Two Dutch Faiths in Baptism Pact

 — July 21, 196721 juil. 1967

Catholics and the Reformed Church reach Agreement

by Clyde H. Farnsworth, special to the New York Times

[Utrecht] The Roman Catholic Church of the Netherlands and the Dutch Reformed Church, oldest of the Dutch Protestant churches, with roots in the Reformation of the 16th century, announced today that they had agreed to recognize each other’s baptism.

This latest step toward church unity in the Netherlands was announced by Bernard Cardinal Alfrink, leader of the Dutch Roman Catholic hierarchy, and the Rev. Dr. Gerit de Ru, president of the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church, at a news conference here.

New studies have been begun to try to bring the two churches, which represent the bulk of the churchgoing population in this country of 12 million, even closer.

The ecumenical movement was given impetus by the late Pope John XXIII as part of his attempts to put new vigor into Catholicism.

Both churches today said that baptism was the one sacramental sign through which all Christian believers are recognized as belonging to the body of the church.

The two churches already have roughly similar procedures and words in baptismal ceremonies.

In the procedure that both have accepted, water must be used and it must fall upon the subject while an official representative of the church recites the trinitarian formula — in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

The Roman Catholic bishops came a long way toward meeting Dutch Reformed objections to certain baptismal practices by Roman Catholics.

The Dutch Reformed Synod, for example, objected to the Roman Catholic practice of baptizing unborn children. The bishops stated their view that the baptism of the unborn child does not fit well with present-day Catholic thinking.

The Dutch Reformed Synod also objected to Roman Catholic emergency baptisms, that is, where nuns in hospitals go around baptizing all babies in danger of death.

The bishops agreed to restrict the practice to children of Roman Catholic parents and agreed further that there would later have to be a rebaptism in a church for the baptism to be recognized.

Posted: July 21, 1967 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6482
Categories: NewsIn this article: baptism, Catholic, Christian unity, dialogue, ecumenism, Reformed churches
Transmis : 21 juil. 1967 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6482
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : baptism, Catholic, Christian unity, dialogue, ecumenism, Reformed churches



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