their approach to the faith. The fact that the good
news of reconciliation is preached by Christians who are divided among
themselves weakens their witness. It is thus urgent to work for the unity of
Christians, so that missionary activity can be more effective. At the same
time, we must not forget that efforts toward unity are themselves a sign of the
work of reconciliation which God is bringing about in our midst.
Faithful discipleship requires of us,
Evangelicals and Catholics, that we “do good to all men, especially those who
are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). We grow in the gift of, and
vocation to, holiness as we give ourselves in service to the poor and needy.
While individuals may disagree about what constitutes a just social order, we
are united in our commitment to certain moral truths and their public
recognition. Respecting the sanctity of human life at every stage of
development and decline, securing the integrity of marriage and family life,
protecting the disabled and vulnerable, caring for the marginalized and
imprisoned—these are among the mandates that are bringing, and must
increasingly bring, Evangelicals and Catholics together. Heartening also is our
common witness and action in defense of religious freedom here and around the
world, and an awakened sense of solidarity with persecuted Christians, joined
with effective concern for non–Christians denied their rights of conscience.
Moreover, Catholics and Evangelicals can assist one another in various
circumstances by, for instance, defending one another from unfair public
attacks, providing worship space and other facilities in times of need, and by
taking up offerings for one another’s charitable works. In all these and in
many other ways we can both express and deepen our communion with one another
that is God’s present gift.
III
Communion among Christians includes the
recognition of certain sacred rites, especially the sacraments or ordinances
that come to us from Christ and the apostles. Although we have different understandings
of how Christ orders his Church, we agree that communion has both visible and
invisible dimensions. Catholics believe that the full and right ordering of the
Church embraces seven sacraments, including the apostolic and sacramentally
ordained ministry. Evangelicals, while differing both with Catholics and among
themselves on the number and importance of sacraments, are agreed in respecting
certain practices, such as Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, marriage, and the
reading of Scripture. Some of these sacred practices and institutions, though
differently understood, are bonds between us that maintain and deepen our
communion.
The Church itself can be understood as a sign
and instrument of grace, instituted by the one mediator between God and man,
Jesus Christ, and, through the gospel, mediating his grace to the world. While
the ancient formula “Outside the Church no salvation” may lend itself to
misunderstanding, we agree that there is no salvation apart from the Church,
since to be related to Christ is necessarily to be related, in however full or
tenuous a manner, to the Church which is his body. Although Catholics believe
that the Church is visible in its universal dimension and not only in local
congregations, we as Catholics and Evangelicals together affirm the statement
of Amsterdam 2000:
The Church is the people of God,
the body and the bride of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit. The one,
universal Church is a transnational, transcultural, transdenominational, and
multi–ethnic family, the household of faith. In the widest sense, the Church
includes all the redeemed of all the ages, being the one body of Christ
extended throughout time as well as space. Here in the world, the Church
becomes visible in all local congregations that meet to do together the things
that according to the Scripture the Church does. Christ is the head of the
Church. Everyone who is personally united to Christ by faith belongs to his
body and by the Spirit is united with every other true believer in Jesus.
Similarly, we together affirm the statement of
the Second Vatican Council:
All are called to belong to the new
People of God. Wherefore this People, while remaining one and unique, is to be
spread throughout the whole world and must exist in all ages, so that the
purpose of God’s will may be fulfilled. . . . It follows that among all the
nations of earth there is but one People of God, which takes its citizens from
every race, making them citizens of a kingdom which is of a heavenly and not an
earthly nature. For all the faithful scattered throughout the world are in
communion with each other in the Holy Spirit. (Lumen Gentium II.13)
Because we do not have the same ecclesial
structures and do not fully agree on the doctrinal heritage that we share,
there are some things that we cannot in conscience do together. Our communion
is most manifestly and painfully imperfect in our inability to be one at the
table of the Lord in Holy Communion. Evangelicals differ among themselves as to
how open or restrictive admission to the Lord’s Supper should be. Catholics,
for their part, cannot in conscience participate in an observance of the Lord’s
Supper absent communion with the apostolic ministry that they believe Christ
wills for his Church. Evangelicals and Catholics together know that our Lord
commanded us, “Do this.” We know that he intended that we do this together. Our
different discernments of what is entailed in doing this obediently prevent us
from doing this together. This circumstance is an abiding and heartbreaking
sadness.
We together pray that our imperfect communion
will one day give way to full communion in eucharistic fellowship. At present,
we cannot see beyond some disagreements that appear to be intractable. Our
visibly fractured fellowship at the Lord’s table can, at the same time, be a
salutary reminder of how far we are from the goal of complete unity, and a spur
to more urgent prayer and work that one day the prayer of Jesus in John 17 will
be fully answered. That fulfillment is finally the work of the Holy Spirit, who
moves in ways that we cannot always anticipate. In the meantime, however, we
recognize that the right ordering of the Church and all the means of grace are
precisely means. They serve the end of personal union with Christ, and that
union is effected, by the grace of God, when believers avail themselves of the
means of grace available to them. We Evangelicals and Catholics gratefully
acknowledge our unity in being reconciled to God through Christ, and pray for
the day when that unity can be expressed and strengthened by agreement on all
the means of grace that Christ intends for his Church.
IV
The communio
sanctorum embraces all Christians, including those whose lives are not
notably marked by holiness. In the New Testament, the term “saints” generally
refers to all who are baptized and confess Christ as Lord. The Christian
tradition, following the New Testament, also lifts up some persons for special
respect and veneration. The Letter to the Hebrews, for instance, proposes an
honor roll of those in the history of salvation who are exemplars of heroic
faith. The lives of such faithful men and women both point to and reflect the
holiness of God in Christ.
Therefore, since we are surrounded
by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin
which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set
before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the
joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1–2)
As early as the second century, Christians
gathered for worship at the tombs of the martyrs, celebrating the power of
God’s grace in the lives of these faithful men and women. They prayed to God
for spiritual and temporal favors to be granted through the intercession of the
martyrs. Indeed, in the early Church and through the patristic era, the phrase
>communio sanctorum had primary reference
to this enduring bond between the faithful on earth and the faithful who had
gone before, especially those whose witness was crowned with martyrdom. While
all Christians are properly called saints, the word “saint” soon became a title
of honor referring to exemplary lives among the faithful, and most notably the
lives of martyrs. Our own time is rightly understood as a time of the martyrs,
and it is a most encouraging development that Christians today increasingly
recognize and revere those members of the several ecclesial communities who, in
the century past and still now, offer the ultimate witness to the lordship of
Christ.
As Christians, we are wayfarers who look
forward to joining one day “the assembly of the first–born who are enrolled in
heaven” (Hebrews 12:23). Scripture indicates that the martyrs beneath the
heavenly altar still await their full vindication (Revelation 6:10). They are
one with us, and we are one with them, in yearning for the completion of God’s
plan of salvation in the final establishment of the Kingdom of Christ who is
“the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end”
(Revelation 22:13). In a world where many believe that this life is all there
is, Christians are called to bear bold witness to the solidarity of the
>communio sanctorum, a solidarity secured
by our communion with Jesus Christ—crucified, risen, and coming again—and with
all, both the living and the dead, who are alive in Christ.
Catholics believe that there is a lively
interaction, including an exchange of spiritual goods, between ourselves and
those who have gone on to glory. This interaction is always in Christ and
through Christ. Just as all Christians request the intercession of brothers and
sisters on earth, so Catholics rely also on the intercession of the saints in
heaven, of whom the Blessed Virgin Mary is foremost, and invoke their aid in
prayers, recognizing that prayers to the saints are also prayers with the
saints, directed to Christ and to the Father, and that all blessings are
received from God. When the saints in heaven act, it is God who acts through
them. This understanding is expressed in the Constitution on the Church (
>Lumen Gentium):
It is supremely fitting that we
love those friends and fellow heirs of Jesus Christ, who are also our brothers
and extraordinary benefactors, that we render due thanks to God for them and
“suppliantly invoke them and have recourse to their prayers, their power and
help in obtaining benefits from God through His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who is our sole Redeemer and Savior.” For by its very nature every genuine
testimony of love which we show to those in heaven tends toward and terminates
in Christ, who is the “crown of all saints.” Through him it tends toward and
terminates in God, who is wonderful in His saints and is magnified in them.
Evangelicals do not generally affirm the
intercession of the saints in heaven, and do not ask for their intercession,
since they do not find any explicit biblical warrant for such practice. They
are sometimes puzzled, if not repelled, by the intense and various ways in
which Catholics express communion with the saints. They caution, as do
Catholics, against the dangers of abuse and superstition in connection with the
cult of saints and of relics. Indeed, the formal Catholic procedures for
beatifying and canonizing saints are intended, inter alia, to guard against
superstition, miracle–mongering, and popular enthusiasms of a possibly
heretical nature. While Evangelicals do not have such formal procedures, they
have informal ways in which those who have lived exemplary lives of faith are
recognized as deserving of particular honor. At the same time, however, some
Evangelicals express concern that the Catholic doctrine of the “merits” of the
saints implies that there is a basis of merit other than Christ the sole
Redeemer, and are not convinced by Catholic assurances to the contrary. These
are among the questions in need of further examination in our continuing
conversation.
All Christians of all times have asked how God
prepares believers for the beatific vision of the fullness of His glory. Holy
Scripture does not present us with details about what happens to those who die
in Christ—whether, as most Evangelicals believe, they enter immediately into
the fullness of God’s glory or, as Catholics believe, ordinarily undergo a
period of further preparation. If sanctification is not complete here on earth,
is it somehow completed between the time of death and the beatific vision?
Catholics hold that one who dies in God’s friendship while still suffering from
certain sinful attachments and dispositions will be cleansed by “spiritual
fire” in Purgatory. Evangelicals agree that our lives will be reviewed before
the judgment seat of Christ, and all that is unworthy will be burned away.
While Evangelicals find no biblical warrant for the doctrine of Purgatory, we
together affirm with Paul, “If the work which any man has built on the
foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up,
he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire”
(1 Corinthians 3:14–15).
A detailed exploration of the doctrine of
Purgatory and related questions is beyond the scope of this round of our
conversation. Nor have we examined adequately suffrages for the dead, the
question of indulgences, the role of Mary in Christian piety, or the sins of
denominationalism against the communion that is God’s present gift. Together,
however, we do affirm that no true Christian, living or dead, can be outside
the communio sanctorum, the
fellowship of all who live in the crucified, risen, reigning, and returning
Lord. Within the body of Christ, we know that we are to pray for one another
and to offer up our sufferings for the sake of the Church (Colossians 1:24).
Living as we do in communion with those who
have gone before us, we strive to realize in the pilgrim Church on earth a life
together that more fully anticipates the communion of the Church in glory. It
is our hope and prayer as Evangelicals and Catholics that by rightly using the
means of grace afforded to us in the Church here on earth, we will be more
fully conformed to Christ and thus be drawn into more perfect communion with
one another and with the communio
sanctorum triumphant, to the glory of the one and immortal God, the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Evangelical Protestants
Dr. Harold O. J. Brown
Reformed Theological Seminary
Mr. Charles Colson
Prison Fellowship
Dr. Timothy George
Beeson Divinity School
Dr. Kent R. Hill
Eastern Nazarene College
Dr. Cheryl Bridges Johns
Church of God School of Theology
Dr. T. M. Moore
Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church
Dr. Thomas Oden
Drew University
Dr. J. I. Packer
Regent College,
British Columbia
Roman Catholics
Dr. James J. Buckley
Loyola College of Maryland
Dr. Peter Casarella
Catholic University of America
Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.
Fordham University
Father Thomas Guarino
Seton Hall University
Father Francis Martin
John Paul II Institute for Studies
on Marriage and Family
Father Richard John Neuhaus
Institute on Religion and Public Life
Edward T. Oakes, S.J.
Mundelein Seminary
Mr. George Weigel
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Dr. Robert Louis Wilken
University of Virginia
