Bishop Joseph L. Bernardin, in a sermon for an interdenominational service at Emory University, said the past seven years have been an extraordinary time in the history of ecumenism.

The bishop spoke Sunday at the service marking the opening of the academic year at Emory University. He is the first Catholic and the first Catholic bishop to take part in the service which had a theme of Christian unity.

“Prior to 1959 the Catholic Church was certainly concerned about Christian unity, but her concern was basically unilateral and the emphasis was on ‘bringing back’ to the Catholic Church the members of other churches which had separated from her,” he told members of the faculty and student body.

“It was in 1959 that Pope John announced in his first encyclical that the time had come to abandon the traditional aloofness and hostility which had existed between Catholics and other Christians and to substitute, in their place, a genuine love, a fraternal spirit,” the bishop said.

He said fortunately this change found a warm response among Protestant and Orthodox groups. “And the spirit of Pope John,” the bishop said, “which so radically changed our relationship with other Christian churches lives on in the present Pope, Paul VI. In his writings and in his actions he has made it clear that he is wholeheartedly in favor of what is taking place in the Christian churches today because he recognizes that it is the work of the Holy Spirit.” Bishop Bernardin said people have not been able to see the beauty of Christianity because it had not been perfected in unity. “Because of this lack of unity, the Gospel of Christ has not seemed to many to be the ‘good tidings’ which it was meant to be, if we are to meet effectively the challenges of atheism and if we are to counteract successfully the inroads of secularism which are sapping away our moral fiber, the Christ’s Church must become a convincing sign of God’s merciful presence and action among men,” he said.

He asked what practical steps other than renewal can be taken to bring about better relations? “First of all we must eliminate any word, judgement or action which will cause offense to others. There must exist a spirit of fraternal charity which will prompt us to admit that because of the frail, human element in the Church, we are as responsible as anyone else for the difficulties which have resulted in a divided Christendom.”

“The second step which already is producing much good is dialogue among the churches. This dialogue should be carried on not only by the specialists but by all Christians regardless of their status or responsibilities.” “Third the means at our disposal is cooperation with each

other in projects which seek to help people. It should also be intensified in the use of every possible means to relieve the afflictions of our time such as famine and natural disasters, illiteracy and poverty, lack of housing and the unequal distribution of wealth.”

“Finally, perhaps most important of all, there must be constant prayer for restoration of unity. Although we must always work for unity as if it depended on our poor efforts alone, we must never forget that, in the final analysis, it will depend on God’s grace,” Bishop Bernardin said.