Some years later when [Thomas Howard] entered the [Catholic] Church, he lost the job [at Gordon College]. When he delivered his resignation letter to the president’s secretary and walked back upstairs to his office, he’d barely sat down when she knocked on the door and handed him the president’s acceptance. It was a don’t let the door hit you on the backside on the way out gesture. We lived nearby then and knew the college. Insiders told me the donors would not tolerate a Catholic on the faculty, and there was never any chance the college would keep him.
Source: David Mills - "RIP Thomas Howard: 1935-2020", Catholic Herald, 15 October 2020
https://catholicherald.co.uk/ch/rip-thomas-howard-1935-2020/
An Atheist Talks About Christians
This week a friend told me about an atheist who has been involved in a Christian bible study group for nearly a decade. This atheist dropped out of the group a few months ago, telling my friend, “I may return when this election is over. I can’t believe the things I have heard Christians say about other Christians they disagree with in our group. It is alarming and I hate it.” So this non-believer walked away from a group of Christians because of the divisive and constant promotion of political opinion. I have also met Christians who cannot talk to their own family and friends until after November 8.
If ever we needed a renewal of prayer for obedience to Jesus and his costly love it is now. The story my friend shares about their bible study group underscores the need for costly love with profound pathos. Christians have not only stopped talking to one another we are now driving away non-Christians by our lack of civility and growing inability to dialogue with one another.
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I read last week that more friends are breaking up, and more families are being divided, during this election season than at any time on record. Is that what we have come to as a society? As a church? We no longer work to preserve unity. Now we are not even interested in civility. We have connected our ideologies with particular parties and candidates and created a partisan fault line that will not allow love to build bridges to unity. The damage left in the wake of this incivility is dangerous and killing to our mission.
My response should not surprise you. I believe we need love and unity, not passionate emotions and heated arguments. Denominationalism is breaking apart. (I welcome this development since denominations are not biblical and promote tribalism and pride!) But in the place of denominations what will hold us together? We have tried politics and moral issue but this will never work unite us for long. Our myriad divisions are only worse. Perhaps God will lead a growing number of his people to pursue missional-ecumenism, an ecumenism of deep visible unity rooted in respect and dialogue which allows us to center our communities in Christ and eternal hope, not in the political debates of our culture. I am praying and working to this end.
Source: John Armstrong - Act 3 Weekly newsletter, 7 Nov 2016, http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=9b25fafc484bd792c081b1abe&id=cb777cefc2&e=8d662dd023
*All* of you
I gave the same kind of advice to Ted. Sadly, his pride clouded his judgment, and he continued trying to vindicate himself in the eyes of his elders and congregation. One defensive argument led to another, and within three months, he was voted out of the church.
Neither of these results is inevitable, but you will always better off if you live out the wisdom of 1 Peter 5:5:
Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Source: Ken Sande - "The Best Way to Rewrite History", EmotionalWisdom360 Blog, 2017 Jan 23, https://rw360.org/2017/01/23/best-way-rewrite-history/
A Change Of Era
In a 49-minute speech to a decennial national conference of the Italian church -- which is bringing together some 2,200 people from 220 dioceses to this historic renaissance city for five days -- Francis said Catholics must realize: "We are not living an era of change but a change of era."
Source: Pope Francis - As quoted by Vatican Insider, 11 Oct 2016, "Catholicism can and must change, Francis forcefully tells Italian church gathering", Joshua J. McElwee, http://www.lastampa.it/2015/11/10/vaticaninsider/eng/the-vatican/catholicism-can-and-must-change-francis-forcefully-tells-italian-church-gathering-3SPjdW31a3R9grTkBMg26O/pagina.html
Healing of Memories
The 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation is an opportunity for a "healing of memories", the leaders of the Catholic and evangelical churches in Germany have announced.
Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and Cardinal Reinhard Marx of the Roman Catholic Church have published a 'Common Word' document to mark the anniversary of when Martin Luther supposedly nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral in October 1517. The 90-page statement calls for reflection on the reformers' concerns and to listen afresh to their calls for repentance and spiritual renewal.
Source: Harry Farley - "After centuries of separation, evangelicals and Catholics look to shared future", Christian Today eMagazine, 22 September 2016, http://www.christiantoday.com/article/after.centuries.of.separation.evangelicals.and.catholics.look.to.shared.future/96072.htm
Hans Urs von Balthasar
But resistance comes from Pope Peter II, John the Elder, leader of the Orthodox and Professor Ernst Pauli, representing Protestantism: under the pressure of persecution the three churches in this eschatological situation at last unite. Peter's primacy is recognized, and the Pauline and Johannine churches come into the Roman fold. The spokesmen of Christianity are persecuted and killed, but they rise again; the last Christians journey to the wilderness, the Jews raise a revolt and the Christians join with them. They are slaughtered; but then Christ appears, robed in the imperial purple, his hands outspread with the marks of the nails upon them, to rule for a thousand years with those who are his own.
Source: Hans Urs von Balthasar - From an article by Hans Urs von Balthasar on Soloviev in the Third Volume of "The Glory of the Lord"
S. African Vision
I see laborers from Soweto and landowners from Pretoria honoring and serving each other out of reverence for Christ.
Source: Emmanuel Katongole & Chris Rice - Reconciling All Things, p. 275
March of Life
The March of Life organization was founded nine years ago in a bid to commemorate the Holocaust and fight anti-Semitism. It encourages young Germans to investigate their families’ past, break the barrier of silence and uncover the acts committed by their grandparents in the Holocaust.
“For years, no one in Germany discussed what had happened only several meters from the German city centers, “explains Heinz Reuss, the organization’s international director. “Not only was there no public debate, there were no family conversations about the past either. People didn’t talk about what they did in the war. We started investigating our family’s past, started asking questions. Many of us discovered that they grandparents were Nazi criminals. We were shocked.”
Source: Itay Ilnai - "Nazis’ descendants sing ‘Hatikva’ to Holocaust survivors", Ynet News, 6 Jan 2017, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4902914,00.html
What was the intention of Martin Luther?
On this path, we Catholics and Lutherans, from several countries, together with various communities sharing our ecumenical journey, reached a significant step when, on 31 October last, we gathered together in Lund, Sweden, to commemorate through common prayer the beginning of the Reformation. This joint commemoration of the Reformation was important on both the human and theological-spiritual levels. After fifty years of official ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Lutherans, we have succeeded in clearly articulating points of view which today we agree on. For this we are grateful. At the same time we keep alive in our hearts sincere contrition for our faults. In this spirit, we recalled in Lund that the intention of Martin Luther five hundred years ago was to renew the Church, not divide her. The gathering there gave us the courage and strength, in our Lord Jesus Christ, to look ahead to the ecumenical journey that we are called to walk together.
Source: Pope Francis - Address to the members of the Ecumenical Delegation from Finland, as quoted in "Pope: Luther’s intention was to renew the Church, not divide her", Vatican Radio, 19 Jan 2017, http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/01/19/pope_luther%E2%80%99s_intention_was_to_renew_the_church,_not_divide/1286728
Anglican Repentance for Reformation Violence
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is expected to issue a statement this week apologizing for the violence that followed the Protestant Reformation 500 years ago.
The statement, according to news accounts, will express remorse that the (Protestant) Church of England carried out so many acts of violence - including burning Roman Catholics at the stake.
It will also urge believers to ask for forgiveness for atrocities that happened on both sides during the Reformation and for greater unity between Catholic and Protestant churches today.
Source: Crux - "Archbishop of Canterbury to express remorse over Reformation violence", Crux Religion News Service, 17 January 2017, https://cruxnow.com/rns/2017/01/17/archbishop-canterbury-express-remorse-reformation-violence/
On The Way To Unity
“Dear sisters and brothers, let us pause to honor this historic moment,” said ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton addressing the assembly following the vote. “Though we have not yet arrived, we have claimed that we are, in fact, on the way to unity. After 500 years of division and 50 years of dialogue, this action must be understood in the context of other significant agreements we have reached, most notably the ‘Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification’ in 1999.”
“This ‘Declaration on the Way’ helps us to realize more fully our unity in Christ with our Catholic partners, but it also serves to embolden our commitment to unity with all Christians,” said Eaton.
Source: Episcopal Café - Press release from the ELCA (http://www.elca.org/News‐and‐Events/7848), ELCA approves historic agreement with Roman Catholic Church (http://www.episcopalcafe.com/elcaapproves historicagreementwithromancatholicchurch/)
Repentance from the Serbian Orthodox Church
Jesus' attitude is not a popular one in our day, even in religious quarters. And in the rare instances where it is promoted publicly, the response is often skeptical, if not downright cynical. Such was the case in 2005, when the Serbian Orthodox Church surprised observers across Europe by asking forgiveness for its support of Milosevic's regime. "We honestly offer our Albanian co-citizens reconciliation and mutual forgiveness," it said in the opening sentences of a public statement. Critics belittled the apology as a political move, but there were others who embraced the chance for dialogue. They noted that whatever its effect, it was the first such attempt to honestly address the hatreds that had led to one atrocity after another across the region for most of the previous decade.
Source: Johann Christoph Arnold - Why Forgive?, pp.210-211
Amy Cogdell
When I was younger, I used to believe that all the great Catholic Christians of history would have been Protestants if they had only had the opportunity or sound teaching. The more I read of their writing, the more I understand that they were truly Catholic with all the particular quirks of Catholic spirituality. Many of my favorite writers are from the Counter-Reformation and they spoke out strongly against the reformers. I often like to think of them in heaven, singing next to the Wesley brothers.
Source: Amy Cogdell - Personal correspondence
How Streams Of Living Water Become Isolated
The astonishing new reality in this mighty flow of the Spirit is how sovereignly God is bringing together streams of life that have been isolated from one another for a very long time. This isolation is completely understandable from a historical perspective. Over the centuries, some precious teaching or vital experience is neglected until, at the appropriate moment, a person or movement arises to correct the omission. Numbers of people come under the renewed teaching, but soon vested interests and a host of other factors come into play, producing resistance to the renewal, and the new movement is denounced. In time it forms its own structures and community life, often in isolation from other Christian communities.
Source: Richard Foster - Streams of Living Water, p. xv
Latasha Morrison
Ultimately the name [Be the Bridge] came from a conversation I had with God on my way to attending the IF conference in 2014. In the middle of feelings homesick for Atlanta, I remember God telling me, “I brought you to Austin to be a bridge.” I used to say that phrase “be the bridge” to my staff, back when I was in the African American church in Atlanta. We were in-between: We weren’t traditionally an African American church, but we weren’t a white church, either. We knew how to fit in both worlds and be comfortable.
Source: Latasha Morrison - As quoted in Christianity Today, "Latasha Morrison: The Church Is the ‘Only Place Equipped to Do Racial Reconciliation Well’", interview by Morgan Lee, January 2017, http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2017/january/latasha-morrison-church-is-only-place-equipped-to-do.html
Michael Tessman
The fractious church culture to which we've long become accustomed corrodes our witness to Christ, reduced churches to outsized institutional principalities seeking survival, and renders the mandate to love one another to a hollow, empty suggestion. Reconciliation is the latest buzzword commanding fine rhetoric and much spilling of ink, yet the ecclesial bodies bearing Christ's name cannot demonstrate how it is done. They have no authority to preach it to a world starving for it. Time's overdue for a truth and reconciliation commission for the churches combined.
Source: Michael Tessman - Letter to the editor, Sojourners, June 2019
Fearless Giant & Pioneer
Fr. Peter Hocken died. Fearless giant and a pioneer among the Catholic Charismatics who walked with all Christians and Messianic Jews while making the desire of Jesus in John 17 to make us one reality of his every day.
This is very sad news for all of us who are into building ecumenical pathways but we hope his intercession will accelerate our work now.
Source: MajorChange - Posted on FB on 10 June 2017
A Pastor Publicly Repents
But what made their situation truly remarkable is what Andrew did the Sunday after Susan and Elaine came to talk with him.
With Susan’s permission, he described their conversation to the entire congregation, commending Susan for her graciousness and courage as well as Elaine for her wisdom and advice.
And then he said this:
“As I’ve reflected on what Susan told me about my behavior toward her, I realized I’ve probably treated other people in our church with the same kind of pride, thoughtlessness and impatience. So I’m asking for your forgiveness today as well. If you need to talk with me about how I’ve treated you, my door is open. Please pray that God would help me to become more sensitive to how I’m treating others, and if you see me stumble, please do me the favor of pointing it out so I can continue to grow.”
Source: Ken Sande - "Public Confession is Counterintuitive", Relational Wisdom 360 eNewsletter, 7 August 2016
https://rw360.org/2016/08/07/public-confession-counterintuitive/
The Humility of Fr. Magill (part 2)
Fr Martin Magill’s Ecumenical Tithing: Rosemary Presbyterian Church
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When I used to live in North Belfast, over 15 years ago, I was a regular visitor to events at Rosemary Presbyterian church. I returned there, this time to the church halls, for evening worship. I spoke to a number of people I remembered from that time.
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As I reflect on the whole experience, I recognise how good it was to worship with people I had known over 15 years ago. I had a number of conversations reflecting on the area and the challenge for the churches in North Belfast I detected a keenness for the churches to work together. I heard about a prayer course based on the ideas of the 24/7 prayer initiative which was open to all the Christian denominations in the area. I also found it helpful to hear about discipleship because the gospel passage which I will preach on from the Common Lectionary comes from Matthew 28 and the command of Jesus to make disciples.
Source: Fr. Martin Magill - As quoted by Gladys Ganiel on her blog Building a Church Without Walls, 2014, http://www.gladysganiel.com/irish-catholic-church/fr-martin-magills-ecumenical-tithing-rosemary-presbyterian/
The Love of Christ Compels Us to Reconcile
Some of us are old enough to remember when we Catholics were regularly instructed not to attend the funerals or weddings of our Protestant neighbors, relatives or friends. It was an awkward time to be sure because the human heart seeks to be united to loved ones in such moments of great sorrow and deep joy. I believe that it is the grace of the Holy Spirit that urges us to seek some expression of ecclesial union at those moments.
Source: Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory - The Georgia Bulletin, "The love of Christ compels us to reconcile", 26 Jan 2017, https://georgiabulletin.org/commentary/2017/01/love-christ-compels-us-reconcile/ (ALSO IN SPANISH at https://georgiabulletin.org/commentary/2017/01/el-amor-de-cristo-nos-apremia-reconciliarnos/?lang=es)