The Holy Father has plans to meet the bishops of Africa. Of course, there is hope for an ecumenical dialogue between the Catholics there and other religions or sects. Though it seems to be the policy of the Holy Father to have ecumenical dialogues with other groups, which is a mandate of the Gospel, the idea of ecumenism is futile. It is based on a wrong theological assumption. St. Paul mentioned that he is sent to the elect. And because he does not know who is the elect he preached to all that in some way he might reach the elect. Let me forgo the idea of predestination since it is complex and stick to ecumenism.
The Church is the bride of Christ. The other groups are not parts of this bride that had been cut off or dismembered. They are completely other entities. The others are alien branches that cannot in anyway be grafted to the main branch. Today’s ecumenism is based on the wrong notion that the Church founded on earth has, in process of time, been split into many fragments and can be easily be reunited, noted Ronald Knox, a convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism. “To us Catholics such language is meaningless; we have not so learned Christ. For us, the Church is nothing less than His temple, his Bride, his own Body; and the idea that it could, by any conceivable historical circumstance be split into fragments, is a blasphemy.”
Ronald Knox continues “The reunion of the Churches is to us not merely impossible, it is unthinkable. You cannot reunite what has never been divided. For the Catholic Church to take part in a reunion of the churches would be a …contradiction in terms.”
The process should be “conversion” and not ecumenism. It is a process wherewith both born Catholics and non-Catholics are transformed and grafted into the Mystical Body of Christ. And if the great dissent made manifest by the elevation of Pope Benedict XVI shows how difficult to graft born-catholic theologians into the True Body of Christ, how much more those of other groups.
Of course, there is such a thing as the grace of conversion. This is given to converts from all religious groups. But this is not given to busloads of souls. It is given to specific individuals as is happening right now. One, two or three converts here and there and no more. Attempts, therefore, at ecumenical synods and the like are futile. It is not God’s way. Most converts I know are not the products of an ecumenical effort but merely by an individual effort in cooperation with God’s grace.
Africa, therefore, should concentrate on Catechizing the Catholics. Because of what Gilbert K. Chesterton said, that Catholics will always be persecuted because our claim is not that ours is just one of the religions but that ours is the only true religion. That should make everybody else angry. And what we expect is persecution and not ecumenism.
Today, Africa is described as one of great growth for Catholicism. As in the early times, when the Church is growing, it is purified through martyrdom. In the process it becomes small but fervent. Could this be the fate of the Church in Africa? The Church can only be prepared for martyrdom if they have a complete and pure knowledge of the teachings of Christ ….and trained in obedience to those teachings.