True Church Unity, Its Meaning and Importance

[NeelyAnn]

**True Church Unity, Its Meaning and Importance

Posted By Brother André Marie On January 22, 2010 **

We are in the midst of the Chair of Unity Octave [1]. This is a good time for some considerations on what constitutes true Church unity and why it is so important.

The fundamental truth concerning Christian unity seems, in these days of profound confusion, to be the best kept secret in all of Christendom. Christian unity can only be attained in the Catholic Church, which is where it has existed, does exist, and will exist from the time Christ established His Church until the General Judgment. I know that’s a long sentence, and to some it may even appear to be a contradiction. How can we attain to something that has existed for two millenia?

The answer is simple. We attain it by accepting it, by conforming ourselves to it.

So much of Christianity involves the effecting on earth of already existing heavenly realities, or the ongoing application to new matter of forms already perfected by God. Liturgy, the sacraments, and the Mass all work this way. What Jesus finished on the Cross is still being carried out. That’s not an oxymoron, but a profound Christian mystery.

When Christ gave the Church the gift of unity, he made it one of her essential marks that cannot be taken away. Christ’s Church is, after all, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. The baptized who leave the Church via a sin against faith (heresy) or a sin against charity (schism) do not destroy Christian unity; they merely leave it.

In Unam Sanctam [2], Pope Boniface VIII compared the unity of the Church to Christ’s seamless garment. This garment cannot be torn or rent, but it can clothe more or fewer members at various times, depending upon who enters or leaves the Church. Whether the militant Church on earth has comparatively greater or lesser numbers at any given time, she remains perfect in her divine constitution. In the end, the membership of the Church triumphant in Heaven will be made up of the exact number of the predestined, so even the number of members will be perfect.

Because of certain practices carried out in the name of ecumenism, many of the faithful are confused about all this. Joe Catholic in the pew has a fluffy notion of what Christian unity is. He might think it means a sort of inter-church cooperation in feeding the hungry, or getting together for discussions which conclude in irenic slogans like, “the points on which we agree are vastly more important than the points on which we differ.” If he could articulate the common misconception of Christian unity, Joe might say that it is the greater cooperation, mutual respect, and love between all Christians, no matter what their denomination. So, when he prays for Church unity, Joe might be praying for more of this kind of thing.

But he would not be praying for Christian unity.

The article on Father Paul Wattson of Graymoor [3] we recently posted on our site reveals that his conception of Christian unity was not Joe’s. This apostolic man, a convert from Episcopalianism, knew that true Christian unity can only be achieved in the Catholic Church. To work for this, he started the Chair of Unity Octave [4], which eventually received ecclesiastical approbation. Father Paul, who died in 1940, resisted efforts to make the Octave more “inclusive” and less explicitly Catholic:

There was an attempt to “water down” the intention of the Octave by some Christians, including an influential Catholic priest, Abbe Paul Couturier of France. Their adjusted prayer became “the reunion of Christians in the manner best pleasing to Christ,” rather than “reunion under the authority of the Successor of Saint Peter.” Many non-Catholic Christians, especially the Orthodox, jumped on this bandwagon. Although the leaders of this prayer octave tried to enlist Father Paul in their support, he remained adamant that reunion had to come under the auspices of the pope. (”Father Paul of Graymoor: Founder of the Society of the Atonement and Father of the Church Unity Octave [5]“)

The misdirected effort to unify Christians without seeking converts to Catholicism was already under way in the first half of the twentieth century. In 1929, Pope Pus XI wrote on this subject in his encyclical Mortalium Animos [6], in which he said clearly that:

The unity of Christians cannot be otherwise obtained than by securing the return of the separated to the one true Church of Christ from which they once unhappily withdrew. To the one true Church of Christ, We say, that stands forth before all, and that by the will of its Founder will remain forever the same as when He Himself established it for the salvation of all mankind.

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[NeelyAnn]

His Holiness also gave the reason why such true unity is of major moment:

Children did, alas, abandon their father’s house, but the house did not therefore fall into ruins, supported as it was by the unceasing help of God. Let them return, then, to the common father of all. He has forgotten the unjust wrongs inflicted upon the Holy See and will receive them most lovingly. If, as they often say, they desire to be united with Us and with Ours, why do they not hasten to return to the Church, “the mother and mistress of all the followers of Christ?” (Conc. Lateran IV, c.5.)

Let them listen to Lactantius crying: “It is only the Catholic Church that retains the true worship. It is the fountain of truth, it is the household of the faith, it is the temple of God: If anyone does not enter it, or if anyone departs from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation. Let no one deceive himself by continuous wranglings. Life and salvation are in the balance, which if not looked to carefully and diligently will be lost and destroyed.” (Divin. Instit. 4, 30, 11-12.)

So the unity of Christians in the Catholic Church is not a matter of “our club” being bigger than the other guys’ clubs; neither is it a question of “sheep stealing,” as some, even priests, fatuously call the seeking of converts; it is, rather, a matter of everlasting life and death. In a celebrated discourse, Saint Augustine strongly affirms this and refutes the spiritually bankrupt notion that “the points on which we agree are vastly more important than the points on which we differ.” With this strong stuff of the Doctor of Grace I will conclude:

A man cannot have salvation except in the Catholic Church. Outside the Catholic Church he can have everything except salvation. He can have honor, he can have Sacraments, he can sing Allelulia, he can answer Amen, he can possess the Gospel, he can preach faith in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: but never except in the Catholic Church will he be able to find salvation. ( St. Augustine, Discourse to the People of the Church at Caesarea , Migne, PL, 43, 689, 698; cf. Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. III, p. 130.)

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Article printed from Catholicism.org: catholicism.org

URL to article: catholicism.org/ad-rem-no-122.html

URLs in this post:

[1] Chair of Unity Octave: catholicism.org/chair-of-unity-octave.html

[2] Unam Sanctam: catholicism.org/unam-sanctam.html

[3] Father Paul Wattson of Graymoor: catholicism.org/father-paul-of-graymoor-founder-of-the-society-of-the-atonement-and-father-of-the-church-unity-octave.html

[4] Chair of Unity Octave: catholicism.org…/chair-of-unity-octave.html

[5] Father Paul of Graymoor: Founder of the Society of the Atonement and Father of the Church Unity Octave: catholicism.org…/father-paul-of-graymoor-founder-of-the-society-of-the-atonement-and-father-of-the-church-unity-octave.html

[6] Mortalium Animos: catholicism.org/mortalium-animos.html

**Chair of Unity Octave **

**Posted By Brother André Marie On January 18, 2010 **

Today begins the traditional Chair of Unity octave, originally planned to last from the feast of Saint Peter’s Chair at Rome (today) until the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul on January 25. The devotion has evolved into the “Week of Prayer,” since the removal from the calendar of the feast that opened the octave. But even in the 1962 rubrics, a priest may offer the votive Mass of Saint Peter’s Chair at Rome, so we still have our octave in the traditional rite. Readers may find an inelegant but useful PDF file [1] with the appropriate prayers. Regarding these prayers, be it observed that they are not vague requests for an undefined unity, but explicit petitions for the conversion of all (baptized and non) to Catholic faith and unity under the Supreme Pontiff, the Bishop of Rome and Successor of Saint Peter.

With Anglicanorum Coetibus now a reality, and the canonical union of many Anglican groups being advanced as we write, the octave seems to have a particular importance this year. In the third day of the octave, we pray for the conversion of all Anglicans. But more than that, Father Paul of Graymoor, whose life we are soon to publish on this site, began this devotion while yet an Anglican. His subsequent conversion and founding of a Catholic religious order proved that, at least in his case, the prayers worked.

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Article printed from Catholicism.org: catholicism.org

URL to article: catholicism.org/chair-of-unity-octave.html

URLs in this post:

[1] PDF file: catholicism.org/downloads/chair-of-unity-8.pdf

 

[NeelyAnn]

**Father Paul of Graymoor: Founder of the Society of the Atonement and Father of the Church Unity Octave

Posted By Eleonore Villarrubia On January 18, 2010 **

Every Catholic of a certain age remembers the week in January when the Church Unity Octave [1] or the Chair of Unity Octave was celebrated liturgically. The Octave began on January 18, Feast of St. Peter’s Chair in Rome, and ended on January 25, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. But, do we know how this important celebration came about? Most, even old timers, would have to say “No!” The story of the holy man who began this octave — as an Anglican, no less — and single handedly encouraged priests, bishops, and finally, the reigning pope to approve, adopt, and spread it throughout the universal church is a fascinating one.

That man was Lewis Thomas Wattson, born the third son to an impoverished Episcopalian minister named Rev. Joseph Newton Wattson and his wife, Mary Electa. The elder Wattson, a convert from Presbyterianism to the American branch of the Anglican Church, was forever branded by his expulsion years earlier from the General Theological Seminary in New York City for an imprudent remark he made in jest at the seminary to a group of other seminarians.

It was the time of the Oxford Movement in England and the brilliant tracts of John Henry Newman and other great luminaries of that country’s Anglican Church were in heavy circulation. These tracts were written in the hope of bringing the Anglican Church of the nineteenth century back to the more liturgical and sacramental practice of its past. The authors’ intention was definitely not to bring the Anglicans into the fold of Rome, as many erroneously believe. However, as we all know, Newman and several of his companions in the Oxford Movement, eventually did wind up in the “Romish” Church.

Jesuits in Disguise

The “General” — as the seminary was known — was far too Protestant to welcome the Catholic nature of the tracts; they were forbidden literature to the students. Of course, they were smuggled into the place and eagerly read and discussed. Rumor had it that there were a number of “Jesuits in disguise” who had infiltrated the school and were subverting the students with the Popish literature. Young Joseph Wattson, who was a bit of a practical joker, led one of the more rabidly anti-Catholic seminarians to believe that he (Wattson) just might be one of those infiltrators. The matter was reported to the Dean and poor Wattson and another student were expelled, even though they were exonerated of being “secret Jesuits.” The Oxford tracts were causing such a stir in Anglican circles, that any hint of “Romish tendencies” put the seminarian on the suspect list. Not surprisingly, this incident haunted Joseph Wattson for the greater part of his ministerial career with the Anglicans, and the only pastoral positions he was able to find were in poverty-stricken areas.

On the other hand, the fate of some of his colleagues at the “General” who did “go to Rome” was anything but prejudicial. Edgar P. Wadhams, for example, sometime after his ordination and priestly ministry, became the founding bishop of Ogdensburg, New York, and Clarence E. Walworth befriended Father Isaac Hecker and became one of the original fathers of the Paulists, an order founded by Father Hecker after he was expelled from the Redemptorists. James A. McMaster, another Oxford convert, entered the Redemptorists, but concluded that he did not have a vocation to the religious life. Instead he became an outstanding figure in Catholic journalism, founding the New York Freeman’s Journal, one of the important Catholic American newspapers of the time. One cannot help but wonder what would have happened had the elder Wattson “poped” at the time of his expulsion from the seminary.

**Ministry of Poverty **

Instead, he had to settle for life as a poor rural preacher. When Lewis was born in January of 1863, the Rev. Wattson and his wife, and their two older sons, served an impoverished congregation on Maryland’s eastern shore. Lewis, or “Tommy,” as he was known to his family, was a quiet, pensive boy. Times were tough in this wartime era, but the Wattsons were happy. Tommy loved to fish the many streams of the tidewater area with his father and they grew very close. The elder Wattson was a great storyteller, and one of his favorites was the tale of “Jesuits in disguise.” On one occasion, the son asked the father had he ever been to a Catholic Mass. His answer was, “Yes, once, when my former colleague (Walworth) from the ‘General’ was preaching as a Paulist priest at a great church in Baltimore.” Then the older man remarked, “What we need in the Episcopal Church is a preaching order like the Paulists!” It was to this remark of his father’s that Tommy attributed his calling: he always felt that the Holy Spirit was calling him to establish a preaching order like the Paulists in the Episcopal Church.

Continue reading here: catholicism.org/father-paul-of-graymoor-founder-of-the-society-of-the-atonement-and-father-of-the-church-unity-octave.html

 

[NeelyAnn]

**Unity needed to announced the Gospel to a world marked by religious indifference, Pope says **

Benedict XVI closes the week of prayer for Christian unity citing the example of Saint Paul, witness of Jesus until his death. Evangelising “is not a task for the few, nor is it a side-line activity in the life of the Church”. He remembers the Edinburgh conference.

Rome (AsiaNews) – Working for Christian unity “is not a task for the few, nor a side-line activity in the life of the Church”; rather, it is necessary so that “the world may believe,” the Pope said as he spoke during the service in Saint Paul’s Basilica in Rome this afternoon, on the last day of the Week of Prayer for Christian unity. For him, such unity must be in the service of evangelisation “in a world marked by religious indifference, even a growing hostility towards the Christian faith”.

The Pope cited the example of the apostle, who faced every danger and paid every price onto death to announce the Gospel, to illustrate the theme of this year’s Week of Prayer: “You are witnesses of these things” (Lk, 24:48)

“The theme chosen for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity—bearing witness together to the Risen Christ in accordance with the mandate He gave his disciples—is tied to the centennial celebration of the Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland, an event believed by many to be the determining moment in the birth of the modern ecumenical movement. In the summer of 1910, the Scottish capital saw more than a thousand missionaries, from various Protestant and Anglican denominations, come together to reflect on the need to reach unity in order to announce credibly the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They were also joined by an Orthodox Christian. It was their desire to announce Christ to others and bring his message of reconciliation to the world that drew attention to the contradictions of Christian disunity.”

“A century after the conference in Edinburgh, the intuition of those courageous pioneers is still very much topical,” he said. “In a world marked by religious indifference, even hostility towards the Christian faith, a new, more intense evangelisation is needed, not only among the peoples who have never known the Gospel, but also among those where Christianity is at home and part of their history.”

“Some issues do separate us,” the Pope said, “but let us hope that we may overcome them through prayer and dialogue. There is however a central theme in Christ’s message that we can announce together, namely God’s fatherhood, the victory of Christ over sin and death on the cross through resurrection, and faith in the transformative power of the Spirit. As we move towards full communion, we are called to bear witness together against challenges like secularisation and indifference, relativism and hedonism, sensitive ethical issues about the beginning and the end of life, the limits of science and technology, and the dialogue between the various religious traditions, that in our day and age are increasingly complex. There are also other fields in which we can bear witness together even now; on preserving creation, promoting the common good and peace, defending the centrality of the human person, working against the deprivations of our times like hunger, poverty, illiteracy and unfair distribution of wealth.”

“Each one is called to make his contribution on the path towards full communion of all the Disciples of Christ. No one can forget that such communion is first and foremost God’s gift that we must constantly invoke. Indeed, the force that promotes unity and the missions that stems from the fruitful and passionate meeting with the Rise is what occurred to Saint Paul on his way to Damascus, and to the 11 and the other disciples in their meeting in Jerusalem. May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, help us realise Her Son’s wish as soon as possible, “so that they may all be one” (Jh, 17-21).

asianews.it/news-en/Unity-needed-to-announced-the-Gospel-to-a-world-marked-by-religious-indifference,-Pope-says-17445.html