Ecumenism is about people, not doctrines

“Ecumenism is not primarily about the reconciliation of theologies or doctrines as conceptual realities but about the reconciliation of churches. Doctrines are not trivial to the reality and identity of churches (or, for that matter, of the one church). They are not the total reality of churches, however. Churches are united by complex webs of doctrine, practice, memory, and hope. Ecclesial reconciliation is about the reconciliation of bodies that are formed within those complex webs.”

—Michael Root, “Is the Reformation Over? And What If It Is?” Pro Ecclesia 16:3 (2007), 344.