Imagining a Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace : catholicity and contextuality

Abstract

This article seeks to enhance this imagination and further it by presenting a recent venture in global ecumenism that crosses cultural/contextual, confessional, and disciplinary boundaries as an inspiring paradigm for this pilgrimage. Specifically, it will do so by looking at the initially tri-, and eventually quadrilateral consultation on catholicity and globalization conducted by the Philippine Iglesia Filipina Independiente, the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht, the Episcopal Church, and the Church of Sweden (the Church of Sweden joined as observer from 2007 onwards). This consultation took place between 2006 and 2008, with three meetings, in the Netherlands (Maarssen), the USA (New York City), and the Philippines (Manila). Its papers were subsequently published as well as a brochure on a witness of being catholic in a globalized world who spoke in a particularly intense way to the participants in the consultation, the Philippine bishop Alberto Ramento, who became a martyr in 2006. Looking at this consultation will show how churches can indeed join each other and “move together,” address various challenges together, listen to each other, and act in solidarity.