The Commission on
Ecumenical Affairs functions in accordance with the prescriptions of the new Code of Canon Law, as embodied in the revised Vatican documents "Directory Concerning Ecumenical Matters" and "Ecumenical
Collaboration," at the regional, national, and local levels.Using the facilities of its permanent secretariat - the John XXIII Ecumenical Center, it maintains contact with the Vatican Secretariate for Promoting
Christian Unity and keeps the bishops informed of matters emanating from here.
While assists Philippine bishops to establish diocesan ecumenical commissions, it fosters dialogue with ecumenical councils and leaders of
other Christian Churches.
The Commission recommends to the CBCP measures to implement the Decree "Unitatis Redingratio" and represents the Conference in ecumenical conferences while maintaining constant
dialogue with mainline Protestant Churches.
So gone are the days of the narrow religious mind. Ecumenism, like a fresh wind, is today at work in what unites churches rather what separates them. In 1969 a tentative
agreement on a mutual recognition of the validity of Baptism between the Catholic and Lutheran Churches in the Philippines saw fruition in a Baptismal Agreement finally signed in February of 1972, followed by another
such agreement with the Philippine Episcopal Church in 1980.
The Ecumenical Encounter initiated by Pope Paul VI at the Apostolic Nunciature in1970 opened up more ecumenical dialogues at the Union Theological Seminary,
the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, and the United Methodist Church.
In 1981, Pope John Paul II met with representatives of Christian Churches, also at the Nunciature, and in 1988 a National
Ecumenical Consultative Commission was organized under the auspices of Malacaņang, with Bishops Cariņo, Iņiguez and Bacani in its ranks. In 1993, Bishop Deogracias S. Iņiguez, Jr., as Chairman of this Commission,
attended the meeting of the Ecumenical Commission of Episcopal Conferences in Rome.
In 1994 a joint cooperation named "Ecumenism in Action" was launched by the Commission and the NCCP. And in August of 1994,
a first Medical mission to Bacolor, Pampanga took place with 30 participants from various Christian Churches during the World Youth Day celebration with the Holy Father, particularly in the Inter-Religious Forum, in
January 1995.
