Tuesday, September 13, 2005
WHERE IS ECUMENISM GOING ?
Closed door Cologne speeches revealed. Substantial parts of the Pope’s talks to Muslims and non-Catholic Christians at last month’s World Youth Day celebrations in Cologne went unnoticed after Vatican officials failed to provide journalists with a transcript of remarks made extemporaneously.
The Pope’s comments, especially at separate closed-door sessions with ecumenical leaders, significantly changed the form and substance of the original speeches. Journalists were unable to verify the discrepancies at the time because the media were barred from the encounters.
In his 19 August address to Protestant and Orthodox leaders, according to the website transcript, Pope Benedict said the movement towards Christian unity did not mean “ecumenism of the return; that is, to deny and to reject one’s own faith history… Absolutely not!” He omitted the originally scripted line, “There can be no dialogue at the expense of truth; the dialogue must advance in charity and in truth.”
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If the movement towards Christian unity does not mean a necessity "to deny and reject one's own faith history," have we decided that what we used to call "heresy" we are now willing to call a different interpretation of Christian truth?
If we do that, will everything going on in Protestant churches become a welcome addition to the Christian (Catholic?) faith? To the point of including women's ordination, homosexuality, married clergy, and some of the more outrageous aspects of liberal theology in organizations such as the Jesus Seminar?
