Roman Missal Prayer for Unity

In 1935, Abbé Paul Couturier, a priest of the Archdiocese of Lyons, sought a solution to the problem of non-Roman Catholics not being able to observe the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. He found the solution in the Roman Missal as the Association for Promotion of the Unity of Christians had done seventy-eight years earlier in England. Couturier promoted prayer for Christian unity on the inclusive basis that “our Lord would grant to his Church on earth that peace and unity which were in his mind and purpose, when, on the eve of His Passion, He prayed that all might be one.” This prayer would unite Christians in prayer for that perfect unity that God wills and by the means that he wills. Like Fr. Paul Wattson, Abbé Couturier exhibited a powerful passion for unity and had sent out “calls to prayer” annually until his death in 1953.

Source: Rev. Thomas Orians, S.A.  -  "BACKGROUND: Brief History of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2017", by Rev. Thomas Orians, S.A., Associate Director of Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, http://geii.org/week_of_prayer_for_christian_unity/background/brief_history.html

Catholic honored by Southern Baptists

Here's something you don't see every day: Catholic priest Frank Ruff was recently given a gift at the 2017 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting! This was to recognize that Rev. Ruff started attending SBC annual meetings as a Catholic "observer" 50 years ago in 1967! His organization (Glenmary) has been representing the US Catholic Bishops ever since.

Frank Ruff is well known and well loved by many in the SBC for his deep faith and his longstanding commitment to building relationships across denominational lines.

The award was given at the Executive Committee (EC) meeting. EC membership includes 80 representatives of SBC agencies and regions, including some of its senior leadership. Other guests and interested parties also attend, so that there were a few hundred in attendance. Frank Page, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Executive Committee, spoke for nearly five minutes on Rev. Ruff.
Frank Ruff and Glenmary come to the SBC as ambassadors of goodwill with a message: To give appreciation for the witness of the SBC. While we often hear about the differences and tension between denominations, there is much that we can thank each other for. We come in prayerful solidarity as our fellow Christians have this important annual meeting for their denomination.


Source: John 17:21 - Evangelicals and Catholics  -  Posted on their FB page, 27 June 2017

Baptists & Catholics Sharing a Building

A warm and friendly relationship between the two faith communities has developed. All agree that respect has been key. The Baptist and Catholic communities work hard to share the building and to be good neighbors. The Catholic congregation keeps the necessary items for Mass on carts at the back of the church. They set up for Mass and then meticulously return the space to its original configuration so that it’s ready for Baptist Sunday School and worship.

The Catholic and Baptist communities share more than just a church building. Friendships have been formed and strengthened. They pray for each other regularly and assist each other when needed. In January, the Catholic community treated their Baptist hosts to an afternoon meal and social time in appreciation for their hospitality.

“It’s [the fire] bringing the (larger) community closer together,” remarked Pastor Buck. “It has really been a blessing.”


Source: Frank Lesko - "After the Fire", Posted 3 Jan 2017 on Glenmary Home Missioners, http://www.glenmary.org/after-the-fire/

Canada's Apology to the Jews for Turning Away the St. Louis

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally apologized on Wednesday for the country’s 1939 refusal to take in a ship carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees, adding that the country would do more to protect Canadian Jews from violence.

The St. Louis left Hamburg in May 1939 in a desperate search for a safe haven from persecution by Nazi Germany. After it was rebuffed by Canada and other nations, it returned to Europe, where historians have estimated that more than 250 of the passengers were murdered in Nazi death camps.

“We apologize to the 907 German Jews aboard the St. Louis, as well as their families,” Trudeau told the House of Commons. “We are sorry for the callousness of Canada’s response. We are sorry for not apologizing sooner.”

Source: Ynet News - "Trudeau apologizes for Canada's 1939 refusal of Jewish refugee ship", 11.08.18
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5392569,00.html

Fulfillment

The challenge of sifting legitimate cultural expressions from illegitimate goes back at least to Gregory’s letters to Augustine of Canterbury. The devil is in the details, but at a high level of generality, we can say this: Every culture will have to abandon some of its most cherished ways in order to follow Jesus; but at the same time, conversion should be presented and experienced not primarily as renunciation but as fulfillment. Christian Koreans don’t cease to be Korean, but, united to the Last Adam, they become the Koreans God created them to be.

Source: Peter Leithart - First Things, "Unity and Uniformity", 27 Oct 2016, https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/leithart/2016/10/unity-and-uniformity

"The Past Shapes The Present"

Callaway's lynching lived in whispers among African-Americans of that era. As they passed on, in the absence of official records, media accounts or a gravestone, Callaway faded from the town's collective memory.

Almost no one in LaGrange today knew Austin Callaway's name until recently -- not his descendants, not the local NAACP president, not the mayor, not even Police Chief Louis Dekmar.

As the chief learned more about the lynching, he came to understand how it strained relations between his force and the African-American community. He decided it was time to apologize for law enforcement's role and acknowledge its impact on community relations.

"The past shapes the present," he said in an interview before the event.


Source: Police Chief Louis Dekmar - Louis Dekmar, Police Chief of LaGrange Georgia, as quoted in "'Justice failed Austin Callaway': Town attempts to atone for 1940 lynching", Emanuella Grinberg, CNN, 28 Jan 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/26/us/lagrange-georgia-callaway-1940-lynching/index.html

The Treasures of Other Traditions

The book is catholic in the sense that it respects the beliefs and practices of the historic churches. Truths about the Spirit are scattered throughout segments of a divided church and ought to be gathered from anywhere and everywhere. We are bound in the Spirit to believers of every continent and every century. Therefore I have dipped into the treasures of Catholic and Orthodox traditions in ways that I had not done before and have found affinities that surprised and delighted me.

Source: Clark H. Pinnock - Introduction to "Flame of Love: A Theology of the Holy Spirit", p. 18

German Evangelicals visit Rome

Greeting the German delegation in his private library, Francis sought to give new impetus to the effort toward Christian unity. He encouraged evangelicals and Catholics, when considering an ecumenical initiative, to ask themselves: “Can we share it with our brothers and sisters in Christ? Can we do another stretch of the road together?

“We have the same baptism: We must walk together, without growing tired,” Francis said. There is no going back on the road to unity he assured the delegation; Catholics and evangelicals must “continue to witness together to the Gospel and to continue on the road to full unity.”

Source: Gerard O'Connell - "German Evangelical Church issues historic invite to Pope Francis", America : The Jesuit Review, 6 Feb 2017, http://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2017/02/06/german-evangelical-church-issues-historic-invite-pope-francis

Our Filters Get Clogged

I think every small business owner like myself can relate to that story. I think of my brother, my brother-in-law, and my current partner Greg. In each case (three different businesses) I can still picture the moment of conflict that nearly ruined us. We had a choice, either reconcile or part ways. By God’s grace we reconciled in all three cases. I cried because while reading the story I flashed back thinking through the conflict and then reflecting on all the good of these men. So I could totally identify with this story. Years of business have a way of tiring us out and our filters get clogged and we snap at things we shouldn’t. It was a good reminder to clean out my filter with God’s Word.

Source: Ken Sande - "Reconciled by a Baby Moose", Relational Wisdom Blog, http://rw360.org/2016/10/03/reconciled-baby-moose/

Both Are "Fullness"

Fundamentally, says Kreeft, an Evangelical is faced with the choice of trading one fullness for another, and that’s the dichotomy that we, as Catholics, must erase.

As an Evangelical Protestant convert to Catholic myself, I’ve been profoundly attracted to the idea of receiving the fullness of Christ in the Catholic Church: being able to receive Christ in the Eucharist, being able to receive more of a more of God’s graces through the sacraments, and reconnecting to the ancient Christian Church.

But, it’s a significant trade-off to leave the Evangelical world and become a Catholic.

To give up an enriching Evangelical community of fellowship, worship, and prayer.

Many parishes are sleepy: their worship music drones on with no one in particular joining in, their priest’s homilies are trite and without thread of a theme, their programming for families (something as basic as Sunday School) is largely absent, and they don’t feel like communities (everyone keeps their coats on and has a foot out the door by the end of Communion).

This is what Kreeft means by trading one fullness for another.


Source: K. Albert Little - The Cordial Catholic on Patheos, 26 April 2016, "The Catholic Church Must Become More Protestant", http://www.patheos.com/blogs/albertlittle/the-catholic-church-must-become-more-protestant/

Octave of Prayer

What were some of the important historical antecedents to this octave of prayer? Certainly in the 19th century, the desire for Christians to pray together was part of the spirit of the age among those alarmed by the divisions which weakened the power of Christian witness. In 1846, for instance, the Evangelical Alliance was established in London and had developed both international and inter-church connections. Ruth Rouse noted that it was “the one and only definitely ecumenical organization . . . which arose out of the Evangelical Awakening in the 19th century” (A History of the Ecumenical Movement: 1517-1948). The concept of unity espoused in their constitution was union among Christian individuals of different churches for renewal in the Spirit; they would not deal with the question of the reunion of churches. The Alliance set aside one week beginning on the first Sunday of the year, for united prayer by members of different churches to pray for renewal in the Spirit.

Source: Rev. Thomas Orians, S.A. - "BACKGROUND: Brief History of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2017", by Rev. Thomas Orians, S.A., Associate Director of Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, http://geii.org/week_of_prayer_for_christian_unity/background/brief_history.html

Gary Kinnaman / Phoenix

Late 1990s.

I preached a series of messages on what Evangelicals can learn from Catholics and what Catholics can learn from each other. Perhaps half of the people in my congregation were from a Catholic background. (I never called them “former” Catholics.) Most of their families were divided: Catholic family members were offended and angry their loved ones were no longer attending mass, and Catholic-background folks in my congregation wanted their Catholic family members to be “born-again.”

For my message on what we can learn from Catholics, I invited the local monsignor to do a video for us to answer the question. After the service, my wife said, “I want to go to his church.”

My purpose in this teaching series was to bring down the dividing walls of misunderstanding and hostility. As my dear friend in Phoenix, Auxiliary Bishop E. Nevares loves to say, “Can we just pray together?”

2000.

We formed an interconfessional team (Catholics, Mainline, Evangelicals) to plan and implement a citywide celebration of the 2000-year history of Christianity. About 35,000 attended the event at our baseball stadium. I served on the planning team, which met at the diocesan center.


Source: Gary Kinnaman - Presented during Movement Day NYC, representing the John 17 movement and Greater Phoenix and Arizona Catholic/Evangelical Bridges, as posted on the John 17 FB page on 1 November 2016.

George Yancey (as per the Daily Texan)

George Yancey, a sociology professor at the University of North Texas, held a lecture Monday on what Christianity can teach about increasing interracial communication on racism.
...
Yancey isn’t a theologian but said he believes taking a Christian approach toward talking about racism is a step in the right direction.
He said Christianity teaches people how sin permeates the core of our life and this provides different groups reasons not to trust each other.
Yancey introduced the mutual obligation approach to solve the problem of interracial communication on racism. This approach has everyone recognize people’s sinful natures and in realizing this, people have the obligation to work toward a healthy dialogue. He said people need to recognize the cultural or racial differences at play and work toward a solution that can be accepted by all.
...
Active listening is another strategy Yancey presented, which involves listening to opposite perspectives. He said you don’t have to agree with other people’s perspectives but listening to them will help move the conversation forward.
...
One audience member brought up the issue of alienating those that did not practice Christianity. Yancey said you don’t have to be Christian to practice this approach on dealing with racism.

Source: Van Nguyen - Daily Texan, "Professor lectures on taking a Christian approach to interracial communication", 20 Sept 2016, http://dailytexanonline.com/2016/09/20/professor-lectures-on-taking-a-christian-approach-to-interracial-communication

Hanna Miley

10 – Hanna (and I) began to pray prayers of blessing. “Come Lord Jesus. Redeem the past. Manifest your kingdom. Bless the Eifel and its people.”

11 – A Jewish follower of the Jewish Messiah had returned, in fulfillment of God’s calling to her people Israel—to bless the Gentiles. Genesis 12:3


Source: George Miley - Maturing Toward Wholeness in the Inner Life, Chapter 1, "Restore the Ancient Anointings", http://www.quellen.org

Identificational Repentance in Austin

Some of your ancestors had land taken away from them in the Southwest, in direct violation of the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo signed with the Mexican government by the US

Today, it is hard to know Christ’s acceptance from us when you feel targeted by our police, rejected by our politicians, and taken advantage of by contractors who leave you unpaid or underpaid after a hard day’s work.

So as a white person, I apologize on behalf of my people, repent before God for our sins, ask for your forgiveness, and express my heart’s fervent desire that this would change.



Source: Thomas Cogdell - Repentance towards Hispanics during the 2007 Global Day of Prayer service in Austin Texas

Catholic becoming Orthodox

He was supportive of me when I was received into the Orthodox Church at a parish of the Moscow Patriarchate in Amsterdam. Not every Catholic priest I was close to at the time viewed this as a positive event. Dan teased me: “This kind of thing can happen when you love your enemies.” He was referring to my frequent trips to Soviet Russia in the 1980s and the two books that came out of those journeys.

Source: Jim Forest - "Father Daniel Berrigan, SJ: Why Should an Orthodox Christian be Interested in Him?", Orthdoxy In Dialogue, 12 Dec 2017
https://orthodoxyindialogue.com/2017/12/12/father-daniel-berrigan-sj-why-should-an-orthodox-christian-be-interested-in-him-by-jim-forest/

Cardinal Sean O’Malley

Then, on Saturday afternoon, over 800 people from a broad spectrum of denominations came to a Catholic church to meet and talk over lunch, share faith in workshop discussions, join their hearts and voices in a prayer service, and after, to participate in a mission and volunteering fair in the church hall. The variety of music served as a symbol of the richness of gifts within the Christian family, led in turn by a Pentecostal worship team, an Orthodox Byzantine choir, a Coptic Orthodox choir, a Taizé chant group, along with regular Catholic/Protestant hymnody. The service was co-presided by eight church leaders, and in his homily Cardinal Sean O’Malley reminded those present that we are all members of the one body of Christ through our common baptism, and that “our divisions are an impediment to our announcing the gospel and prevent people from accepting the good news.”

Source: Thomas Ryan, CSP - "Keep the Fire Burning", Paulist Fathers blog post, 6 February 2017, http://www.paulist.org/the-conversation/keep-the-fire-burning/