The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-10-18
CHRISTIAN UNITY

UIlllIU IHV UWI
BISHOP BoNoMELLI POINTS OUT
THE DIFFICULTIES THAT LIE IN
THE WAY OF A UNION AMONG
CHRISTIANS AND ADVOCATES
THE PRACTICE OF CHRISTIAN
CHARITY.
The Right Reverend Bishop Bono
melli, Cremona, Italy, in The Con-
structive Quarterly, for September,
says:
To feel the necessity, and to seek
the ways of gathering together the
scattered members of Christ-that is,
all the souls who believe in Him,
love Him, and thirst for religious
TRUTHS a surprisingly noble and
beautiful aim, and worthy to be
studied and translated into action;
and it is very %consoling to see how
our Protestant brothers are striv-
ing for this end with evident sincerity
and good will. Yes, we must all
reunite under one banner: in union
is the only means of obviating re-
ligious pulverization, and preventing
the crumbling of faith under the con-
slant gnawing Of individual reason
and criticism that is independent of
every consideration of tradition and
authority. Therefore | send my salu-
tation and good wishes to the Prot
estant brothers who, in the World
Conference of the United States, have
studied the question and made wise
proposals for reunion.
Il cannot, however, shut my eyes
to the very grave difficulty of the
enterprise; first of all, the situation
of the Roman Church, which cannot
recede from it's position, or yield upon
any essential point of it's doctrine,
without being renegade to itself. The
Roman Church, with it's definitions,
with the affirmation repeated a thou
sand times of it's divine character,
ment, has cut down and is cutting
down every bridge behind it. 1t can
well allow itself to be joined by the
diffident churches with unconditional
submission; but it cannot turn back,
review its own decisions, modify it's
dogmas, change it's hierarchy, lessen
its authority. In this, / believe, con-
sists the greatest obstacle to that
unity, the need of which is so deeply
felt.
For those who love the truth and
sincerely aspire to unity, there must
be some point of contact, some terri
tory where it is possible to meet
one another and clasp hands; and If
the truth must be only one, there is,
nevertheless, a need that we should
reach at some time or other the per-
feet union of minds and hearts. We
are still far from this, but the mere
consciousness of the need, and wish
ing for it, is in itself a great step.
For the present, the best plan is to
unite ourselves in charity. This
most exalted thing is what was i'm
piled by Christ in the sublime prayer,
the Pater Noster, which is the uni
versal prayer, which prescinds from
all dogmatic divergence and from
every form of authority, and which
asks no other faith but the faith in
the common Father who is in heaven.
Charity, the teacher of patience, of
tolerance, of prudence, of kindness,
permits the fusing together of the
most discordant elements, and knows
how to find the hidden ways of con-
cord. We a love each other, then,
and pray together: pray to God that
He may smooth out the difficulties
which appear to us ~insuperable; pray
to Him that a way out may there
be found where powers are in
sufficient; that He may conquer the
resistance of our pride and our
other passions; that He may pour
into us that spirit OF generosity which
/ t~olerates, overlooks, sympathizes and
pardons; that He may place in our
hearts the sweet ointment of grace
which persuades and overcomes with
out violence. No other than the
Father who is in heaven can work this
mlIdClG anu lu1ul III US Iu6 prayer
of Christ that we all may be as
He and the Father.
Still, we too must work with our
powers; we must study the occasions
which have produced the lamentable
division in the Church; we must e
duce doctrines within their just linn
its, and place them in their true
light; we must separate what is es-
sential and irreducfble from what can
be modified; we must endeavor to
cut down distances as much rs pos
sib1e; but after this we must again
make the command, fervent prayer to
our Father and await from Him that
spirit the contamination Of which is
perfect unity. May it please God
that this be not long in comingl
Reading over these few lines, in
which / had desired to pour out my
whole soul into the breasts OF my
brothers who are outside OF our
-