Christian Unity is more than a “nice to have” it is an essential element of those who confess their vocation to live like Christ. The scandal to the world is the disunification of the Christian churches. Ironically, in disunity, many find strength because they are “not like the others”. They enjoy the separation because it Read more
Pope Francis said divided Christians should suffer because they cannot share the Eucharist. However, that suffering should spur them to work and pray harder for Christian unity. On the 491st anniversary of the Augsburg Confession, the pope held an audience with members of the Lutheran World Federation in the Vatican. In his address to the Read more
Catholics must work towards Christian unity, a new guidebook from the Vatican says. It can no longer be seen as “optional” by bishops. They won’t be left to work out how on their own though. The new guidebook, released by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, offers practical ways for bishops to promote unity Read more
Twenty-five years ago, St. John Paul II’s encyclical on ecumenism, “Ut Unum Sint,” put the papal seal of approval on a shift in the Catholic Church’s approach to the search for Christian unity. For the 30 years from the Second Vatican Council to the publication of St. John Paul’s encyclical May 25, 1995, official ecumenical Read more
Five hundred years ago, Martin Luther, a German monk, initiated a split in Christianity that came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. After the Reformation, deep divisions between Protestants and Catholics contributed to wars, hostility and violence in Europe and America. For centuries, each side denounced the other and sought to convert its followers. Then, in the early 1900s, Read more
Hundreds packed Wellington’s Sacred Heart Cathedral on Sunday to witness what could be described as a second Reformation. The crowd was witnessing New Zealand’s formal commitment to healing the divisions of the Reformation: the 500 year-long separation of Lutherans and Catholics. The atmosphere was joyful, positive and affirming as Lutheran Bishop Mark Whitfield and Cardinal Read more
The movement towards healing the 500 years of separation between Lutherans and Roman Catholics takes a step closer in New Zealand next week. On Sunday 4 June Lutheran Bishop Mark Whitfield and Cardinal John Dew will open a formal dialogue for the two Christian denominations with a combined ecumenical service in Sacred Heart Cathedral to Read more
The Reformation’s 500th jubilee is important to Catholics as well as Protestants, says Sr Joyce Ann Zimmerman. Zimmerman is a Sister of the Precious Blood, and a professor of liturgy from Dayton, Ohio. Although the Catholic Church has been involved in a number of divisions over the millennia – including the Protestant Reformation – it Read more
The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, opened his ecumenical and interfaith tour of New Zealand and Australia on 6 October. The first stop was Auckland with a powhiri at Te Karaiti Te Pou Herenga Waka Maori Anglican church in Mangere. Tveit will visit the region between Read more
Ukrainian Christians are facing violence with a unified front. “To overcome conflicts, to fight hatred with goodness, and to make Ukraine a free and European country: these are the tasks of the Catholic Church in Ukraine”, according to a priest with knowledge of the situation. Christians in Ukraine are facing a difficult experience. Despite the Read more