The first is from the Religion News Service - a column by
Thomas Reese. The second story was from
Catholic News Service, appearing on the NCRonline site.
(RNS) — On the plane
returning to Rome from Romania, Pope Francis made an extraordinary statement on
the role of theology in ecumenical relations at his press conference Sunday
(June 2).
In the past, church officials have stressed the need for
theological agreement before Christian unity or Eucharistic sharing could be
possible.
As a result, the Catholic Church is involved in extensive
and complex theological dialogues with other Christian churches. These
dialogues have made great progress in dealing with issues raised by the
Reformation, but new issues (women’s ordination, gay marriage, abortion) have arisen
that divide the churches.
This makes it very difficult to reach a final agreement.
But Francis told reporters on the plane, “Ecumenism is not
getting to the end of discussions, it’s done walking together,” according to
Crux. The journey is more important than the destination.
The rest of the story is here
From Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY — People need to walk together in harmony to
build a more fraternal world, Pope Francis said, reflecting upon his recent
trip to Romania.
The May 31-June 2 trip showed the important need "to
walk together, both for Christians" when it comes to faith and charity,
and for residents of a nation, when it comes to civic engagement, he said June
5 during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.
As is customary, Francis reviewed his trip to the
predominantly Orthodox East European nation during his first general audience
after the trip....
In his main audience talk reviewing his trip to Romania, the
pope noted his encounter with Romanian Orthodox Patriarch Daniel and the
Permanent Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, where he reiterated "the
desire of the Catholic Church to walk together in reconciled memory and toward
full unity."
"This important ecumenical dimension of the trip
culminated in the solemn prayer of the Our Father," showing that
"unity does not eliminate legitimate diversity."
The Lord's Prayer represents the "common heritage of
all baptized. No one can say 'my Father' and 'your Father.' No, 'our
Father,'" he said.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/quick-reads/francis-chronicles/walking-together-christians-experience-unity-diversity-pope-says
p.s. The fix that enabled me to comment for a while stopped working. I can still post using the computer, but if I comment, I have to use the ipad.
I would love it if there were opportunities for believers to share the Eucharist across denominational lines. However, reading the article I don't think that's what Francis meant. The way I interpreted it, he just meant that we should work together in the areas where we are able to, and not wait for perfect theological agreement (because that's not going to happen anyway). I can imagine that the traditionalists would pitch an embolism over more open sharing of the Eucharist. They almost were in open schism over the idea of admitting divorced and remarried Catholics to Communion. Sometimes I'm not sure if I care if they throw a hissy fit and pick up their toys and leave.
ReplyDeleteAbout the slightly different wording of the Lord's Prayer, I think the update is more theologically correct. But I also think it's going to move people's cheese too much to be widely adopted. Think about it, the English version of the Our Father is the one thing that has been left alone since before VII. It's still in Shakespeare's English.
There are such opportunities. Any Sunday at your local Episcopal church. But I think Catholics are prohibited from partaking by their own rules.
DeleteInterestingly, one of the Church Ladies took communion at an Episcopalian funeral. She explained that she did so to show solidarity with the family, but understood that the Eucharist was null, void, illicit, illlegal, and fake, nothing salvific about it.
The Catholic and Episcopal belief seems just as similar as Catholic and Orthodox, whose sacraments we recognize. Though Orthodox rules prohibit RC from receiving, unless we are in a situation where we don't have access to our own Mass.
DeleteIn a denomination such as Baptist where they make no claims for their Communion being other than a commemoration, I don't see what would prevent us from partaking, as long as everyone was on the same page about it.
Episcopalians believe that Christ is present in the Eucharist, and that this presence MAY constitute transubstantiation, but this belief is not an essential of faith. The eucharist, however, has always been more than mere commemoration. Hence the words at the Eucharistic distribution: The body of Christ, the bread of heaven; the blood of Christ, the cup of salvation. It covers whatever you believe within Anglican understanding.
DeleteIn the original Anglican Articles of Faith, transubstantiation was flatly denied. However, ecumenical discussions persuaded Anglican theologians that the real presence was a mystery and, as such, transubstantiation could not be ruled out.
I'm on board with it being a mystery!
DeleteI think these comments reflect what's very much on Francis's mind these days. That would be the ideology of "the door is closed, the lifeboat is full, we have ours, so screw you, Jack." We-First ideologues (including the ideologue-in-chief) are circling the globe to promote that belief all will certainly NOT be one, and it is good that they won't be. People are dying on various borders, including ours, because of it. If you walk together, eventually you talk together, and if you talk you don't tariff each other and lock each other out.
ReplyDeleteWe could use a little ecumenism among ourselves. I am very sensitive about that now because I made the mistake of getting into a discussion about the Mueller Report with a really nice guy who hasn't read a word of it but thinks he knows what it says. I swore I wouldn't talk about it with anyone who has not read it, but he is so sweet and innocent, as well as being dumb, I broke my vow. And ended up, as I always do, thinking (but not saying, as I sometimes do) "Read the damn report, and don't talk to me until you do." It's hard to walk together in a post-truth world.
It's hard to admit it when you've been scammed. And if you read the report, you are probably in for some serious discomfort when you find out the extent to which the scammers in chief screwed the country. Full disclosure: I have not read the report, but I'm also mot going around telling people I know what's in it.
Delete