God's Reconciling Grace
Prairie Centre for Ecumenism, 25 Years of Ecumenical Leadership, 1984-2009 Ratzlaff, Vern, Ursula Wiig, Carol Pek, & Merle McGowan, eds., Prairie Centre for Ecumenism, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-9813-6350-9
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. … Read more »… À suivre »
by Robert O’Connor, Chicago Tribune Last December, Rev. David Armstrong, minister of the First Limavady Presbyterian Church, performed what in most parts of the world would have been a little noted act of courtesy: He exchanged Christmas greetings with a neighbor, the pastor of the local Roman Catholic church. Last week he left town. He … Read more »… À suivre »
In a letter described by religious leaders as “unprecedented,” Pope John Paul II told the presiding bishop of the Lutheran Church in America that Christian unity “continues as a priority in the Catholic Church today” and praised the agreements by joint Lutheran-Catholic theological commissions over the last two decades. The Pope’s letter came in response to a letter from Bishop James R. Crumley Jr. of New York, who wrote the pontiff May 22 asking him to encourage U.S. Roman Catholics to study the last report issued by the joint commission, a 21,000-word study on “justification by faith,” a key doctrine of the Protestant Reformation. … Read more »… À suivre »
by Bruce Buursma, Chicago Tribune The Vatican’s chief ecumenical officer called Monday for a new effort to draw Roman Catholicism and the World Council of Churches into a closer relationship, challenging a widening perception that the church’s commitment to cooperative Christian efforts is flagging. Johannes Cardinal Willebrands, the Dutch-born president of the Vatican’s Secretariat for … Read more »… À suivre »
by Paul Waters, Montreal Gazette VATICAN CITY – It would be premature for Catholic bishops to apologize for the persecution of Jews through the centuries, according to Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, president of the Secretariat for Christian Unity. A petition circulated among Roman parishes in the last few weeks asks the 165 bishops from around the … Read more »… À suivre »
VATICAN CITY – In a major gesture of Christian unity, Pope John Paul and Roman Catholic bishops recessed an international assembly Thursday to conduct an ecumenical service with 10 Protestant and Orthodox clergymen. The 10 men have been following the bishops’ two-week meeting, called an extraordinary synod, as observers. He embraced Archbishop Stylianos Harkianakis of … Read more »… À suivre »
A top Vatican official has told members of a joint Anglican-Roman Catholic commission that his church could recognize the validity of Anglican priesthood if the Anglican Church officially adopts statements agreed to by an earlier joint commission on priesthood and the Eucharist. Cardinal Johannes Willebrands of the Vatican Secretariat for Christian Unity raised the possibility in a letter to the commission, representatives of the panel told a news conference in London. The new Vatican approach could be a major development in ending the 450-year-old rift between Rome and Canterbury. Bishop Cormac Murphy-O’Connor and Bishop Mark Santer, the Catholic and Anglican chairmen of the commission, said they hoped shared communion would result from the changes as soon as the end of the century. … Read more »… À suivre »
Pope John Paul II expressed strong support Monday for Christian unity but warned that Catholics had important disagreements with other churches that could not be compromised.
At an ecumenical service in a Christchurch Catholic cathedral, on the last day of his visit to New Zealand, the Pope said that despite progress toward unity there were still real and serious divisions in the Christian community.
The pontiff, winding up the fourth stage of a six-nation tour, said Catholic commitment to ecumenism was irreversible.
“At the same time I am aware that the Catholic participation makes new demands of the other churches and ecclesiastical communities taking part in the ecumenical movement,” he said.
“We are convinced that the goal is not simply partnership. It is nothing less than the fullness of communion in a visible organic unity. The ecumenical way cannot be one of reduction.” … Read more »… À suivre »
by Russell Chandler, Los Angeles Times With the announcement that Protestant and Eastern Orthodox participants will join in an ecumenical meeting with Pope John Paul in Columbia, S.C., in September, the U.S. National Council of Churches has urged Christians “seize the moment” for renewed efforts toward Christian unity. A three-page statement welcoming the Pope on … Read more »… À suivre »
The Catholic and Anglican churches have been conducting joint studies of doctrine for the past 17 years. The purpose is to explore the essential teachings of each church to see if there is enough common ground for an eventual reunion. Both churches were once united in one western Christian church for 15 centuries. Their history of separation dates back four centuries to the time of the Reformation. The joint studies began in 1970 and involved nine Roman Catholic scholars and nine from the Anglican communion. The joint panel was called the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, or the ARCIC. After 11 years of study, it published papers on three major topics of mutual and central concern; Eucharist, Ministry and Ordination as well as on Authority in the Church. … Read more »… À suivre »
Rev. Thomas Ryan, director of the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism in Montreal, has been appointed a Roman Catholic staff representative to a world meeting of Anglican bishops that begins today.
Two Vatican agencies have named the U.S.-born Paulist priest as a representative to the communications team of the Lambeth Conference. The conference is a gathering of the bishops of the 450 dioceses in Anglican churches around the world, including Bishop Reginald Hollis of Montreal.
Representatives have also been appointed by the world Lutheran church and by the World Council of Churches, a grouping mainly of Protestant and Orthodox Churches.
Ryan said in a conversation that it is the first time such staff representatives from other churches have been invited to help out at the Lambeth Conference, which meets every 10 years.
[Los Angeles Times] Pope John Paul II reiterated this week that the ordination of women in the Anglican Church poses “serious obstacles” to relations with the Roman Catholic Church. In a year-end address to cardinals, the Pope, speaking with “sincere pain,” deplored a resolution adopted by the world’s Anglican bishops in August. The Anglican bishops … Read more »… À suivre »
The Commission for dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church met at the Spirituality Center of the Syro-Malabar Church at Kottayam (Kerala, South India) December 5-8, 1994. All Commission members were present.
1. The principal subject was the study on the role of the Episcopate in guaranteeing the Unity of the Church. After taking up again the text on “Synodal Structure and Practice” (P.M.O. John) two other documents were presented: “Koinonia in the Church” (Mar Severios) and “Ecclesial Communion: A biblical-theological perspective” (P.M. Vellanickal). The sub-commission has begun to draft a first synthesis on “the Church as Communion (Koinonia)” which has been discussed by the assembly.
These progressive studies, which have not led immediately to concrete decisions, have engaged the commission in a process of successive approaches to the mystery of the Church and more precisely of its sacramental structure which is common to the two Churches. These approaches also permit us to perceive the links between this structure and the exercise of authority in the Church. It has therefore asked a sub-commission to explore more deeply the notions of authority (exousia) and of service (diakonia in the Church understood as communion (koinonia). … Read more »… À suivre »
The Commission for dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church met at the Spirituality Center of the Syro-Malabar Church at Kottayam (Kerala, South India) December 9, 1994. All Commission members were present.
1. In the course of this fourth meeting, the Commission spent the greater part of its time on the issue of the reception, in each Church, of the agreement on mixed marriages published January 25, 1994. On each side it has been welcomed in a very positive way. The faithful have experienced the new attitudes as a liberation because they respect and enlarge the freedom of choice of these minorities in regard to marriage and family life. If some difficulties have arisen on certain points, it has been because of of the lack of awareness among the clergy more of the Agreement itself than of the Pastoral Directives which accompanied it. It seems indispensable to foresee in each diocese a small committee or a diocesan delegate with the responsibility to resolve the more urgent problems. … Read more »… À suivre »
by Richard John Neuhaus, Theology Today 53.2 (Jul 1996): 171. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the authoritative reference or baseline for understanding Catholic faith, sacramental practice, moral doctrine, and prayer. As the title suggests, the chief purpose is catechetical, to provide a doctrinal framework from which the Church in various parts of the … Read more »… À suivre »
In the furore surrounding the ex-communication of Fr Tissa Balasuriya, very little has been said about the overall project of his book, Mary and Human Liberation. Beyond specific theological questions, Fr Balasuriya’s treatment of Mary touches on issues which go to the heart of the conflict between traditionalists and reformists which is dividing the Catholic Church today.
As in so many of Christianity’s decisive theological moments, the role of Mary is pivotal. The saying, “As Mary goes, so goes the Church,” is as true today as it was of the fifth century when the Council of Ephesus affirmed Christ’s divinity by declaring Mary Theotokos, or Godbearer. … Read more »… À suivre »
Rome — and Poland — are buzzing with rumour, counter-rumour and denial: will Pope John Paul and Patriarch Alexis of the Russian Orthodox Church meet in Vienna on 21 June or won’t they? Perhaps by the time this article is published there will have been an announcement that puts paid to the rumours, but even an eventual negative provides a timely stimulus to consider relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
One argument against the likelihood of a meeting between the Pope and the Russian Patriarch is obvious: there has been no preparation. The Patriarch will be in Vienna on his way to the European Ecumenical Assembly in Graz and the Pope wants to meet him. The Pope has spoken prophetically about his desire to see the reunion of East and West, to reverse the basic division in Christendom of nearly a millennium, before the year 2000. Yet his health and the ticking of the clock make this an unattainable goal, at least in human terms. … Read more »… À suivre »
In 1993 there was a first meeting in Venice (Italy) for conversations between Evangelical and Roman Catholic representatives, co-sponsored by the World Evangelical Fellowship and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The themes were Justification, Scripture and Tradition. As a follow up to it, a second meeting for conversations was held in the Ecumenical Institute of Tantur (Jerusalem), October 12-19, 1997. Participants represented different regions of the world and a variety of Christian ministries.
The main themes for these conversations — agreed upon during the Venice meeting — were issues related to the nature and mission of the Church. Representatives of each tradition presented a paper on each theme. The discussion that followed evidenced a spirit of mutual acceptance and disposition to listen to one another and pray together.
From the discussions, some points of agreement emerged, as well as areas that demand more reflection and theological work. It was felt that it is still too early to present an elaborate document. We therefore limit ourselves to list the main points on which we have come to a common understanding as well as the points that we would suggest as an agenda for the future conversations between the World Evangelical Fellowship and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, if both partners agree to do so. … Read more »… À suivre »
For many Anglicans, the eleventh day of the eleventh month stirs memories of present as well as past conflicts: last Tuesday was the fifth anniversary of the General Synod’s vote in favour of women priests. By common consent the decision presaged the biggest upheaval in the Church of England since the Reformation, prompting 300 clergymen to resign their orders in protest at what they saw as a fracturing of the apostolic ministry. But in ordaining its women deacons in 1994 the Church gained nearly seven times as many new priests as it lost, and the new recruits are now serving at all levels of the hierarchy up to the rank of archdeacon. There appears to be ready agreement among most church people that the ordained ministry has been refreshed by “more open and collaborative styles of leadership”, and that women priests are accepted with enthusiasm by an evergrowing majority of congregations in consequence. “It’s an incarnational thing”, said one erstwhile sceptic. “When you see someone doing the job effectively, you’re quickly won over.” … Read more »… À suivre »
When Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople made a month-long tour of 16 cities in the United States in October and November, he was feted with honours at Washington’s Jesuit-run Georgetown University and greeted with splendour in Baltimore’s Catholic cathedral. As so often in inter-Church relations, however, the conciliatory declarations belied bitter realities.
Ironically, the sharp downturn in Catholic-Orthodox relations during the past six months came into the open after one of the Pope’s most impassioned appeals for Christian unity. The occasion John Paul II picked was a Eucharistic Congress held in May at Wroclaw in Poland. “In this our second millennium, when the unity of Christ’s disciples has suffered tragic divisions between East and West, prayer for the rediscovery of full unity is a special obligation”, the Pope said. “Can we bear joint and effective witness to Christ if we are not reconciled with one another? Can we be reconciled with one another without forgiving one another?” … Read more »… À suivre »
Read the 2015 joint statement of the Evangelical-Roman Catholic dialogue in Saskatoon, Called to Common Witness
God's Reconciling Grace
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