When evangelicals and Catholics set aside centuries of mutual suspicion 20 years ago, the idea was fairly simple: Even if we can’t always work together, at least let’s not work against each other. Now, two decades after the launch of the group Evangelicals and Catholics Together, relations between the two groups appear stronger than ever, forged by shared battles over abortion, same-sex marriage, religious freedom and immigration. A new pope is finding crossover appeal among evangelicals who share Pope Francis’ emphasis on evangelism and his distaste for the fancier trappings and authoritarianism of the papacy. “The first affirmation of Evangelicals and Catholics Together is that Jesus Christ is Lord, and there’s the source of our hope,” Catholic theologian Matthew Levering of Mundelein Seminary outside Chicago told the recent Q conference of evangelical movers and shakers in Nashville, Tenn. “This was an anchor for when they began to discover that we share the same gospel.”
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A new statement has been published by Evangelicals and Catholics Together, an ad-hoc group of theologians and church leaders headed by Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus. This text, entitled “That They May Have Life,” is the sixth statement issued by ECT since 1994. In their most recent offering, ECT returns its focus to public policy, morality, and the so-called “culture wars.” Seeking to promote dialogue within the US on the “culture of life,” the group affirms that they share common interests and concerns with those who oppose them. These include a common interest in the American experiment and a common humanity with its God-given capacity for reason. The text, which has the tone of a pastoral letter, appears to be interested in a dialogue between secular culture and Christians.

While this latest document is to be welcomed for its clear articulation of certain aspects of the “culture of life,” and for the continuing efforts of Evangelicals and Roman Catholics to speak together on issues of shared concern, it is disappointing for many of the same reasons that the first ECT statement was criticized. There is very little contribution made here to the ecumenical rapprochement between Evangelicals and Roman Catholics. Many of the issues that the participants agreed upon in this statement will divide them from others within their own churches. This statement will likely be received as just another contribution to the abortion debate by the Religious Right. To me, it seems like like they weren’t reaching high enough.
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