Cardinal Walter Kasper
Posted on 01/23/2007 1:26:17 PM PST by NYer
Cardinal Walter Kasper
Vatican City, Jan 23, 2007 / 03:31 pm (CNA).- Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said at a Vatican press briefing today that the current state of ecumenism is positive and offered a briefing on the Church’s relations with the Orthodox Churches, in addition to touching on Catholic-Protestant relations. The event was timed to coincide with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, being held from January 18 to 25.
Cardinal Kasper affirmed that last year had been particularly fruitful in ecumenical terms, with the Pope's trip to Turkey, during which he signed a joint declaration with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople; and the resumption of work of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox.
The Vatican ecumenism chief said that currently, one of the main themes of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue is the primacy of Peter, with all the theological, canonical, and even emotional problems it brings. "It is necessary to continue to pray and be patient to ensure progress in this area," said the cardinal. "For now, replies have been received from various Churches, and these are being analyzed and discussed."
On the subject of a possible meeting between Benedict XVI and Alexis II, patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias, Cardinal Kasper indicated that "for the moment nothing concrete has been decided." Relations with the Russian Orthodox Church are improving, close collaboration also exists with various dicasteries of the Roman Curia and various dioceses.
Kasper denied that the Holy See has abandoned relations with Protestant communities, describing such rumors as "groundless insinuations." He pointed out that various ecumenical delegations have been received by the Holy Father and have participated in the Wednesday general audiences.
As for forthcoming ecumenical events, the Cardinal mentioned September’s European ecumenical meeting, due to be held in Sibiu, Romania; the plenary session of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox, due to be held in Ravenna, Italy in 2007; and the second ecumenical congress of communities and movements, "Together for Europe," to be held in Stuttgart, Germany. Kasper also mentioned the possibility of Pope Benedict’s presence at the Ravenna meeting.
At the end of his briefing, Cardinal Kasper presented his new book entitled "A Handbook of Spiritual Ecumenism, guidelines for its implementation," which has just been published in Italian, English, and French. It contains practical and pastoral suggestions to strengthen spiritual ecumenism, "which is," the introduction reads, "the soul of the entire ecumenical movement." The book is addressed to everyone involved in ecumenical activities in various dioceses and parishes, although each and every member of the Church is called to make their own contribution, above all through prayer.
The meeting, held in the Holy See Press Office, was also attended by Bishop Brian Farrell L.C. and Msgr, Eleuterio F. Fortino, respectively secretary and under-secretary of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity.
I fully expect to see some form of formal Catholic-Orthodox union within the next ten to twenty years.
As far as with Protestants, I think we will be seeing an ever-growing influx of disgruntled Anglicans and possible even some Lutherans. But if he thinks that there has been "progress" with Protestantism in general, I would invite him to come look at any number of discordant threads that we have going here at any given time.
That would be nice to see before I die.
I wonder if we should ping the Cardinal to here. It might discourage him.
I've always thought that it is better to understand what the real situation is. My assumption is that the attitudes of the senior Protestant clergymen that he interacts with is very different from the attitudes of many Protestant laymen.
WHen I was the the Pepsicola church it was pretty clear that the sorts of things being said (no doubt sincerely) by clerics in ecumenical talks with Rome had nothing to do with what a great number, if not the majority, of Episcopal priests thought.
At the high level of talks with Rome, they are saying this and that about Real Presence and in the parish Church they are giving consecrated hosts to dogs and pouring consecrated wine on the flowers. At least on the Episcopal side it was all for show, in effect if not on purpose.
Efforts to unify man-made religions, while quaint, simply continue to shackle people to doctrines of men rather than free them through the Living Word of God. If anyone wants to be "unified" with the Church of Christ, let him learn and obey the true Gospel set forth in the New Testament. That person will then be added to the eternal Church of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
Our relationship is established in Scripture: each person with God through Jesus Christ. We need no institutions of men in the middle!
You know the Catholic/Orthodox talks are great! but before we continue the ecumenical movement that made so many of our parishes about as Catholic as the local Methodist church, we need to start concentrating on Pete in the Pew. Let's get HIM back to being Catholic and forget about the Protestants for a bit.
But, hey, instead of going after me, why not, just for kicks, address the topic of this thread. Would it be fair to say that you think Ecumenical efforts are a waste of time?
Sorry if it appeared that I was "going after" you. I wasn't, and apologize if I gave you that impression.
As far as the ecumenical efforts... I see little difference between it and competing companies trying to work out a merger. Each "company" has their competing interests and ways of "doing business". Each has "empire builders" with individual, personal agendas. And, because they are competing "firms", one or the other of the many overlapping functions will have to be jettisoned.
The fact that the majority of mergers fail to accomplish their stated purposes ought to be a warning sign for this endeavor. However, if these organizations of men wish to get together, it makes no difference to Christ and His Church. My only purpose for commenting is the hope that I might spark someone to seek the Truth.
Amen.
I think this also gets to the heart of one of the other issues within the Catholic Church. One of the jobs of the laity is to become salt and light to the world, especially in the places where clergy aren't able to go. Once Pete understands why he is Catholic, he can go and evangelize the Protestants (and the atheists and everyone else) through his example.
And this is especially telling when you consider that Episcopalians are far less anti-Catholic than most Protestants.
One is the Church is the fellowship of those who have a right relationship with God through Christ. Since all that is required for that is a 'confessing with lips, believing in heart" kind of event or commitment, there may be such people all across various denominations. This view usually says that the holy Ghost operates in individuals but no longer in institutions.
The other is that Church is the fellowship of those who have been baptized (and those who got hit by a train on the way to their baptism, through no fault of their own, blah blah). Not all of those will turn out to be "saved". But we could, if we had access to enough records or witnesses, know who was in this church. It is "visible" to that extent. Further the "fullness" of membership in that church is evidenced by communion with the See of Rome, and maybe some other stuff. Our Byzantine or EO brethren would say something like communion with one of he patriarchal sees, I imagine.
If you adopt, as I have, the latter view, then union is very important indeed. If you adopt the former view, who cares, the REAL union already exists.
What we share is a sense that a fellowship is part of the Gospel. One thing that divides us is a different understanding of Christ's promise to his Church. You all work out fellowship issues retail, we tend to think wholesale.
I would also agree, since nearly every important thing in my life so far has not been at all what I expected -- but none the worse for that, that the results of any such merger won't be what we expect. Good.
However, I would hope that the merger would be enduring. That to me would be a persuasive sign of the end times -- the Holy Ghost marshaling his army before the great battle.
I have taken the liberty of pinging the worthy kolokotronis because he is, I think, a pious and intelligent man who may help articulate the visible church side from an Orthodox point of view. He is also a reason I long for more union in the Church.
There aint anything that's gonna unify the Christians like full persecution by the Muzzies in about 10 years.
And I have seen the quickly and politely straightened curl of the lip among Episcopalians when I mention that I kissed the Pope's toe.
But some, yes -- and may they join us soon. The jump is wrenching, but the treasures on this side of the Tiber are beyond reckoning.
If memory serves me, traditional Anglicans came to despise Spong and he eventually postulated a theory the the Apostle Paul was a homosexual.
That's right. Spong, in the tradition of Pike, decided to be bishop of his own religion and to call that Episcopalianism. These guys cut their own legs off at the knees and don't even feel the pain.
I have several close friends who are Episcopalians and one of my parents closest friends is an Episcopal priest, and they are horrified at what is happening to the Anglican Communion.
For what it's worth, I believe that the left is using their campaign to destroy the Episcopalians as a "test run" for their main target, which is Catholicism. It is unfortunate that the Protestants can't seem to understand that if the secularists were to succeed in weakening the Church in America (and they have accomplished it already in much of Europe), all Christians would be in danger.
Which Church would that be? When and by whom was it founded?
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