Last week’s media coverage of the Vatican statement on other Christian communities missed the point. The conflict-obsessed media tried to fuel the flames of difference. The statement, however, was nothing new. It restated the 45 year old position of the Second Vatican Council.

So why did the Vatican issue the statement now?

The announcement came within days of a papal statement opening the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass to more use. That has been seen as the pope appealing to traditionalist Catholics around the world.

The statement last week can be seen as the pope saying to those same traditionalists: “Don’t think I’m throwing out Vatican II. I’m not. And here’s a restatement on the doctrine on the Church that keeps the door open to ecumenical dialogue.”

While some interpreted the restatement as shunning non-Roman Catholics, the most important section was virtually ignored by the media. “It is possible, according to Catholic doctrine, to affirm correctly that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the churches and ecclesial Communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, on account of the elements of sanctification and truth that are present in them.”

We Christians who are not Roman Catholic, according to the statement, can find “sanctification and truth” in our churches. That is a radical change from the days before Vatican II.

The timing should not be lost on those of us who this week will be in Oberlin, Ohio for the 50th anniversary of the Faith and Order movement in the U.S. More than 80 denominations and church organizations--including the Vatican--are sending representatives to continue the ecumenical dialogue. The National Council of Churches USA’s Faith and Order Commission traces its foundation to the first such conference in Oberlin.

Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox, Anglicans, Pentecostals, Evangelicals and many more are gathering to express their common faith as they seek to live out Jesus’ prayer that we “may all be one."