Honest Ecumenism, Again | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Free Newsletters:

RSS Feeds |

Audio |

Twitter

Home > 2007 > July (Web-only)

Christianity Today, July (Web-only), 2007 |

Honest Ecumenism, Again

As we said in 2000, the Vatican's statement on the nature of the church is a step forward, not backward, for Christian unity.

posted 7/11/2007 09:52AM

Related articles and links |

1 of 1

After weeks of speculation and commentary over the Vatican's action on the Latin Mass, media attention has now turned to two documents on Christian unity issued by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The documents, which say that "ecclesial communities originating from the Reformation [i.e. Protestant congregations] are … not churches in the proper sense of the word," has drawn criticism from Protestants.

"It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity," said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

The Church Society, an evangelical Anglican group in the United Kingdom, says it clarifies "the way in which the Vatican has torn apart Christianity because of its lust for power."

Still, everyone agrees that the Vatican is restating its long-held beliefs. In fact, the new document draws heavily upon the wording of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's 2000 declaration, Dominus Iesus. At that time, the Vatican's doctrine office was led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope Bendedict XVI.

"The Vatican's recent statement on the nature of the church is a step forward, not backward, for Christian unity," Christianity Today said in an editorial about that 2000 document.

Since this new document simply restates the views of Dominus Iesus, we have little need for further comment, but we do encourage you to read what we said then.

Related Elsewhere:

Media coverage of the new statement includes:

Pope, restating 2000 document, cites 'defects' of other faiths | A document released Tuesday prompted anger from Protestants who questioned the Vatican's respect for other beliefs (The New York Times)

Pope: Other Christians not true churches | Pope Benedict XVI reasserted the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says other Christian communities are either defective or not true churches and Catholicism provides the only true path to salvation (Associated Press)

Pope: Protestant faith is 'not a proper Church' | Anglican leaders react with dismay after the Protestant and Orthodox faiths are dismissed as 'defective' in a Vatican document (The Times, London)

Vatican says other Christian churches "wounded" | The Vatican on Tuesday said Christian denominations outside the Roman Catholic Church were not full churches of Jesus Christ (Reuters)

See also Christian History & Biography's 2002 article, "From Swamped Creatures to Separated Brethren | Non-Catholics' spiritual status improved dramatically from Unam Sanctam to Vatican II, but where are we now?"

1 of 1

share this page

July (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51

E-mail this page

Write CT

Print this article

Post a comment

Reader Reviews are below

Subscribe to Christianity Today and get 3 free trial issues. No credit card required.

Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only.

If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The three trial issues are yours to keep, regardless.

Click here for international orders

2-for-1 Gifts!

[Reader Reviews]

Average User Rating:

Displaying 1 - 3 of 12 comments.

See all comments

John	Posted: July 17, 2007 8:26 AM

I don't know what all the fuss is about, considering the Catholic Church has always believed what the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith said. Two similar documents came out during John Paul II's papacy, and one from 2004 from Cardinal Walter Kasper received scant attention. Ecumenism is a one-way street, built on the Protestant ecclesiology that there is an invisible Church. When Protestants renounce the "Reformation," then ecumenism could have some positive fruits, until then, it's meaningless. The Church founded by the Christ through his apostles is and was a visible institution, just as the Jewish "church" before it was visible. Again, ecumenism amounts to a demand by Protestants that the Catholic Church accept the "Reformation," which would be to accept heresy.

Pio	Posted: July 13, 2007 11:53 AM

There are not over a hundred people in the US who hate the Catholic Church, but there are over a million people in the US who hate the Catholc Church for what they mistakenly believed to be the Catholic Church (Bishop Fulton J. Sheen). For Evangelicals Protestants, before you accuse the Catholic Church of erroneous doctrines or teachings, first you must get the facts straight. Not from people who have honest misconceptions, but from the very source itself - the Catholic Church. We have the Catechism of the Catholic Church which is a sure norm for teaching the Catholic faith. Read it with an open mind and heart and see if what you have heard and taught are actually true or not. In addition, you can also go to the Fathers of the Church who did numerous writings on about every aspect of faith. Read writings like that of Ignatius of Antioch, a personal disciple of John. Hear from the mouth of Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, etc. They are the closest to the time of the Apostles.

pastormark

Posted: July 12, 2007 11:13 AM

The New Covenant (the Gospel of Jesus Christ) is not religion; rather, it is that which makes all religion null and void (as far as having any influence in the increasing Kingdom of God). God put on a human suit not to establish another religion but rather to establish a relationship with any and all who are willing. Any attemts to "religionize" the New Covenant is the same as theives and robbers who crawl up in some other way. The Truth will set everyone free from any and all laws of sin and death. Any and all who preach anything but this truth at its core is either adding to or subtracting from the revealed Word of God!

The allotted time for commenting has ended.

[Browse More Christianity Today]