Docudrama ‘That They May Be One’: Our review
The article reviews the docudrama "That They May Be One". It was written by David Ives and published on 19 May 2026. The review focuses on the film’s exploration of unity and spirituality. An accompanying image depicts Pentecost, hinting at the docudrama’s religious themes.
4 months ago
The docudrama That They May Be One explores the Catholic roots of the Charismatic Renewal, tracing its early 20th‑century origins, papal endorsements, and its contemporary role in promoting Christian unity, while inviting audiences to consider the movement’s ecumenical potential 1.
The movie combines interviews and reenactments to depict key moments from Scripture and history.
It argues that the Charismatic Renewal, often linked to Protestantism, actually began with Catholic initiatives 1.
Between 1895‑1903, Sister Elena Guerra of the Oblate Sisters of the Holy Spirit wrote twelve secret letters to Pope Leo XIII urging a Pentecost‑style renewal.
Leo XIII responded with the 1897 encyclical Divinum Illud Munus, instituted a universal Pentecost novena, and publicly sang Veni Creator Spiritus on 1 January 1901, consecrating the new century to the Holy Spirit 1.
On the same New Year’s Day, Agnes Ozman, a student at the Protestant‑run Bethel Bible School in Topeka, asked her group to pray for the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit.”
During the prayer she began speaking in tongues, an event the film presents as the first modern recorded instance of glossolalia and the spark of the Charismatic Renewal 1.
The movement expanded throughout Protestant circles during the 20th century and entered Catholic circles in the mid‑1960s.
In 1975 Pope Paul VI formally approved the renewal, highlighting its emphasis on prayer, Scripture, and openness to the Spirit while warning against emotionalism and individualism.
Pope Francis, in 2019, called for the creation of CHARIS (Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service) to promote the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit,” serve the poor, and foster Christian unity 1.
The film’s title references John 17, expressing Jesus’ desire that all believers be one.
By showcasing Catholics and Protestants together, it proposes the Charismatic Renewal as a vehicle for reunifying Christians worldwide 1.
That They May Be One is scheduled for theatrical screenings on 19 May and 20 May 2026 1.*
Examine the Catholic Church’s teachings on unity and spirituality
Catholic teaching presents unity and spirituality as inseparable: unity is a gift and a mission given by God, while spirituality—especially prayer, conversion, and participation in the Church’s sacramental life—becomes the “soul” that moves believers toward that unity.
The Church teaches that the search for unity is not optional or merely strategic. Christ’s prayer (“that they may all be one”) is tied to the Church’s mission “so that the world may believe,” and division among Christians directly contradicts Christ’s will and damages the Gospel’s credibility.
Saint John Paul II frames ecumenism as hope for unity grounded in Trinitarian unity—the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and describes it as a duty that springs from the nature of the Christian community.
Catholic teaching identifies the aim of ecumenism as the restoration of full visible unity among all Christians.
A key nuance appears throughout Catholic documents: there can be a real, though incomplete, communion with Christians separated from full communion with Rome. These Christians are truly “brothers and sisters in Christ” through baptism and share essential elements that Christ wills for his Church, even if communion is incomplete.
The Church warns against approaches that distort doctrine for the sake of appearances. The Holy See notes that some interpret Vatican II in ways that “offend the truth about the unity of the faith and of the Church,” fostering irenicism (a false unity) and indifferentism (indifference to truth).
This preserves a distinctly Catholic claim: true unity cannot be purchased by sacrificing the truth of faith or the reality of the Church’s visible communion.
When Catholic unity is described positively, it includes central constituents such as:
So unity is not only a shared sentiment or cooperation; it is a communion that must be expressed in concrete doctrinal and sacramental realities.
“Spirituality” in Catholic usage is not a decorative add-on to religion. In Ecclesia in America, spirituality is described as a mode or form of life that corresponds to Christian demands: it is “life in Christ” and “in the Spirit,” expressed in love and inspired by hope—and it is “not a part of life, but the whole of life guided by the Holy Spirit.”
This matters for unity: because the whole life must be converted and re-formed, the pursuit of unity can’t be reduced to external projects while the interior life is neglected.
In the same source, prayer has a pre-eminent place among elements of spirituality. Prayer gradually gives a “contemplative view of reality,” enabling believers to recognize God, contemplate God in every person, and seek God’s will in all that happens.
The Catechism emphasizes that Christian prayer grows within the living tradition of prayer.
More specifically, it teaches that in the liturgy of the Church, the mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit makes present and communicates the mystery of salvation “continued in the heart that prays.” Even when prayer is lived “in secret,” it remains “prayer of the Church”—a communion with the Holy Trinity.
The Church explicitly calls spiritual ecumenism “the soul of the whole ecumenical movement.” It is made up of conversion of heart, renewal of spiritual life, and “public and private prayer for the unity of Christians.”
It also states that Christians who live a genuine spiritual life with Christ at the center and the glory of the Father as their goal can share deeply in ecumenical work “by witnessing to the Gospel…with their lives.”
A later dicastery text reiterates that spiritual ecumenism is essential to ecumenical formation and highlights themes like conversion, holiness of life, and the value of prayer in common, including initiatives such as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Catholic formation for ecumenism includes valuing “spiritual life” elements found in other Churches and ecclesial communities that belong to the one Church of Christ—such as Holy Scripture, sacraments and other sacred actions, faith, hope, charity, and other gifts of the Spirit.
Importantly, this appreciation should not remain merely theoretical. Under suitable conditions and according to directives, sharing prayer and participating in certain public worship or devotional actions can have formative value.
So Catholic unity-seeking spirituality is not hostility; it is disciplined, truth-respecting openness, ordered by ecclesial norms.
Catholic spirituality aims at interior renewal that overflows outward. Pope Francis warns against a “privatized and individualistic spirituality” that fails the demands of charity and the logic of the Incarnation; prayer must not become an excuse to avoid mission.
He insists that what the Church needs is “the deep breath of prayer,” including adoration, prayerful encounter with the Word, and conversation with the Lord—yet he treats these not as substitutes for apostolic work but as what keeps work spiritually alive and credible.
While your question is broader than liturgy alone, Catholic sources explicitly connect spirituality to sacramental life.
A liturgical studies handbook states that spirituality “in the supreme demands of contemplation…of charity” is essentially the spirituality of baptism and confirmation, a sharing in the mysteries of Easter and Pentecost; and that this spirituality is confirmed, nourished, and brought to fulfillment by the Eucharist, with the other sacraments shaping Christian life according to vocation.
This is significant for unity because the Catholic view of ecclesial communion is sacramental: unity’s core constituents include unity in the sacramental life and thus is not merely doctrinal agreement or cooperation.
Catholic ecumenical formation insists that spiritual life—conversion of heart and holiness—must precede and ground ecumenical action.
And because prayer is more than words, Catholic teaching highlights that prayer engages the heart: “if our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain,” describing prayer as an inwardly meaningful exchange rather than empty speech.
Put simply: unity is pursued not only by negotiation but by interior renewal that becomes visible in love, truthfulness, and Gospel witness.
Catholic teaching binds unity to spirituality: Christian unity is a divinely grounded obligation aimed at restoring full visible communion, with unity of faith, sacramental life, and ministry as core constituents.
At the same time, unity is pursued through spiritual ecumenism—conversion of heart, holiness of life, and prayer for unity—so that the pursuit of communion does not become false unity or doctrinal indifference.
And authentic spirituality remains ecclesial and sacramental: prayer flows from and returns to the Church’s liturgical and Eucharistic life, shaping believers into “life in Christ” that radiates in mission rather than retreating into privatized religiosity.