Ecumenism

[JGC]

How do you view Ecumenism?

Do you view anyone outside your denomination as a heretic and worthy of contempt?

Or?

Do you view anyone outside of your denomination as a heretic who should be treated with respect, but they will have to return / convert to your denomination to be saved?

Or?

Do you view other Christians as joined to your Church by Baptism in a certain, although imperfect communion.

Or?

Do you view denomination as unimportant as long as you are Christian?

Do you feel the divisions, fractions, denominations, schisms (call them what you will) in the Body of Christ as unfortunate, or you don’t care as you have nothing to do with other denominations, or do you feel the pain of Christian seperation acutely and personally?

I’ve seen all of the above on these boards.

Or something between the above or something else?

I toyed with putting together some sort of poll but I’ve been suspicious of them ever since a friend of mine on an actuarial course revealed he had a course book ‘How to lie with Statistics.’ + I don’t like pidgeonholing!

Anyone who has read any of my posts will be able to work out where I stand

Any thoughts?

 

[MariaG]

I feel the pain of Christian seperation acutely and personally.
When Christians of any denomination attack each other, it as if I were trying to cut off my own, completely healthy arm, painful and completely unneccessary.

Disagreeing with someone, arguing your position are part of sharing religious ideas. Believing you are right and the other person needs God to remove the blinders, is also part of strongly held beliefs.

Personal attacks should not be part of the package.

And I also think that many thread titles start out in a hostile manner. I know I would not wish to respond to many of them if I were Protestant, and I believe we lose the opportunity to have dialogue with more mainstream Protestants because of the tone of many of the threads. Being Politically correct and being polite are not the same thing.

 

[ATeNumquam]

MariaG:

I feel the pain of Christian seperation acutely and personally.
When Christians of any denomination attack each other, it as if I were trying to cut off my own, completely healthy arm, painful and completely unneccessary.

Disagreeing with someone, arguing your position are part of sharing religious ideas. Believing you are right and the other person needs God to remove the blinders, is also part of strongly held beliefs.

Personal attacks should not be part of the package.

And I also think that many thread titles start out in a hostile manner. I know I would not wish to respond to many of them if I were Protestant, and I believe we lose the opportunity to have dialogue with more mainstream Protestants because of the tone of many of the threads. Being Politically correct and being polite are not the same thing.

I totally agree with this. I sometimes wonder if a few of the posters on these forums have ever met any non-Catholics who are NOT anti-Catholic fundamentalists, Mormons or JWs.
I’ve only met some hostility a couple of times, and all the other non-Catholic Christians I know I respect totally, and it is mutual.

After I’d seen the Passion film, I found a couple of websites www.seethepassion.com and www.mylifeafter.com and reading the tributes and testimonies there just blew me away. The vast majority were from non-Catholics, and the depth of spirituality I found there just put me to shame. Not that I ever doubted it existed outside of the Catholic Church, but - we can’t afford to be smug, arrogant, or condescending.
What we have in common with the mainstream Protestant churches is far greater than what divides us, and however much I might want them to come to the fullness of faith that is our privilege as Catholics, I’d treat them, and their beliefs with the utmost respect.

---

A Te numquam separari permittas - never let me be separated from You

 

[The_Augustinian]

To paraphrase John XXIII, what unites us is greater than what separates us. Generally speaking, orthodox Christianity as based upon the ancient creeds embraces Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants. Proper ecumenism tries to find common ground between the Church and other religious groups, in and outside of Christianity. However, ecumenism without evangelization overlooks differences between sects, just as evangelization without proper ecumenical dialogue ignores many aspects of the truth to be found in other groups outside the Catholic Church proper.

Until we can finally unite, let us peacefully dialogue with each other, enabling us then to debate over the issues which make us different!

Pax Vobiscum,

The Augustinian

 

[Malachi4U]

Theophilus,

There is only one Christ so there can only be one body that is His Church. That body is the Catholic Church.

Ecuminism is important for Christ loves us all and wants us all to be saved. His body must allways have its arms open to lost souls or to the prodigal sons that have strayed away.

Who will love Him more, someone who has allways been with Him or one that was lost and come home?

A prisoner of Christ

 

[Apologia100]

I believe in ecumenism will happen when the denominations give up their ego driven organizations an cross the Tiber.

 

[Trelow]

Malachi4U:

Who will love Him more, someone who has allways been with Him or one that was lost and come home?

But does not the Father slaughter his fattened calf and feast in rejoice when the son who has been lost, returns home?

 

[hlgomez]

Ecumenism should be viewed as a starting point to dialogue with our separated brothers and attain full visible unity in the Church.

Since many of them are unaware and are plagued with heresies of the reformation, they somehow distance themselves from the Catholic Church and refuse to know what Catholicism really is all about and cling to their erroneous belief about Catholicism.

I’ve heard some people saying that protestants should remain protestants, orthodox should remain orthodox and still attain unity in the Church. This is one big misunderstanding, though, because Christ is One Truth, and never can we, Christians, belonging to him, can have opposing truths/doctrines in us.

If our separated brothers wish to unite to the Church, they can retain their own desciplines (of course subject to the approval by the See of Peter) but should purge their erroneous doctrines and be one with the holy Catholic Church.

Pio