What I know about this document is from “Being the Body” by Chuck Colson. A wonderful, wonderful book in which Mr. Colson shares his views on all Christians coming together not to give up their most precious beliefs, but rather, to defeat the Enemy and to promote the Christian faith.
W Publishing Group, A Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, Tennesse, 37214.
I heartily recommend the book. It has the most touching story about the downfall of communism in Poland, in which Catholics are given the bulk of the credit. Also a wonderful account of Father Maximillian Kolbe.
In the book, Mr. Colson talks about a meeting with conservative Catholics and Protestant evangelicals in New York in 1991. The meeting was called by Richard John Neuhaus.
On the second day of the meeting, Mr. Colson came under conviction by the Holy Spirit to seek true fellowship with Catholics, to come together to defend the Christian faith in a hostile world.
The group began meeting regularly. In 1994, Father Neuhaus and Mr. Colson released their first document about unity, unofficial, but signed by a host of Catholic and evangelical leaders, including people like J.I. Packer (who is and has been for years against any form of images, including pictures of Jesus), Bill Bright (Head of Campus Crusade for Christ, who just died last year) and our old buddy, Pat Robertson.
The group received a lot of hate mail from both sides, who said that the movement toward unity was watering down both Catholic and evangelical theology. Apparently the group still receives hate mail from both sides.
In 1995, Father Neuhaus and Mr. Colson discussed the key question, “What does it mean to be saved?” This was the question that led to the Reformation.
They discussed this question in regular meetings over two years.
The results was a document called, “The Gift of Salvation,” affirming that “Justification is not earned by any good works or merits of our own, it is entirely God’s gift conferred through the Father’s sheer graciousness.”
This document was approved by Cardinal Cassidy, then in charge of interchurch relations for the Vatican, who attended the concluding meeting. The Cardinal recommended the document to a synod of bishops meeting in Rome in order to prepare the church for the third millenium.
Apparently this organization, Evangelicals and Catholics together, has formed small chapters all over. Mr. Colson mentions one such group in Gaithersburg, Maryland, in which Father Francis Martin, a great Catholic scholar, is a member.
Hope this information is helpful. I, for one, am a big supporter, at least in anonymity, of ECT. I wish I could get involved in a more active way, but I haven’t heard of any ECT chapters in our diocese.
