THE P RTAL
June 2017 Page 6
Universality
The Revd Mark Woodruff continues his exploration of the diversity of the Catholic Church
The motivation to see venerable and distinctive traditions once more undivided from the Church ’ s pristine unity , and moreover fully expressing its common Catholic faith , is something the Ordinariates and the Eastern Catholic Churches have in common . So is pressure to assimilate . India ’ s Syro-Malabar Church and Europe ’ s Byzantine Churches suffered greatly from pressure to Latinise their liturgy , piety and theology – and adopt clerical celibacy . This risked the loss of Christian identities they wanted to preserve . Yet the Catholic Church sees its diverse riches , provided from God as gifts from one tradition to another , as the proof of its universality . Indeed , in the absence of unity with other Christian Churches , Vatican II ’ s Decree on Ecumenism says , “ the Church finds it difficult to express in actual life her full catholicity in all her bearings .” So , after 500 years of separation , Anglican religion and liturgy have found a way that fully expresses Catholic faith in unity with the Bishop of Rome .
Yet a senior priest once dismissed the Ordinariate ’ s Divine Worship as “ a rite like no other , just the Roman mass in old English language with Anglican bits slotted in .” This failed to recognise the integrity of another liturgical patrimony , or that the source and home of all authentic Christian tradition is in communion together . The Ordinariates however , despite such misconceptions , have a duty to bear their self-gift on behalf of their fellow Catholics , seeing how Christ ’ s power can transform not only individuals but whole civilisations . In return , the Ordinariates can have a special solicitude for the Eastern Churches , who trod a similar path before and some of which face a threat to their very survival . Their decline would be a wound to our Church ’ s catholicity .
When the missions of Bartholomew , Thaddaeus and Thomas went out of Antioch to East Asia and India , the disciples established a Church on the way that is still there . The “ Church of the East ”, at first governed by the Catholicos ( universal bishop ) in Persia and now at Baghdad in Iraq , is the sister “ East Syrian ” Church to India ’ s Syro-Malabar Catholic Church , which still includes Persian chants in its rite . It was the most extensive Church in history until the modern Roman Catholic Church , strongly organised with 200 dioceses across northern India , Tibet , Mongolia and China . After Islam was imposed in Persia and Mesopotamia from the 7th century its freedom and influence waned . The invasions of Tamerlane destroyed it in east and central Asia in the 14th century .
Today there are 500,000 non-Catholics in two denominations ( the Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East ), and 650,000 Chaldean Catholics under the bold leadership of Catholicos- Patriarch of Babylon , Louis-Raphael I ( Sako ), who is also a Cardinal . Each of the three Churches recognises
the need for reunion in the face of persecution , and the debilitating effect of diaspora ( to North America , Australia , Europe ). They currently collaborate on large restoration schemes on the Nineveh plain and elsewhere for the return of the Christians to their homes , churches and livelihoods , in the face of spurious claims from Kurdish and Iraqi authorities that the property Christians were driven from was abandoned and can be assigned to new Muslim owners .
The Church of the East had intermittent relations with Rome from the 1550s , partly because of internal rivalries , partly proselytisation by Dominicans and Franciscans , and partly isolation under Muslim rule . Permanent communion for the Chaldean Catholic Church came in 1830 . Since 1994 , there has been agreement between the non-Catholic Assyrians and the Catholic Church that all share the same belief about Christ , even though the Church of the East rejected the term of the Council of Ephesus ( AD 431 ) for Mary as Mother of God , which protects the faith that her human son is also God the Son incarnate . To the Church of the East , this blurred the lines between the divine and human natures , as if to make His manhood little more than a shell for his divinity . God and man , yes ; two natures united inseparably in one Person , yes . But a Person with one united nature , human and divine ? – if so , what about His distinct unity with us , as our Saviour in our flesh ? The Church of the East was accused of denying the union of Christ ’ s natures in one Person , and pejoratively called Nestorian . We have missed out on communion for nearly 1600 years . Yet their veneration of Christ ’ s sacred humanity is closer to the Western Catholic outlook . Since 1997 , there has been an agreement between all three Churches of the East , Chaldean Catholic and Assyrian non-Catholic , to support each other closely on the path to reunion .