Posted on 05/17/2005 6:16:45 AM PDT by marshmallow
SEATTLE (AP) - A group of Roman Catholic and Anglican leaders studying the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus, said Monday that after years of talks they have agreed that Catholic teachings on the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary into heaven are consistent with Anglican interpretations of the Bible.
The two sides issued a joint document, ``Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ,'' which will now be examined by the Vatican and the Anglican Communion.
If the terms of the new accord are eventually accepted by top church officials - by no means a certainty - it would overcome one of the major doctrinal disagreements dividing the world's 77 million Anglicans and more than 1 billion Roman Catholics.
Historically, the Anglican Communion has opposed the papal teachings because there is no direct account of them in the Bible.
Immaculate Conception refers to the mandatory Catholic dogma, pronounced in 1854, that Mary was born free of ``original sin.'' The Assumption refers to the belief required since 1950 that Mary was directly received, body and soul, into heaven at the end of her life. Anglicans have neither teaching.
Both Catholicism and Anglicanism officially agree, however, on the virginal conception, meaning that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born.
Anglican Archbishop Peter Carnley of Perth, Australia, co-chairman of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, said the Catholic dogmas concerning Mary are ``consonant'' with biblical teachings about hope and grace.
The remaining question between the faiths is the authority on which those dogmas are based, he said - a question to be tackled in future discussions.
``For Anglicans, that old complaint that these dogmas were not provable by scripture will disappear,'' Carnley said during a news conference with Seattle's Catholic Archbishop, Alexander Brunett.
The commission spent five years developing the 81-page booklet, in a process sponsored by the Anglican Consultative Council and the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
The document's release was also significant because it follows tensions between Catholicism and Anglicanism over actions by the Episcopal Church, the Anglicans' U.S. branch.
Presiding Episcopal Bishop Frank Griswold, who for a time chaired the commission studying Mary, resigned from the panel after he oversaw the consecration of gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson in New Hampshire. As recently as last month, the Vatican said Robinson's consecration and same-sex blessings by Canadian Anglicans ``created new obstacles'' for relations between the churches.
Though Griswold did not attend the news conference, he was in town Monday to have lunch and attend vespers with Brunett and Carnley.
Bob Chapman, a reporter for the independent Episcopal weekly The Living Church, said there is a long Anglican tradition of honoring Mary - there is even a shrine to her in Walsingham, England - but the degree of devotion varies greatly within the faith.
``I can name a couple of parishes here in Seattle that have better Marian devotion than some Roman Catholic parishes,'' he said, but to other Anglicans, the notion of honoring her is ``anathema.''
The accord announced Monday is aimed at bridging those extremes, he said.
``There are churches that look with suspicion on people who do these things, and yet we all live together under the same umbrella,'' Chapman said.
The Church is administered to by people, that's the way He set it up. There is one Church ordained by God and it is that Church which by His influence on those chosen to lead is free of error in regards to the faith. That is the light because it is of God.
>Christ's bride, the Church, is not seperate from the people. They are one in the same. You are attempting to perpetuate a false dichotomy.<
Not I. I suggest you research the beginning of this short discussion.It began with an eronious claim by an RC.
>After all, Jesus never instructed the Apostles to write down an account of His life, did He?<
I guess not if you don't believe the Holy spirit is expressing Jesus's will.Do you want to go there?
>The Church is administered to by people, that's the way He set it up. There is one Church ordained by God and it is that Church which by His influence on those chosen to lead is free of error in regards to the faith. That is the light because it is of God.,
Do you honestly believe the Lord of the Universe is as concerned with "The Church" as he is the relationship individuals have with him?I wonder sometimes if the energy spent by Roman Catholics defending the "one true church" would not be better spent telling their members and others about Jesus Christ and the hope he offers.When judgement day comes will you tell Jesus you belong in Heaven because you were a cradle catholic?
Yes, of course I believe that He is intimately concerned with His Church, He created it so that we may know Him. He, in His wisdom and love gave us The Church for a reason, your understanding or belief not with standing.
I wonder sometimes if the energy spent by Roman Catholics defending the "one true church" would not be better spent telling their members and others about Jesus Christ and the hope he offers.
Did it ever occur to you that we have to spend so much time defending the Church because you spend so much time attacking Her? And let's face reality, a knowledgeable Catholic has a far greater understanding of Christ and His revelation than any child of the reformation can have simply because you have limited your selves to the ridiculous, unbiblical notion of sola scriptura.
When judgement day comes will you tell Jesus you belong in Heaven because you were a cradle catholic?
No, I'll fall to my face and beg forgiveness for my sins and implore His mercy because I fear His judgment.
It's your soul, feel free to gamble on your anti-Scriptural beliefs.
----------------------------------------------------------------The masses always
Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say I am?"
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life."
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Peter answered, "The Christ of God."
Luke 9:18-21
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