Windows to the Past: Protestant Theologian Urges the Rejection of Schema "De Ecclesia"

Edit: some will remember that the original schemata which were rejected, especially De Ecclesia.

It's hard to imagine that undue attention was paid to voices like  the Protestant Edmund Schlink, who was an observer at the council.

Despite assurances to the contrary,  and the tacit understanding with respect to Protestants described by Dr. Schlink, Protestants are no closer to Catholics half a century later.  There may be fewer Protestants, and they may be far less relevant than they were in 1963 when this was written, but these concerns are still raised.  They are echoed by Progressivist counterparts in the Catholic Church who themselves, might as well be Protestants.

This entire "discussion" has taken place at the expense of the Catholic Faith and to the scandal of the faithful.

The following is from an article we found:

IN THE OPINION  of Professor Edmund Schlink, a member of the Evangelical Church in Germany and an observer of the Second Vatican Council, the council's schema De Ecclesia, if adopted as it now stands, will seriously jeopardize rapprochement between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant churches.  Dr. Schlink told a press conference in Rome that he is particularly disturbed by one schema statement which implies that "the one holy, catholic, apostolic church is the church directed by the Roman pope, thus identifying the church of God with the Roman church."  He noted that the schema refers to non-Catholic individuals but not to non-Catholic churches.  The conclusion he draws from this fact is that the Roman Catholic Church can recognize and claim as its own all Christians whose baptism is identical with that of the Roman Catholic Church but cannot recognize the existence of non-Catholic churches as churches.  Professor Schlink has not raised a captious and irrelevant complaint but has uncovered a basic issue standing between Protestants and Roman Catholics.  "Separated brethren," to use the Roman Catholic euphemism for Protestants and other non-Catholic Christians, belong to churches.   Their churches are just as truly the body of Christ to them as the Roman church is to Roman Catholics.  To imply, as De Ecclesia is said to do, that gulf between non-Catholics and Roman Catholics will be bridged by a return of individuals to Rome without regard to their churches is to misinterpret Protestant and Orthodox hopes for unity and to misunderstand the ecumenical movement as it relates to Protestant and Orthodox hopes for unity and to misunderstand the ecumenical movement as it relates to Protestant and Orthodox churches.  Professor Schlink raised a timely reminder when he said: "Non-Roman Christendom consists not merely of individual Christians, but of churches.  Non-Roman Christians are certain of salvation as members of their own churches.  It is not through the Roman church, but through their own church, that they have received baptism, and that they have come to the faith through the gospel,"  We hope that Dr. Schlink's reminder will be taken into account before the Vatican Council takes a position on so important a matter.  His statement does not assume that non-Roman churches are immune to change; it does assume that all the changing will not be done on one side.

November 20, 1963