Some Protestant friends complain that I give Roman Catholics a pass. They argue that my call for unity requires a broader and more foundational repentance from Catholics than it does from Protestants. I'm quite aware of that, and my main rebuttal to that complaint is that Catholics have in fact shown a capacity for foundational repentance that is still dishearteningly rare in my little corner of Protestantism. Ryan gets this point just right, with an observation that is as true as it is stunning: “The transformation of the Catholic Church's view on Christian unity from before the [Second Vatican] Council to now has been one of the greatest examples of organizational conversion in the history of the world” (86).
Some Protestants still need to learn this lesson: Go and do likewise.
Source: Thomas Ryan, CSP - As quoted by Peter Leithart in "Christian Unity", First Things blog post reviewing Thomas Ryan's book, 14 Feb 2017, https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/leithart/2017/02/christian-unity
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