Tuesday, July 10, 2007

WCC comments on Pope's declaration

Well, well, well. Take a look at this excerpt from the article entitled "WCC deputy general secretary comments on the document issued today by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith":

"Each church is the Church catholic and not simply a part of it. Each church is the Church catholic, but not the whole of it. Each church fulfils its catholicity when it is in communion with the other churches."

This affirmation, made by the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which met in Porto Alegre Brazil in February 2006, reflects the common struggle of the 347 WCC member churches in fellowship as they seek to make visible their unity in Christ.

To recall this statement, contained in the document "Called to be the One Church: An invitation to the churches to renew their commitment to the search for unity and to deepen their dialogue", seems appropriate in view of the "Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine of the church" issued by the Roman Catholic Church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith today.

I'm glad the response was so swift.

UPDATE: Here's something I just found:

I do not deny that there are differences between the Churches, but I say that we must change our way of approaching them. And the question of method is in the first place a psychological, or rather a spiritual problem. For centuries there have been conversations between theologians, and they have done nothing except to harden their positions. I have a whole library about it. And why? Because they spoke in fear and distrust of one another, with the desire to defend themselves and to defeat the others. Theology was no longer a pure celebration of the mystery of God. It became a weapon. God himself became a weapon!

+ Athenagoras I, 1969.

Wouldn't it be nice if the whole world would just shut up about God for a while?

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:01 AM

    `Wouldn't it be nice if the whole world would just shut up about God for a while?'

    Well, either that or get it right for a change.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Get it right, Tim? Who decides what "right" is?

    ReplyDelete

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