Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

[RosaryCrusader]

*From January 18 to January 25, 2011, we will witness in Rome the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The new approach to this Week of Prayer constitutes a rupture with the consistent teaching of the Church, and a rupture with the original purpose of the event’s institution. When we compare the post-Vatican II method of celebrating this week with the original pre-Vatican II manner, we see discontinuity, not continuity.

       It is important to spotlight this severe break with Tradition, since we are told that now, after the death of Pope John Paul II, the new pontificate is steering the Church according to a “hermeneutic of continuity” with the past.[1] “Hermeneutic” is complicated term for the word “interpretation’. Thus Pope Benedict claims to be leading the Church according to an interpretation of Vatican II that represents continuity with the past.

        Tragically, the post-Conciliar Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, over which Pope Benedict presides annually, is a head-on collision with the Catholic Faith of all time. It is a manifestation of the religious indifferentism condemned by the consistent teaching of the Popes.*

Continued at link:

cfnews.org/chair-of-unity.htm

 

[laszlo]

John 17:[11] And now I am not in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; that they may be one, as we also are. [12] While I was with them, I kept them in thy name. Those whom thou gavest me have I kept; and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture may be fulfilled. [13] And now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy filled in themselves. [14] I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world; as I also am not of the world. [15] I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from evil.

[16] They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world. [17] Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. [18] As thou hast sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. [19] And for them do I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. [20] And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in me;

[21] That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. [22] And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, as we also are one: [23] I in them, and thou in me; that they may be made perfect in one: and the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast also loved me. [24] Father, I will that where I am, they also whom thou hast given me may be with me; that they may see my glory which thou hast given me, because thou hast loved me before the creation of the world. [25] Just Father, the world hath not known thee; but I have known thee: and these have known that thou hast sent me.

 

[Iotaunum]

“And here it seems opportune to expound and to refute a certain false opinion, on which this whole question, as well as that complex movement by which non-Catholics seek to bring about the union of the Christian churches depends. For authors who favor this view are accustomed, times almost without number, to bring forward these words of Christ: "That they all may be one… And there shall be one fold and one shepherd,"14] with this signification however: that Christ Jesus merely expressed a desire and prayer, which still lacks its fulfillment. For they are of the opinion that the unity of faith and government, which is a note of the one true Church of Christ, has hardly up to the present time existed, and does not to-day exist. They consider that this unity may indeed be desired and that it may even be one day attained through the instrumentality of wills directed to a common end, but that meanwhile it can only be regarded as mere ideal.** They add that the Church in itself, or of its nature, is divided into sections; that is to say, that it is made up of several churches or distinct communities, which still remain separate, and although having certain articles of doctrine in common, nevertheless disagree concerning the remainder; that these all enjoy the same rights; and that the Church was one and unique from, at the most, the apostolic age until the first Ecumenical Councils. Controversies therefore, they say, and longstanding differences of opinion which keep asunder till the present day the members of the Christian family, must be entirely put aside, and from the remaining doctrines a common form of faith drawn up and proposed for belief, and in the profession of which all may not only know but feel that they are brothers. The manifold churches or communities, if united in some kind of universal federation, would then be in a position to oppose strongly and with success the progress of irreligion.”

" These pan-Christians who turn their minds to uniting the churches seem, indeed, to pursue the noblest of ideas in promoting charity among all Christians: nevertheless how does it happen that this charity tends to injure faith? Everyone knows that John himself, the Apostle of love, who seems to reveal in his Gospel the secrets of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and who never ceased to impress on the memories of his followers the new commandment “Love one another,” altogether forbade any intercourse with those who professed a mutilated and corrupt version of Christ’s teaching: “If any man come to you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house nor say to him: God speed you.”[18] For which reason, since charity is based on a complete and sincere faith, the disciples of Christ must be united principally by the bond of one faith."

“So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it. To the one true Church of Christ, we say, which is visible to all, and which is to remain, according to the will of its Author, exactly the same as He instituted it.”

Mortalium Animos - Pope Pius XI

 

[Vince1022]

*From January 18 to January 25, 2011, we will witness in Rome the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The new approach to this Week of Prayer constitutes a rupture with the consistent teaching of the Church, and a rupture with the original purpose of the event’s institution. When we compare the post-Vatican II method of celebrating this week with the original pre-Vatican II manner, we see discontinuity, not continuity.

       It is important to spotlight this severe break with Tradition, since we are told that now, after the death of Pope John Paul II, the new pontificate is steering the Church according to a “hermeneutic of continuity” with the past.[1] “Hermeneutic” is complicated term for the word “interpretation’. Thus Pope Benedict claims to be leading the Church according to an interpretation of Vatican II that represents continuity with the past.

        Tragically, the post-Conciliar Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, over which Pope Benedict presides annually, is a head-on collision with the Catholic Faith of all time. It is a manifestation of the religious indifferentism condemned by the consistent teaching of the Popes.*

Continued at link:

cfnews.org/chair-of-unity.htm

Seems like Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI don’t agree with the interpretation you cite. None of their teachings, audiences, homilies, etc. refer to this. Thanks for the interesting link anyway.

 

[dmorgan]

The following is from an article from chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it

"The main mistake fostered by the meeting in Assisi in 1986 was that of equating the religions as sources of salvation for humanity. Against this error, the congregation for the doctrine of the faith issued in 2000 the declaration “Dominus Iesus,” reaffirming that every man has no other savior than Jesus.

But also as pope, Ratzinger has again warned against the confusion. In a message to the bishop of Assisi dated September 2, 2006, he wrote:

"In order not to misunderstand the meaning of what John Paul II wanted to accomplish in 1986, and what, in his own words, is described as the ‘spirit of Assisi’, it is important not to forget the attention that was paid at that time to prevent the interreligious prayer meeting from being subjected to syncretistic interpretations founded upon a relativistic conception. …] For this reason, even when we gather together to pray for peace, this prayer must be carried out according to the distinct approach that is proper to each of the various religions. This was the decision in 1986, and this decision cannot but remain valid today as well. The coming together of those who are different must not give the impression of a concession to that relativism that denies the very meaning of truth and the possibility of attaining it.”

And visiting Assisi on June 17, 2007, he said in his homily:

“The decision to celebrate this encounter in Assisi was suggested by the testimony of Francis as a man of peace, upon whom so many look favorably, even those of other cultural and religious persuasions. At the same time, the light of the saint ‘Poverello’ upon that initiative was a guarantee of Christian authenticity, because his life and his message depend so visibly upon his choice of Christ, excluding a priori any temptation to religious indifference, which would have nothing to do with authentic religious dialogue. …] It could not be an evangelical or Franciscan attitude to fail to combine welcome, dialogue, and respect for all with the certainty of faith that every Christian, just the same as the saint of Assisi, is bound to cultivate, proclaiming Christ as the way, truth, and life of man, the only Savior of the world.”"

Entire article: chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1346299?eng=y