14 PART ONE: INTRODUCTION To date, the WCC has contributed significantly to the inter-church relations, ecumenical theology, and the common witness of the churches in societal and ethical issues. However, given its own self-understanding, theWCC does not account for the interchurch dialogues and negotiations about alliances or reunions. Therefore, apart from the World Council’s activities, countless bilateral and multilateral dialogues were initiated, especially when the Roman Catholic Church committed to the ecumenical movement. Ever since, however significant its activities still are, theWCC is no longer the primary and dominant embodiment of the ecumenical movement. Programmatically, the WCC upholds the same goal as the broader movement, i.e., the reunion of the Christian church. However, lacking any authority over its members, the WCC can only facilitate ecclesiastical encounters without having the means to establish the unity it envisions. Nevertheless, the WCC is still a driving force for the movement and a point of reference for evaluating the state of the ecumenical process. Its influence is felt through its Assemblies and statements and through the numerous national, regional, and local councils of churches that have been instituted after the example of the WCC. The Roman Catholic Church has never applied for formal membership in the WCC, although on national and regional levels, Catholic dioceses and parishes do take part in councils of churches. Membership is ecclesiologically problematic for the Catholic Church as a whole because it does not consider itself to be a confessional denomination in the same way as other WCC members: [M]embership could present real pastoral problems to many Roman Catholics because the decision to belong to a world-wide fellowship of churches could easily be misunderstood. Then there is the way in which authority is considered in the Roman Catholic Church and the processes through which it is exercised.19 In addition, Catholic membership would have endangered the fragile equilibriumwithin theWCC, given the sheer size of the Roman Catholic Church compared to the WCC member churches. The problem of membership was resolved by the erection of a Joint Working Group in 1965. The Roman Catholic Church also became a full member of the Faith and Order commission. 19 World Council of Churches and Roman Catholic Church, “Fourth Official Report of the Joint Working Group (RCC/WCC),” 1975, 20, https://www.oikoumene.org/sites/default/files/ Document/04%20Fourth%20Report%20Joint%20Working%20Group.pdf.
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