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Dr Nyomi draws attention to the Catholic decree on ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio, approved in 1964 by the Second Vatican Council, which committed the Roman Catholic Church to whole-hearted participation in the ecumenical movement and was widely seen as the beginning a new phase in ecumenism.

By contrast, he states in the letter to Cardinal Cassidy, slighting remarks on other Christian communities in Dominus Iesus, coupled with the note on the use of the term "sister churches", seem to be "part of a sustained effort by Catholic conservatives" to deny the growing relationship and respect between the Roman Catholic and Reformed and other churches.

By seeming "to contradict commitment to ecumenical co-operation within the Christian family or even to take us back to a pre-Vatican II spirit", such statements raise questions, Dr Nyomi writes, concerning "how we can continue in dialogue with integrity - trusting and respecting one another".

Ironically, Dominus Iesus was issued a week before WARC was scheduled to begin a further session of international bilateral dialogue with the Catholic Church. WARC considered calling off this session pending clarification from the Catholic Church over what it has described as the "special affinity and close relationship" binding it to Protestant churches.

WARC has however decided to go ahead with the session, but Dr Nyomi states in the letter that "we will be putting on the table for discussion the questions we have regarding how the Roman Catholic Church views the Reformed family, and its implications for our continued dialogue".

The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the country's main Protestant body, issued a statement on September 7 pointedly declaring that it wanted, despite the statements from Rome, to improve ecumenical co-operation with its "Catholic sister church".

The governing board of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany (VELKD), which has as members eight regional Lutheran churches, said on September 8 that there was no biblical justification for the claim in Dominus Iesus that only the Catholic Church fully incorporated the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. "To make this claim at the present time shows a lack of ecumenical sensitivity."

The publication of Dominus Iesus took place a day after representatives of the VELKD and the Catholic Church in Germany published a new statement on the nature of the church drawn up by a joint working group. The VELKD board said that it was confident that the German (Catholic) Bishops' Conference would deal with the statements of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in an "ecumenical spirit" and that there would continue to be a good partnership between Lutherans and Catholics in Germany in further bilateral discussions.

However, in Switzerland, Heinrich Bolleter, bishop of the Evangelical Methodist Church of central and southern Europe, said that he could not understand "why Protestants are getting so excited about the statements". According to the Reformierte Nachrichten (RNA), based in Zurich, Bishop Bolleter said: "In our practical ecumenical work we have always known that we are not of one mind when it comes to the issue of the nature of the church. We too easily forget how in recent decades we have dealt with the issue of mutual recognition. We have always avoided the question of the understanding of the church. But we have constructed a common platform on which we can have fellowship despite different ecclesiologies."

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September (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44