From the beginning, Neuhaus and Colson hoped that, by establishing a serious theological dialogue between the two largest Christian groups in North America, ECT would advance unity and fraternity among fellow believers. Both men were concerned that religion in general, and Christianity in particular, was being increasingly relegated to the margins of public life in the United States. They maintained, to the contrary, that the gospel is indispensable for addressing the complex social, cultural, and political challenges facing the nation.

This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT), the groundbreaking ecumenical initiative founded by Fr. Richard Neuhaus and Chuck Colson in 1994. ECT made quite a splash in its debut, with many wondering how these two groups—frequent antagonists in the past—had now become ecumenical partners. Predictably, some saw ECT as nothing more than a pragmatic political alliance among conservative-leaning Christians. But that shopworn allegation, while still recycled from time to time, was always far from the truth. From the beginning, Colson and Neuhaus explicitly rejected the idea that ECT was based on cultural “co-belligerency.” On the contrary, both men were convinced that any fruitful ecumenical exchange must be founded on recognizing each other as brothers in Jesus Christ.

From the Catholic “side,” this was not a problem. Since the promulgation of the Decree on Ecumenism at Vatican II (1964), Catholics had been engaged in ecumenical dialogue with a wide variety of Christian churches and communities. And the council had taught that all those baptized into Christ Jesus belonged, at least in some measure, to his Church. So, few eyebrows were raised about ECT—at least from a strictly theological point of view.

But from the Evangelical side, there were rumbles of thunder. Some Evangelicals thought—and some think today—that, because of their beliefs, Catholics can never be true Christian brethren. Cultural alliances are fine, indeed desirable, but no union beyond that is possible. Even Colson spoke frankly about his original hesitations. In a 2009 interview with Christianity Today, soon after Neuhaus’s death, Colson noted that he had felt “some estrangement” when Neuhaus converted from Lutheranism to Catholicism, conceding that it was “a bit hard for me to take.” Ultimately, he reasoned that the man who had once been a brother in Christ must continue to be so.

Particularly admirable was Colson’s fortitude in pressing ahead with ECT, even when this was not a popular position in all sectors of the Evangelical world. As the current co-chair of ECT and former dean of Beeson Divinity School Timothy George has written, when this ecumenical initiative began, some Evangelicals reacted toward Colson with “anger, bombast and recrimination.” But Chuck forged ahead despite the attacks.

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