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07416 July 11, 2007
Stated Clerk issues statement to Presbyterians concerning latest Vatican declaration
Kirkpatrick says Catholic leadership has 'mischaracterized' faith
by Presbyterian News Service LOUISVILLE - Clifton Kirkpatrick, General Assembly stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has issued an open letter to Presbyterians joining other churches and ecumenical groups in questioning a recent pronouncement by the Vatican that Protestant churches "are not churches in the proper sense."
Kirkpatrick said the July 10 statement, which the Vatican said was endorsed by Pope Benedict XVI, "mischaracterizes our faith" and "reopens questions of Christian unity..."
The full text of Kirkpatrick's letter:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We join with other churches and ecumenical bodies in raising concern about the statement released July 10, 2007, by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and ratified by Pope Benedict XVI, regarding certain aspects of the Doctrine of the Church. In seeking to clarify its understanding of the Christian faith, we are rightfully concerned that the Roman Catholic leadership has mischaracterized our own faith and re-opened questions of Christian unity for all church bodies.
We appreciate the attached letter from the General Secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), in which he expresses deep concerns about the statement. We also affirm the recent statement of the World Council of Churches, "Called to Be One Church: An invitation to the churches to renew their commitment to the search for unity and to deepen their dialogue,"which testifies that,"Each church is the Church catholic and not simply a part of it. Each church is the Church catholic, but not the whole of it. Each church fulfils its catholicity when it is in communion with the other churches." (For the full statement, go to the World Council of Churches Web site. [http://www.oikoumene.org/])
Our confessions and our Form of Government continually affirm that there is one holy catholic and apostolic Church, called into being, sent into mission, and governed by Jesus Christ alone. We affirm that the Church universal consists of all persons in every nation, together with their children who profess faith in Jesus Christ and commit themselves to live together under his rule. Our Book of Order states:
Visible oneness, by which a diversity of persons, gifts, and understandings is brought together, is an important sign of the unity of God's people. It is also a means by which that unity is achieved. Further, while divisions into different denominations do not destroy this unity, they do obscure it for both the Church and the world. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) affirming its historical continuity with the whole Church of Jesus Christ, is committed to the reduction of that obscurity and is willing to seek and to maintain communion and community with all other branches of the one, catholic Church. (G-4.0203)
While honesty is always important in ecumenical dialogue, we are concerned that after more than forty years of Reformed/Roman Catholic dialogue in the United States, thirty-seven years of international dialogue between the Vatican and WARC, and forty-two years of joint cooperative work through the World Council of Churches, the issuance of such a statement by the CDF calls into question the important theological progress in our bilateral dialogues, the recent ecumenical agreements on justification, and practical relationships that have been established.
The 213th General Assembly (2001) acknowledged the Roman Catholic Church as church and instructed the General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical Relations to form appropriate language to characterize that relationship. The 215th General Assembly (2003) amended the definition of "churches in correspondence" to include churches with which the PC(USA) has formal ecumenical dialogue. This action placed the Roman Catholic Church in correspondence with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We are in the seventh round of dialogue with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. We recognize that congregations, presbyteries, and synods throughout the PC(USA) are in dialogue and work cooperatively with their Catholic counterparts. We have made significant progress. However, yesterday's statement by the Vatican is a reminder that there is much work before us. Our commitment is to continue to live as faithful witnesses to the unity given to us in Jesus Christ. We will neither abandon our relationships with the Roman Catholic Church, nor deny our own confessional understanding of what it means to be the church universal. We remain dependent upon the Holy Spirit to move in the ecumenical task of seeking Christian unity.
Clifton Kirkpatrick Stated Clerk of the General Assembly
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
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