As a youth in western Kansas back in the 1960s, I can remember Roman Catholic friends who referred to "the Church." Even then I got the implied, if unintended, message: by "the Church," they meant only the Roman Catholic Church. As a Methodist (and then a United Methodist) youth, I took this message to be a put-down, a slight. "My Church is better than your church" is what I heard my Catholic buddies say when they spoke about "the Church." (And I do not think this could be chalked up to being an extraordinarily insecure Methodist.)

Over the years this pastor has learned to be skeptical of the mainstream media’s reporting on religion. After all, these media outlets are staffed by journalists who tend to be generally skeptical of religion, especially critical of Christianity, and downright antagonistic toward Roman Catholicism. Therefore, to put it mildly, their reports on religion should always be taken with a grain of salt, if not a salt shaker.

Seeing an opportunity for truthful teaching and for setting the record straight, the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church issued its own statement. Written out of the riches of the Christian faith, this statement was entitled "Response of the Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church to the ‘Certain Aspects of the Doctrine of the Church’ Issued by Pope Benedict XVI." This statement demonstrated the Council of Bishops doing its very best ministry. It displayed Christian patience and charity toward Roman Catholicism.

The United Methodist response cut to the chase: "As viewed by the Roman Catholic Church, what is The United Methodist Church?...According to Catholicism, we are baptized. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. We show evidences of sanctification, that is the holiness of the Church.

"We lack, in their view, certain aspects of unity and catholicity. Nonetheless, the Holy Spirit has ‘not refrained from using [us] as instruments of salvation,’ as stated in Question Three of the Pope’s Responses.

"We have a teaching of apostolic succession, but it hinges on [the Church’s apostolic] faith, not historic [linear succession of the apostles]....

"In their view, we are not ‘churches’ in the full sense, because we lack, from their viewpoint, the mark of oneness and sacramental priesthood and the fullness of the Eucharist. [But w]e understand ourselves, by God’s grace, to share in the fullness of the Church through faithful ministry and mission, and the Table of the Lord. That is a difference we can continue to explore. Someday we pray that this difference will be overcome.

"As United Methodists, we share in the pain of the brokenness of Christ’s Body and prayerfully long for unity around the Table of the Lord. Until then, we live out of John 17:11 (in which Jesus prays: ‘Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.’ [RSV]) and Jesus’ prayer that all his followers may be one, and we affirm Article VI of our [United Methodist] Constitution compelling the Council of Bishops to lead the Church in the search for Christian unity. In that spirit, we look forward to our continuing dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church."

The mainstream media understood the recent Catholic statement to lay claim to the Roman Catholic Church’s superiority over all other "churches and ecclesial communities." But as the response from United Methodism’s Council of Bishops makes clear, there are other, more Christian ways to interpret the Catholic statement. One more charitable interpretation might well call for: (1) the Roman Catholic Church to live up to its pressing, God-given responsibilities for the good of all churches, (2) all other churches, including The United Methodist Church, to move their own households toward greater order in the Gospel, and (3) all churches to continue to be open and responsive to the Holy Spirit, as He moves them toward greater, visible unity.