A Catholic Clergy Perspective: Seven Ecumenical Councils Introductory Article by Reverend Glenn Baaten

Friday, February 13, 2026

Seven Ecumenical Councils Introductory Article by Reverend Glenn Baaten

Over the past several months, I have written a number of articles on ecumenism, the inter-church movement that seeks to foster visible unity among Christian communions and denominations. As a former Protestant, this has long been a theological concern of mine and remains deeply important to my faith and ministry.

As a Presbyterian pastor, I had come to believe that the most fruitful ecumenical approach was one grounded in the creedal affirmations of the undivided Church of the first millennium, specifically those articulated by the Seven Ecumenical Councils. In other words, a full-throated ecumenism rooted in the shared doctrinal foundations established before the Great Schism of 1054 and the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. This approach has always seemed the most logical and theologically fundamental to me.

During my years in pastoral ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Harrison, Ohio, I engaged in extensive study of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. This reading proved pivotal in shaping my theological development and overall outlook. The councils represent the Church’s most sustained and careful efforts to articulate the core truths about the Triune God and the person of Jesus Christ. They were attended over the centuries by hundreds of Bishops throughout the Christian world.

No Christian church can simply dismiss the theological work accomplished by these councils—particularly with regard to foundational doctrines such as:

· the dual nature of Jesus Christ, fully divine and fully human

· the proper definition of the Holy Trinity

Any church body that claims the name “Christian” must reckon with the theological heavy lifting performed by the undivided Church in its articulation of orthodox Christology and Trinitarian theology. The Eastern Orthodox Churches continue to abide by all seven councils, and, for the most part, original Protestantism affirmed them as well.

This introductory article will be followed by seven individual articles, each devoted to one of the Seven Ecumenical Councils:

1. First Council of Nicaea (325 AD): Condemned Arianism, affirmed that Jesus Christ is of one substance with the Father, and produced the first portion of the Nicene Creed.

2. First Council of Constantinople (381 AD): Affirmed the divinity of the Holy Spirit and completed the Nicene Creed.

3. Council of Ephesus (431 AD): Declared that Jesus Christ is one person, fully divine and fully human, and affirmed Mary as Theotokos (God-bearer).

4. Council of Chalcedon (451 AD): Defined Christ as one person in two natures—divine and human—united in the Hypostatic Union.

5. Second Council of Constantinople (553 AD): Reaffirmed Trinitarian and Christological doctrine while condemning certain Nestorian writings.

6. Third Council of Constantinople (680–681 AD): Declared that Christ possesses two wills—divine and human—corresponding to His two natures.

7. Second Council of Nicaea (787 AD): Affirmed the veneration of icons and rejected iconoclasm.

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Bishop Kevin W. Vann, JCD, DD, D MIN

He was ordained on May 30, 1981, and was assigned to graduate studies in canon law at the Angelicum in Rome, with residence at the graduate house of the North American College, the Casa Santa Maria dell’ Umilta. Pope Leo XIV, when a priest, also attended these classes at the same time. Upon returning to the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, Father Vann participated in the work of the Diocesan Tribunal and the Tribunal of Second Instance in Chicago. He served as pastor of parishes ranging in size from 35 to 1,300 families, two which had large schools. He taught canon law at Kenrick Seminary. Before he was named bishop, he was pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Springfield, Vicar for Priests and the Diocesan contact for Hispanic Ministry. Bishop Vann was ordained and installed as the third bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Forth Worth, Texas, on July 13, 2005, at Texas Christian University’s Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. In Texas, he collaborated closely with other bishops through the Texas Catholic Conference and Region X, which includes dioceses of States of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. He is the former Texas Bishops’ Liaison to the Texas Mission Council and Texas Catholic hospitals. And, through the U.S. Conference of Bishops, Bishop Vann was a leader in the Texas Conference of Bishops, providing leadership for various initiatives at the national level, including service on ad hoc committee which assisted the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to guide the incorporation of Anglican groups into the Catholic Church of the United States. On September 21, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI announced Bishop Vann’s appointment as the fourth bishop of Orange, the 11th largest diocese in the country and the second-largest west of the Mississippi with 1.3 million multicultural Catholics. He continues to lead the historic effort to transform the former Crystal Cathedral from a world-renowned center of Protestant worship into the West Coast’s most visible center of Catholicism.

Father Glenn Baaten

A priest of the ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a community with the Catholic Church made up of former Anglicans and Episcopalians. He Currently serves as Parish Administrator of St. John Henry Newman Catholic Church in Irvine and as Chaplain of Santiago Retreat Center in Silverado. His ministry within the Diocese of Orange, California, is a collaborative appointment by Bishop Steven Lopes and Bishop Kevin Vann. Fr. Glenn was ordained to the Catholic priesthood on June 24, 2016, the Feast of St. John the Baptist. His journey to the Catholic Church followed years of faithful ministry in Protestant communities. He was ordained a Presbyterian pastor in 1998 and served a PCUSA parish in Cincinnati, Ohio. After returning to California in 2010, he discerned a call to Anglican ministry and was ordained in the Church of England tradition in 2013. He relinquished his Anglican holy orders and, after catechesis, was received into the Church on Christmas eve of that year. Fr. Glenn has been married to Cathy for 42 years. They are the blessed parents of two adult children and grandparents of three. His ministry is marked by a strong commitment to evangelization, Christian unity and sacred beauty of the liturgy. As a follower of Christ these many past decades – most especially as a priest – Fr. Glenn is committed to sharing the grace and love of Jesus to all and living the depth of that faith in the fulness of the Catholic Church.

Deacon Jim Merle

Deacon Jim was ordained 20 years ago on April 30, 2005, and lives in Southern California where he has served the Catholic Church on parish, diocesan and national levels. He periodically writes Pastoral Letters for church bulletins, as well as articles for the Diaconate community’s “Bowl & Towel” and the diocesan newspaper in addition to “A Catholic Deacon’s Perspective,” recently renamed “A Catholic Clergy’s Perspective” with the addition of Bishop Kevin W. Vann and Fr. Glenn Baaten as periodic writers. On the parish level he has served at three parishes involved in helping with Sacramental training, Faith Formation and annulments. His diocesan involvements include a six-year term on the Diaconate Personnel Board, a founding committee member of the God’s Servants Committee (an educational component of quarterly meetings for active deacons), as a Master of Ceremonies at Confirmations, ordinations, installations and other ceremonies, an Advanced Master Catechist Certification to teach theological and certification classes and recently was selected to head up a Deanery Council of Deacons and their wives to support their ordination faculties and activities in each of the seven deaneries. On a local and national level, he coordinated the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) diocesan board for 14 years. CCHD is the domestic social justice arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) which distribute parishioner’s donations for non-profit organizations to empower the impoverished, marginalized and disenfranchised who have social justice needs. In his early career he was a writer/reporter for a well-known Chicago newspaper, as well as owning a public relations/advertising firm. He is now semi-retired and works parttime in two professional practices he owns. On a personal note, he is married 57 years, helped rear four children with his wife, a grandfather to 10 grandchildren and a great grandfather to six great grandchildren.

BLOG INTRODUCTION

Scripture is like the eyes into God’s soul. Whether from the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) or the New Testament, we can garner, as best we can, who God is (what He feels and how He thinks in human terms). The original and current purpose of this blog, which began in 2019, is to take a three-year cycle of A, B and C Gospels and readings from each Sunday and provide a perspective as it pertains to our current lives as seen through the eyes of a Catholic clergy who serve Catholics in words and deeds per their ordination. Since completing the three-year cycles, it has been expanded to investigate the areas of Commentaries, Scripture and Theology. It is because of that the blog will now have writings from Bishop Kevin Vann, Ordinary of the Diocese of Orange, California, Father Glenn Baaten, a former Anglican priest, ordained into the Roman Catholic Church as a priest, and Deacon Jim Merle, who recently celebrated his 20th year ordination and started this blog. Bishop Vann and Father Glenn will author articles on a periodic basis based upon the time they have to devote to the blog. Deacon Jim will continue to offer weekly articles, still based on the three-year cycle along with various current events that challenge us to balance our humanity with our spiritual lives. The hope is that you, our subscribers, will see this as something of value to help you grow closer to the Lord.