‘A Celebration of Ut unum sint: The 25th Anniversary’ 

Free e-book from the NSW Ecumenical Council, published on 14 December 2020.

NSW Ecumenical Council Theological Reflection Commission: A Celebration of Ut unum sint The 25th Anniversary. Edited by Doru Costache and Diane Speed.

‘A Celebration of Ut unum sint: The 25th Anniversary’ celebrates the release of Pope John Paul II’s significant encyclical on ecumenism in 1995. 

NSW Ecumenical Council’s Theological Reflection Commission (TRC) seized the occasion as an opportunity to make a contribution to rebooting the dialogue of love between Christians of all persuasions. 

TRC was initially alerted about this anniversary by the Revd Dr Raymond Williamson, the Council’s President. After some discussion, TRC decided in March 2019 to produce a celebratory collection of reflections on the encyclical and its impact. Later in the year, a further decision was taken that, while some of the reflections should offer current responses to the encyclical itself, others should address broader matters of living and thinking ecumenically. 

While relations between the churches continue to pose particular questions for dialogue, 11 other questions are emerging about the level of local church interest in the ecumenical movement and what the very idea of ecumenism might mean to ordinary Christians. 

TRC has been aware that both national and international experts have or might have been asked to write with authority about either the encyclical or ecumenism generally but, to a significant extent, this collection of reflections has had the more modest aim of recording a range of community responses and insights that might not otherwise have been noted—yet the ecumenical imperative is a matter for the whole church. 

Accordingly, this book presents reflections on both Ut unum sint and its reception and ecumenism and church unity more broadly. Some contributions are analytical or historical, others reflect on personal journeys or the future of the ecumenical movement.

Visit the NSW Ecumenical Council's website resource page: https://www.nswec.org.au/useful-resources/attachment/a-celebration-of-ut-unum-sint-ebook-7