Editor’s note: The Rev. Canon Marie-Louise Ternier serves as the ecumenical officer for the Diocese of Saskatoon and is one of two Anglican members on the board of directors for the Prairie Centre for Ecumenism in Saskatoon. She was recently appointed to the newly formed Ecumenical and Interfaith Advisory Committee to the National Church as recommended by GS2025. The Rev. Jakob Palm of the Holy Covenant Evangelical Orthodox Church in Saskatoon wrote this article as part of a master’s thesis on ecumenism.
The Blind Men and the Elephant is a parable from India that has been adopted by many religions in various versions. The story is about a group of blind men who attempt to learn what an elephant is, each touching a different part, and disagreeing on their findings. It is only by considering and embracing each observation as collective wisdom that reveals the complete truth.
A lot was made in 2025 about the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. Seminars and workshops, presentations, and ecumenical prayer services of all kinds offered rich opportunities to refresh our historical and theological understanding of this Creed and the first ecumenical council that gave rise to its creation.
The World Council itself hosted its Faith and Order Conference in Egypt (Oct. 24-28, 2025) carrying the theme: Where now for visible unity, 1,700 years after Nicaea?
While the ecumenical movement of the 20th Century has made enormous strides in bringing some Christian traditions closer together, it seems that the goalposts on unity keep moving further ahead. New challenges in the culture at large continue to diminish the visibility, witness and relevance of the Gospel, resulting in waning religious and church involvement.
Acutely feeling declining numbers and resources, churches impulsively move into a siege mentality, consciously or unconsciously, circling the denominational wagons to preserve whatever is left. The ecumenical vision and yearning for unity risks dying in the face of overworked clergy and of a new cohort of pastoral leaders who equate the entire Gospel with their own denominational/institutional beliefs and practices — reflecting the blind men in the parable with the elephant.
Add to this a world that is breaking apart at the seams caused by climate change and the viciously polarizing and acrimonious effects of social media, and the task looks downright impossible. But Jesus’ words in John 1:21-27 keep haunting us, nudging us, pestering us, fuelling stubborn dreams and hopes that God is not done with us yet. And so we keep on keeping on.
Where then for visible unity indeed? Several factors need to be tended to before milestone ecumenical agreements and dialogue documents will be actively engaged with zeal and passion, resulting in regular ecumenical shared prayer and worship.
Vision and motivation
First, fostering in church leaders, bishops and clergy a personal desire, vision and motivation is the first order of business. Fr. Tom Ryan, CSP, an ecumenical veteran, wrote in an online reflection:
“The significance of friendship with members of other churches holds important implications for the way we do our ecumenical tasks together. For example, ecumenical gatherings need to build into the schedule time that encourages social interaction between people. The coffee break or cocktail hour before dinner may be more important, practically speaking, than the long theological discussions that went on during the afternoon dialogue consultation.
“The last fifty years have seen a wonderful array of formal statements of agreements between churches. But like so many seeds, they will be effective only if the ground has been prepared. That ground is the people in the pews. The various churches have sponsored the process leading to the agreed statements. Now that the theologians have done their work, the baton is passed to the churches’ membership at large. They must have the opportunity to come to the same conclusions as did those who officially represented them in the official church dialogues.”
(Source: https://paulist.org/the-conversation/some-thoughts-on-our-relations-with-one-another-as-christians/)
Overcoming divisions
Second, keep in mind that divisions, differences and conflicts are equally challenging within, as between, denominations. Anglican meetings where divisions and differences are painfully present, threatening to unravel the cherished bonds of Gospel love, challenge participants into costly discipleship in response to Christ’s demanding call to love, reconciliation and communion, all of which are experienced viscerally by all who engage the disagreements.
Why stick together when the journey is rigged with such potent ammunition? And if Anglicans cannot muster the will and courage to keep walking together, is there even hope for visible unity among the various church traditions?
Third, our hope for visible unity among Christ’s followers lies in the Nicene Creed. Still shining as one of the earliest ecumenical efforts in articulating the mystery of God as manifest in Christ Jesus, the Nicene Creed professes faith in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, the God we profess is a holy communion of persons, united and differentiated by the mysterious power of Love.
Pope Francis said as much in his exchange with the atheist editor of a prominent Italian publication in 2018. Truth is a relationship of love patterned on the Trinity. The test of our faith lies in our capacity to make space for another with respect and affection, especially towards those we dislike, disagree with or whose favourite songs irritate us.
As the renowned RC priest and paleontologist Fr. Teilhard de Chardin discovered, unity/union differentiates. The animating principle of divine love creates the conditions for each particular creature to grow into its own fullness and beauty.
Mini-laboratories of unity
Fourth, inter-church and interfaith marriages are, in many ways, mini laboratories of unity. I live inside such a laboratory with my Roman Catholic husband. Such marriages demand humility, deep listening and the conviction that love does not require literal agreement on all matters. Each day, partners navigate difference with respect and curiosity.
The skills that sustain such marriages — empathy, compromise, a belief in embracing difference as a gift — are the same virtues that will advance the visible unity among Christians. Inter-church families already live the visible unity that Christ calls the churches to.
For inter-church and interfaith families, transformation looks qualitatively different than conversion of one partner to the other’s religious tradition. Transformation lies in the broadening/deepening of the heart and mind, not the narrowing of belief.
It is learning to worship next to someone who prays differently, whose faith journey looks and sounds different, and discovering that grace is big enough to hold us all.
In conclusion, the only way for blind church leaders and members to “see” the entire Gospel radiance of God’s infinite love and mercy as manifest in our Lord Jesus Christ is to embrace together all facets of this multi-shaped, divine, proverbial elephant.