Catholicity and Conciliarity as Challenges for Christian Churches Today

Abstract

Teaching ecumenism in the context of global Christianity raises the question of how to approach the themes of “catholicity” and “conciliarity.” This article addresses some of the challenges and possible paths in relation to this topic. At a time when universalism is often (and rightly) denounced, can or should there be room for a sense of the church’s universality or catholicity? Or is universality always an instrument in the service of hegemonic (mostly Western) quests for domination? The paper seeks to show how universality entails a mutual, ongoing dialogue in which all parties involved may set the agenda and contribute. This connects to conciliarity or synodality, a much-discussed theme in Roman Catholicism, in the Orthodox world, and among Protestant churches worldwide. The article presents some of the challenges the churches have been and are facing as they seek to become more authentically synodal churches.