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Representatives from both sides of the Reformation divide have drawn encouragement from Jesus' prayer in John 17, and view engagement within the broader context of reaching the world: "May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them as you have loved me" (John 17:23).

With this challenge in mind, 15 evangelical and Catholic leaders collaborated in 1994 to produce "The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium," the first installment from Evangelicals and Catholics Together. Numerous factors converged to create favorable conditions for this achievement. Having already fought together to defeat communism, Protestants and Catholics now turned inward to combat the decadence of secularism. Abortion became a potent rallying point. Finding enemies in their own respective camps, kindred spirits reached across the theological front to arrange new alliances.

Unlike so much mid-20th-century ecumenism, recent Catholic-evangelical efforts acknowledge the lingering hurdles. The motto of John Paul II's papacy—Totus Tuus (Totally Yours)—highlights his disturbing embrace of Marian devotion. Evangelicals and Catholics have made little progress on the central issue of ecclesiology, especially in areas of papal authority and infallibility, notions repugnant to most Protestants. Megachurches swell their numbers significantly from the ranks of nominal Catholics. They will continue to do so absent concerted re-evangelization efforts from the Catholic leadership.

Thankfully, evangelicals can receive as good as they give. Fulfilling John Paul II's vision for dialogue, evangelicals have new appreciation for the role of community. With newfound political influence, evangelicals have supplemented their meager public ethic by learning from Catholic social teaching. So long as the Catholic Church adheres to John Paul II's firm orthodoxy, evangelicals will gain from this ecumenical effort.

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June 2005, Vol. 49, No. 6