Acta Benedicti Pp. XVI 341

vidualism. The expanding use of electronic communications has in some cases

paradoxically resulted in greater isolation. Many people - including the

young - are seeking therefore more authentic forms of community. Also

of grave concern is the spread of a secularist ideology that undermines or

even rejects transcendent truth. The very possibility of divine revelation, and

therefore of Christian faith, is often placed into question by cultural trends

widely present in academia, the mass media and public debate. For these

reasons, a faithful witness to the Gospel is as urgent as ever. Christians are

challenged to give a clear account of the hope that they hold.8

Too often those who are not Christians, as they observe the splintering of

Christian communities, are understandably confused about the Gospel mes-

sage itself. Fundamental Christian beliefs and practices are sometimes chan-

ged within communities by so-called ''prophetic actions'' that are based on a

hermeneutic not always con-sonant with the datum of Scripture and Tradi-

tion. Communities consequently give up the attempt to act as a unified body,

choosing instead to function according to the idea of ''local options''. Some-

where in this process the need for diachronic koinonia - communion with the

Church in every age - is lost, just at the time when the world is losing its

bearings and needs a persuasive common witness to the saving power of the

Gospel.9

Faced with these difficulties, we must first recall that the unity of the

Church flows from the perfect oneness of the Trinitarian God. In John's

Gospel, we are told that Jesus prayed to his Father that his disciples might

be one, ''just as you are in me and I am in you''.10 This passage reflects the

unwavering conviction of the early Christian community that its unity was

both caused by, and is reflective of, the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy

Spirit. This, in turn, suggests that the internal cohesion of believers was

based on the sound integrity of their doctrinal confession.11 Throughout

the New Testament, we find that the Apostles were repeatedly called to give

an account for their faith to both Gentiles 12 and Jews.13 The core of their

argument was always the historical fact of Jesus' bodily resurrection from the

8 Cf. 1 Pet 3:15. 9 Cf. Rom 1:18-23. 10 Jn 17:21. 11 Cf. 1 Tim 1:3-11. 12 Cf. Acts 17:16-34. 13 Cf. Acts 4:5-22; 5:27-42.