Folia Theologica et Canonica 10. 32/24 (2021)
Sacra theologia
FOLIA THEOLOGICA ET CANONICA (2021) 13-20 Mihály Kránitz FRENCH CATHOLIC INITIATIVES TOWARDS CHRISTIAN UNITY I. The Development of Ecumenism; II. The Pioneer of Catholic Ecumenism: Paul Couturier; III. Pierre Michalon (1911-2004) and Spiritual Ecumenism; IV. A turning point in the life of the Church and Ecumenism; V. Spiritual ecumenism rises to official level Keywords: ecumenism, Ecumenical Community, spiritual ecumenism, role of Sulpicians, ecumenical aspirations of Lyon I. The Development of Ecumenism One of the best-known phrases in Jesus’ Last Supper prayer, “Let them all be one” (Jn 17:21), has had a great effect on Christians over the past two hundred years. First, there was an urgent need among the Protestant churches to end the scandal of rupture and strive to achieve the unity that Christ wanted. The Church Unity Octave began in 1908 at the enterprise of Paul Watson (1863-1940) and his friend Spencer Jones, but in addition to the search for spiritual unity, institutional ecumenism also developed. Thanks to various initiatives, a World Missionary Conference was organized in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1910, which gave impetus to the quest for unity.1 To implement the ideas and visions, the International Missionary Council (IMC) was established in Lake Mohonk, New York, in 1921, and two ecumenical movements emerged, the Life and Work Movement (1925) for practical and the Faith and Order Movement (1927), to promote theological ecumenism. The two organizations connected in London in 1937 and then in Utrecht in 1938 to form a temporary Council but in fact the Ecumenical Council of Churches (World Council of Churches) began its work in Amsterdam in 1948. These years also affected Catholics, although there was no official connection between those seeking Christian unity and Rome. Yet we can find a number of proposals that preceded official Catholic acceptance and contributed greatly to the understanding that the ecumenical movement is the work of the * See Stanley, B., The World Missionary Conference Edinburgh 1910, Grand Rapids, MI. 2009.
