Our efforts will be characterized by a genuine desire for unity with all who consider themselves followers of Jesus, so that, according to his prayer, all may believe that the Father has sent him (cf. Jn 17: 21)
(Constitution 6)
In Eugene’s time, the concept of ecumenism, as we know it today, did not exist. Three hundred years after the Protestant Reformation, the antagonism between the “one true Church” and those who had protested and “broken away” was very present. It was reflected in the vocabulary of the times and thus in Eugene’s writings. At the center of this, however, we find the heart of Eugene longing for them to come back to the Roman Catholic Church. There are many references in the Oblate missions and in the diocese of Marseilles of this happening.
As Bishop he wrote a pastoral letter to his diocese to ask them to pray for “the return of England to Catholic unity” he wrote:
In our diocese, where communication with the whole world brings people of every religion every day, the almost incessant renunciations that take place in our hands or in those of our priests are constantly based on the highest motives, as we can testify. These courageous acts reveal to us each time the elite souls in whom the work of the Holy Spirit and the abundance of graces are manifest. The holiness of their lives testifies to the divine attraction to which these souls obey.
Bishop Eugene’s Pastoral Letter of December 21, 1845
Eugene’s love for Christ the Savior led him to desire full unity and when he spoke about Christians of other denominations it was this full unity in Jesus Christ that he wished for. Today we are urged to develop and deepen “a genuine desire for unity” (C6)
When St. Eugene visited England, he observed Evening Prayer of a Protestant Church called the Irvingites and praised some of its qualities. He was ahead of his time for ecumenism.