I was at an RCIA session today when the nun who was presenting a lesson on Mary had the dates of the 4 dogmas written with a CE rather than AD.
I had thought that CE Current Era/Common Era was a way the atheist could omit ‘in the year of Our Lord’. When I asked her why she used CE instead of AD, she said that this was recommended by Rome for ecumenical reasons.
REALLY?!
**That is not true. And why would a Christian omit AD? It means “Anno Domini” - “In the year of the Lord” which has specific theological and Faith connotations. Ask the good sister what source she may have for this. Methinks she just wants to be “with it”, but she doesn’t “get it”, unfortunately.
But I did find this article with regard to what is going on in Britain:
Year of Our Lord under threatBritish proposal to ditch “AD”
Britain could soon completely sever all links with its Christian heritage if ministers succeed in scrapping the letters AD from the date.
Years have been labelled AD (Anno Domini, the Year of Our Lord) or BC (Before Christ) for at least 400 years. But ministers say the labels are inappropriate in a multi-faith country and are launching a consultation with a view to using the more politically correct CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before Common Era).
Under the new scheme, this year would be CE 2000 instead of AD 2000. The Romans would have invaded Britain in BCE 55 and the American War of Independence would have ended in CE 1781. But there is already growing pressure from churchmen for the scheme to be abandoned.
John Broadhurst, the Anglican Bishop of Fulham, told The Sunday Times: “It would be pathetic to try to bury the birth of Christ in some fashionable change.” Father Danny McLoughlin, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said it was “absolutely absurd.”
“I suppose next year we will have to count the years from when Prime Minister Blair came into office, as they do in some countries after a revolution,” he told the Daily Record. “This year we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour. If the Government has missed that, it has a big problem.”
Catholic World News**