BALTIMORE, Maryland May 12, 2014 - The Vatican said today that Catholic and Anglican theologians are meeting beginning today in Durban, South Africa in the fourth leg of their continuing current diaglogue known as ARCIC III. And while the stated purpose of the meeting is the hard work of agreeing on a methadology for resolving existing differences, one of the Vatican's representative at the meetings was also eager to address what he admitted was a criticism of the high-level talks: that they move too slow.
Recently appointed co-secretary of the dialogue is Fr Tony Currer. And he told Vatican Radio in a story that appears on its web page today that neither church is interested in producing quickly arrived at press releases that paint false hopes for unity between the two large Christian Communions. Said Fr. Currer: ”it’ll take some real hard thinking to really come up with a meeting of minds that is not just papering over the differences – that’s what will be of service to both communities and that’s what we’re trying to produce.”
The meeting is scheduled to last ten days. According to Fr. Currer, there is an unexpected commonality between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church. Both have historical beginnings in the Western World, where both face "problems of secularism….and a culture that is becoming estranged from its Christian roots…" And on the positive side, both churches are experiencing expanding membership in the Southern Hemisphere. "At the same time, we’ve got expansion in the ‘global south’ but that causes a challenge for us to be a global communion across that vast cultural difference…."
The entire story, including a more thorough explanation of what the meeting hopes to accomplish, can be found at this web page: http://www.news.va/en/news/catholics-and-anglicans-meet-for-arcic-talks-in-so
Vatican Radio also carried a message by Pope Francis, which he gave today during Morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta. He said that even in an increasingly secular world there are people follow Jesus, or say they follow Jesus, when their real purpose is a thirst for power and wealth. The Pontiff prayed for the Lord to give all the grace to follow Christ because they love Christ.
The Pontiff zeroed in on one human trait that bothers Christians and Secular folk alike: those people who perform what are certainly good acts or good works, but do so for the worst of reasons. The first – he said – is vanity. In particular he refers to those who are in public positions who give alms or fast because they want to be seen doing so:
“This is not the right attitude. Vanity is not good, vanity causes us to slip on our pride and everything ends there. So I ask myself the question: and me? How do I follow Jesus? When I do good, do I do it under the public eye, or do I do it in private?”
And the Pope said, “I also think of pastors, because a pastor who is vain does not do good to the people of God: even if he is a priest or a bishop, he does not follow Jesus if he is besotted by vanity”.
A second lamentable reason for people to claim they are Christians, said the Pope, are those who do so in their, as he called it, "thirst for power. Some of those who follow Jesus do so in search of power. Perhaps they do not do so with full consciousness. A clear example of this is to be found in John and James, the sons of Zebedee who asked Jesus to seat them in places of honour, one on His right and one on His left in his Kingdom. And in the Church there are climbers, people driven by ambition! There are many of them! But if you like climbing go to the mountains and climb them: it is healthier! Do not come to Church to climb! And Jesus scolds people with this kind of ambitious attitude in the Church”.
Vatican Radio quoted the Pontiff as saying that only when the Holy Spirit came, did the disciples change. But, he warned, sin remains in our Christian lives and we must continue to ask ourselves the question: “in what way do I follow Christ? Only for Him, even to the Cross, or do I do it for power? Do I use the Church, the Christian community, the parish, the diocese to gain some power?”
The Pontiff also pointed to a third and more obvious reason for masquerading as a follower of the Lord: Money.
No comments:
Post a Comment