Archive for tag: baptism

Archive pour tag : baptism

With our recent celebration of the Easter Vigil in mind, it’s a good time to reflect on the ecumenical significance of baptism and offer a brief review of some of the dialogues that have taken place on this topic. From a Catholic perspective, the ecumenical significance of baptism is clearly affirmed in Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism, which states that: “all who have been justified by faith in baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers [and sisters] by the children of the Catholic Church” (#3).
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Posted: Apr. 12, 2024 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=14282
Categories: One Body, OpinionIn this article: baptism, Canadian Council of Churches, dialogue, Trinity, United Church of Canada, WCC Commission on Faith and Order
Transmis : 12 avril 2024 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=14282
Catégorie : One Body, OpinionDans cet article : baptism, Canadian Council of Churches, dialogue, Trinity, United Church of Canada, WCC Commission on Faith and Order

“Though they differ from one another in essence and not only in degree, the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are nonetheless interrelated: each of them in its own special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ” (Lumen Gentium, #10).

The reports issued during the diocesan and continental phases of the Synod on Synodality 2021-2024 offer a consistent call for a renewed understanding of the universal or baptismal priesthood. These reports frequently refer to the Vatican II quotation above, reminding us that 60 years ago, the church began to chart a new path in which the laity are not passive observers of the clergy’s active ministry. At times over the intervening years, lay ministry has been deemed a collaboration in what was typically understood as clerical ministry. The very word “ministry” has been frequently denied to lay people, who were instead meant to have an apostolate in the world. Pope Francis’ call to end clericalism has not meant an end to ordained ministry. He has cautioned against moves to clericalize lay ministry, pointing instead to the baptismal dignity of all. The Synod participants have noted the scriptural foundations for a baptismal priesthood.
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Posted: July 5, 2023 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=13734
Categories: One Body, OpinionIn this article: baptism, synodality, universal priesthood
Transmis : 5 juil. 2023 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=13734
Catégorie : One Body, OpinionDans cet article : baptism, synodality, universal priesthood

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) have issued a joint press release announcing the online publication of the report of the Fifth Phase of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity. The report is entitled Baptism and Growth in Communion. The new document, which has been in preparation for the past seven years, includes important impulses for ongoing theological and ecclesiological discussion and makes “a significant step in proposing a differentiating consensus on baptism.”

The report seeks to find a language for the ecclesial dimensions of growth in communion. It concludes with six commitments setting out a road map for the ongoing dialogue and for the growing cooperation at all levels between Lutherans and Catholics. It highlights particular events over recent years that have contributed to the journey ‘from conflict to communion’, notably the joint commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in Lund, Sweden, the Declaration of Intent endorsing fuller collaboration between the LWF’s World Service arm and the Caritas Internationalis network, as well as local initiatives such as the visit of Pope Francis to the Lutheran parish in Rome in 2015.
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Posted: Apr. 7, 2022 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=11278
Categories: Lutheran World InformationIn this article: baptism, dialogue, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Dirk Lange, Lutheran World Federation
Transmis : 7 avril 2022 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=11278
Catégorie : Lutheran World InformationDans cet article : baptism, dialogue, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Dirk Lange, Lutheran World Federation

A church wants to receive a Christian who was baptised in a different church. A woman wants to marry someone from another faith tradition. A child is growing up in an inter-church family.

These real-life situations are evidence that thinking about mutual recognition of baptism shouldn’t be relegated solely to lecture halls in theological institutions. Recognising that mutual recognition of baptism — and the obstacles toward it — is an issue that affects the daily lives of countless Christians across Europe and beyond. The Conference of European Churches (CEC), through its Thematic Group on Ecclesiology and Mission, has initiated a study process to explore this topic.

The study seeks to identify agreements concerning baptism within CEC Member Churches, and explore official guidelines with regard to the reception of Christians moving from one church to another, recognition of and pastoral care for inter-church families, and Christian initiation, religious education, and pastoral care of children raised in inter-church families.
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Posted: Oct. 12, 2021 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=10910
Categories: NewsIn this article: baptism, Conference of European Churches
Transmis : 12 oct. 2021 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=10910
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : baptism, Conference of European Churches

The final report on the Lutheran-Mennonite-Roman Catholic Trilateral Conversation has been published. The report summarizes five years of theological consultations between the three communions on the understanding and practice of baptism in light of contemporary pastoral and missional challenges facing all three Christian communities.

“The report shows that today these three churches agree that baptism is for discipleship,” says Mennonite delegation member Larry Miller. “It raises the question for each of these churches: are there ways of acknowledging our different practices of baptism that grow the unity for which Jesus prayed?”

Representatives of the Catholic Church (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity), Lutheran World Federation (LWF), and Mennonite World Conference (MWC) met from 2012–2017 to discuss understanding and practice of baptism.
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Posted: Aug. 12, 2020 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=10804
Categories: Dialogue, NewsIn this article: baptism, Catholic, dialogue, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite World Conference
Transmis : 12 aoüt 2020 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=10804
Catégorie : Dialogue, NewsDans cet article : baptism, Catholic, dialogue, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite World Conference

Changing the words of the formula for baptism render the sacrament invalid, said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Specifically, a baptism administered with the formula “We baptize you …” instead of “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” is not valid because it is the person of Christ through the minister who is acting, not the assembly, the congregation said.

The doctrinal congregation’s ruling was published Aug. 6 as a brief response to questions regarding the validity of baptisms using that modified formula. The congregation was asked whether a baptism was valid if it had been performed with a formula that seeks to express the “communitarian significance” and participation of the family and those present during the celebration. For example, it said there have been celebrations administered with the words, “In the name of the father and of the mother, of the godfather and of the godmother, of the grandparents, of the family members, of the friends, in the name of the community we baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
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Posted: Aug. 6, 2020 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=10802
Categories: CNSIn this article: baptism, Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith
Transmis : 6 aoüt 2020 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=10802
Catégorie : CNSDans cet article : baptism, Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith

After five years of meetings by an international commission of Mennonites, Lutherans and Roman Catholics on the topic of baptism, John Rempel, the commission’s Mennonite representative, presented a trilateral report from that dialogue at an event called “One Baptism? A Symposium on Baptism and the Christian Life,” at Waterloo North Mennonite Church on Nov. 8.

Pastors, denominational leaders, professors and some students from Conrad Grebel University College attended the Anabaptist Learning Workshop event, sponsored by Grebel and Mennonite Church Eastern Canada.

Framed around scriptures emphasizing the image of the church as one body with one baptism, the symposium began and ended with times of worship. In between, Rempel summarized the report and then invited three people, one from each tradition, to respond. They formed a panel that fielded further comments and questions.

Mennonite World Conference (MWC) engaged in the trilateral dialogue because “Jesus Christ calls us to be one.” Participation was seen as a way to build on previous reconciliation efforts between the denominations, nurturing mutual understanding and cooperation.
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Posted: Nov. 20, 2019 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=10697
Categories: NewsIn this article: baptism, Catholic, Christian unity, dialogue, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite World Conference
Transmis : 20 nov. 2019 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=10697
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : baptism, Catholic, Christian unity, dialogue, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite World Conference

A five-year discussion of baptism among Mennonites, Catholics and Lutherans has yielded new insights.

Representatives of the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Lutheran World Federation, and the Mennonite World Conference gathered Feb. 9-14 in Augsburg, Germany for the fifth and final meeting of the Trilateral Dialogue Commission on Baptism.

John Rempel of Canada said reflecting on each group’s practice of baptism helped participants learn to respect, trust and challenge each other.

“From the Lutherans, I have seen more clearly that their concern about justification by grace through faith is not that discipleship is a secondary matter,” said Rempel, who is professor emeritus of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind., and the Toronto School of Theology. “Their concern is that following Christ be a lifestyle of gratitude for God’s grace and not good works to earn God’s favour.

“From the Catholics, I have learned that the sacrament of baptism does not have an automatic role in salvation. If someone persistently lives life against the Spirit of Christ, baptism will not save them.”
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Posted: Mar. 21, 2017 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=9641
Categories: NewsIn this article: baptism, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite World Conference
Transmis : 21 mars 2017 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=9641
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : baptism, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite World Conference

In 1975, five major Christian churches in Canada reached an agreement recognizing the validity of each other’s baptisms. Forty years later, the mutual recognition of baptism by the Presbyterian, Lutheran, United, Roman Catholic and Anglican (PLURA) churches stands as a historic milestone in the ongoing ecumenical movement.

A news release from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) on September 11, 1975 noted that the agreement followed an ecumenical study of baptism by the Joint Working Group of the Canadian Council of Churches and the CCCB. Responding to the report, each church agreed that “baptism would be recognized when conferred according to the norms of the churches, with flowing water, by pouring, sprinkling or immersion, accompanied by the Trinitarian formula [i.e. in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit].”

Archdeacon Bruce Myers, ecumenical and interfaith coordinator for the Anglican Church of Canada, underscored the role of mutual recognition of baptism in bringing members of different churches closer together.

“When each of us is baptized, it’s always into a particular church, a local community of faith that exists within a denomination,” Myers said. “But also you’re being baptized into the one holy catholic and apostolic church that is universal.”
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Posted: Nov. 19, 2015 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=8854
Categories: NewsIn this article: baptism, Canada, Christian unity, ecumenism
Transmis : 19 nov. 2015 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=8854
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : baptism, Canada, Christian unity, ecumenism

The five-year trilateral dialogue between Lutherans, Roman Catholics and Mennonites focusing on baptism has reached its halfway point, with the continued study on “Baptism and Incorporation into the Body of Christ, the Church.”

The trilateral dialogue commission of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Mennonite World Conference (MWC) and the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), held its third meeting, 9-13 February at Elspeet, Netherlands, on the topic, “Baptism: Communicating Grace and Faith.”

Besides hearing presentations on the topic of the meeting from all three dialogue parties, the commission this time paid special attention to baptismal rites in the Mennonite tradition. It further reviewed the work of the two previous meetings, and agreed on an outline for a final report due in 2017. The members also had opportunity to meet with leaders of the local Mennonite community to learn about the life of the Dutch Mennonite church today, including their practice of baptism in a highly secularized society.
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Posted: Feb. 20, 2015 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=9577
Categories: Communiqué, Lutheran World InformationIn this article: baptism, dialogue, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite World Conference
Transmis : 20 févr. 2015 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=9577
Catégorie : Communiqué, Lutheran World InformationDans cet article : baptism, dialogue, Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite World Conference

In an ecumenical harvest, a spate of European and North American church bodies are entering agreements recognizing each other’s baptisms. On the day after Easter, a day on which many Christian traditions receive catechumens through the rite of baptism, the Swiss churches (Roman Catholic, Reformed, Methodist, Old Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran) will sign an agreement on the mutual recognition of baptism. The signing ceremony, the culmination of an intense ecumenical interchange sponsored by the Council of Christian Churches in Switzerland, will take place in Riva San Vitale, Ticino, site of the oldest Christian building in Switzerland. Among the many divisive historical issues about baptism have been the essential elements of the rite and its sacramental character, the baptismal formula, the validity of infant baptisms, and the question of rebaptism.
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Posted: Apr. 17, 2014 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=7569
Categories: WCC NewsIn this article: Anglican, baptism, Europe, Orthodox, Protestant
Transmis : 17 avril 2014 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=7569
Catégorie : WCC NewsDans cet article : Anglican, baptism, Europe, Orthodox, Protestant

Leaders of U.S. Roman Catholic and some Protestant churches will sign a historic agreement Tuesday in Austin [Texas] by which the two traditions will formally recognize each other’s liturgical rites of baptism.

The product of seven years of talks among five denominations, the agreement will be signed at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday at a prayer service and celebration at St. Mary Cathedral. The service will be open to the public and will be part of the opening day activities of the national meeting of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A., which will continue through Friday in Austin.

Representatives of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Christian Reformed Church in North America, Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ will sign the document.
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Posted: Jan. 28, 2013 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6479
Categories: NewsIn this article: baptism, Christian unity, dialogue, ecumenism, USA
Transmis : 28 janv. 2013 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6479
Catégorie : NewsDans cet article : baptism, Christian unity, dialogue, ecumenism, USA

An international trilateral dialogue between Mennonites, Catholics and Lutherans began in Rome, 9-13 December 2012.

According to a joint release issued after the Rome meeting, the overall theme of the five-year process is “Baptism and Incorporation into the Body of Christ, the Church.” The release further stated: “This innovative trilateral forum will allow the dialogue to take up questions surrounding the theology and practice of baptism in the respective communions.”

The three international communions came to the inaugural meeting with a history of bilateral dialogues with each other. They mutually agreed to hold three-way talks on baptism, a topic that had surfaced in earlier exchanges.
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Posted: Jan. 7, 2013 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=2827
Categories: Communiqué, NewsIn this article: baptism, Catholic, Christian unity, ecumenism, Lutheran, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite, Mennonite World Conference
Transmis : 7 janv. 2013 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=2827
Catégorie : Communiqué, NewsDans cet article : baptism, Catholic, Christian unity, ecumenism, Lutheran, Lutheran World Federation, Mennonite, Mennonite World Conference

“I want to transfer to the Presbyterian Church because in this denomination children matter.” I don’t remember the name of the speaker. It has been 20 years or so. But his words left their imprint.

We were proceeding through routine approvals of minister transfers in a stated presbytery meeting. Interest picked up when this longtime military chaplain, a Baptist, shared how his journey of faith had led him to the Reformed theological camp. “In my former tradition, we dedicated infants and educated children in the hope that they someday would profess faith in Jesus Christ. Upon their profession, they would get baptized and thereby be welcomed into the body of Christ. In the Reformed tradition you all baptize them into the body and educate them into personal faith. I think that’s the right sequence.”

As a fairly recent convert to Presbyterianism at the time, I found his words reassuring, especially so, since the one theological sticking point for me had been the practice of infant baptism. Exercising my office under the Presbyterian Church’s constitution, I had learned well how to present to parents the covenantal concept of baptism, rooted as it is in the practice of infant circumcision dating to the eighth day of Isaac’s life. But I still harbored some doubts about such a practice. This chaplain helped convert me into a passionate advocate of our denomination’s sacramental theology.
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Posted: Jan. 23, 2006 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=7285
Categories: OpinionIn this article: baptism, catechism, Presbyterian
Transmis : 23 janv. 2006 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=7285
Catégorie : OpinionDans cet article : baptism, catechism, Presbyterian

The United Church has dropped an attempt to substitute gender-neutral language for “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” in the baptism rite — a proposed change that caused concern among the church’s ecumenical partners, including the Anglican Church. About 100 groups and congregations last fall were asked their opinions of various new forms of the rite, said Fred Graham, liturgical officer for the United Church. The church is developing a new worship book, Celebrate God’s Presence. Conservatives, however, did not care for the changes — as Mr. Graham put it, “that sector in our church rose up” against alternate wording. Others felt, he said, that inclusive language was to be encouraged. At the same time, the United Church’s General Council Executive, which rules on matters of doctrine and faith, decided that such a fundamental change would need to be put to a church-wide vote.
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Posted: Sept. 15, 2000 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=6467
Categories: Anglican JournalIn this article: baptism, Catholic, Christian unity, dialogue, ecumenism, Trinity, United Church of Canada
Transmis : 15 sept. 2000 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=6467
Catégorie : Anglican JournalDans cet article : baptism, Catholic, Christian unity, dialogue, ecumenism, Trinity, United Church of Canada

by Jonathan Luxmoore, Ecumenical News International [WARSAW] Minority churches in Poland plan to celebrate the new millennium by joining Roman Catholics in a mutual recognition of baptism. The churches are also considering a joint acknowledgment – with the Roman Catholic Church – of “guilt and forgiveness” for past wrongs. “Many people have warmed to these
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Posted: Aug. 15, 1999 • Permanent link: ecumenism.net/?p=4959
Categories: ENIIn this article: baptism
Transmis : 15 aoüt 1999 • Lien permanente : ecumenism.net/?p=4959
Catégorie : ENIDans cet article : baptism

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.
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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