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Christianity Today, February, 2008

Good Works Not Enough

Latest papal document urges Roman Catholics to win souls.

Francis X. Rocca, RNS | posted 1/08/2008 08:20AM

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Roman Catholic missionaries should aim to convert people and not restrict themselves to humanitarian good works, the Vatican said on December 14.

A 19-page document, which was personally approved by Pope Benedict XVI, draws on the controversial Vatican declaration he issued in 2000 that asserted Catholics alone have "the fullness of the means of salvation." The document aims to correct a "growing confusion" among theologians who argue that "it is enough to build communities which strive for justice, freedom, peace, and solidarity."

The document comes as the Catholic Church faces increased competition from Pentecostals and evangelicals, particularly in third-world countries, and charges of improper "sheep stealing" from Orthodox churches, especially in Russia.

"[T]here has a been a cooling of missionary spirit in recent years," said Archbishop Angelo Amato, undersecretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's top doctrinal office.

Amato specifically cited the work of three Jesuit theologians—Jacques Dupuis, Roger Haight, and Jon Sobrino—suggesting that their work had undermined missionary spirit by casting doubt on the uniqueness of Christ as the universal Savior of humankind.

"The fundamental problem is a pluralistic theology of religion, which essentially states that all religions are equally valid in leading a person to salvation," the Rev. Agostino di Noia, an American who serves as another undersecretary of the Congregation, told Vatican Radio.

The statement rejects conversion by force or by means "which do not safeguard the freedom and dignity of the human person." It also stresses that evangelization among non-Catholic Christians should be undertaken with "true respect" for their traditions.

Related Elsewhere:

William Joseph Levada introduced the Vatican's Doctrinal Note on some Aspects of Evangelization on December 14.

Previous articles on Catholicism are available on our website.

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February 2008, Vol. 52, No. 2

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Displaying 1–5 of 9 comments

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Andree St.Pe

January 17, 2008 9:02am

Please explain how the Roman emperors took over the Catholic Church, which was the only church of Jesus Christ? For all Christian churches that recite the creed, do you not say you believe in the communion of saints? What does that mean? Certaintly you ask your mother to pray for you. Certaintly when she dies you believe she is even closer to God. How many of you talk to her and ask her to pray for you now that she is in heaven. The Virgin Mary was Jesus's mother. He is our brother. He shares His mother with us. She was the tabernacle of the Lord. Her obedient "yes" to God's plan brought about our salvation. If God Almighty has elevated her to a position of holines, who are you to question His love and respect for His mother? The Blessed Mother is a gift from God, so is all the dead in Christ. They are very alive and part of His Church. They are in heaven and praying for us all. This is the communion of saints! God is so generous to us. His graces and mercy so deep!

cali

January 11, 2008 11:54am

I am sad to see that Pope Benedict has chosen to focus on the doctrines of his church that excludes other Christians from the Body of Christ. This causes divisiveness as in the example of the comment above. We have come a long way since the 1950's and since those of us who are not papists don't subscribe to what he says anyway...why offend our *catholic brothers and sisters. Remember we're eventually gonna be together....FOREVER!

pete

January 09, 2008 5:34am

5-stars--I grew up catholic but now belong to a christian church, l believe the catholic church was taken over by satan when it became Roman empirors church, but God can still use it for his glory, there are still christian people who are catholic and have Jesus as there savoir, we need to pray for God to empower them to take back the church

eliza

January 08, 2008 7:43pm

We all need to read our Bibles and practice what it says, not the Roman Catholic Church. An interesting comment was made on Christian TV last week. Mary is no longer a virgin. She gave birth to Jesus and then other siblings. The "Virgin Mary" should not be worshipped or made to be an idol.

Michel Coron

January 08, 2008 2:41pm

I am an eleventh hour worker Catholic. Sometimes, it is worth of living outside the Church. It gives a better understanding on the sense of Christianity.To clearly understand this article, it needs to go deeper into Vatican's Doctrinal Notes and Dupuis, Haight, Sobrino theorical ground on oecumenism. As it is, the article can be interpreted very diversely by readers' personal creed. But thank you to CT. We are not so well served by Catholic sites ! Also I agree with Mariane and I will go farter. Lutheranism for one is following the same ordo for Sunday Mass as the one modified during Vatican II for Catholic Church. To end, I think Unity will come when conversion will be more a question of Salvation and less of statistics or money.

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