wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Kirkpatrick leads Reformed group in Vatican

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Note #9059 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

06006
Jan. 9, 2006

Pope hails spirit of Christian unity

Kirkpatrick leads Reformed group in Vatican reconciliation talks

by Stephen Brown
  
GENEVA - Pope Benedict XVI said dialogue with the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches (WARC) is healing "tragic divisions" between Christians dating from
the 16th-century Protestant Reformation.

	The Pope spoke on Jan. 7 after a meeting with a delegation of the
alliance led by its president, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of
the Presbyterian Church (USA).

	"I pray that our meeting today will itself bear fruit in a renewed
commitment to work for the unity of all Christians," said Benedict, who said
after his election in April that promoting Christian unity would be his
"primary task."

	WARC has more than 200 Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed and
United churches that trace their origins to the Reformation.

	Kirkpatrick said after his meeting with the Pope that he hopes recent
steps toward unity are the first of many.

	"There is still much to be done to move beyond our past condemnations
of one another, to truly respect one another as parts of the one body of
Jesus Christ, serve God together without worrying about inhibitions in our
nations and to come together at the table of our Lord," he said.

	Kirkpatrick also urged joint action on social-justice issues.

	"We are eager ... to pursue with you how Catholic and Reformed
Christians might be partners together for God's justice in a world wracked by
poverty, war, ecological destruction, and the denial of human freedom," he
said.

	Pope Benedict hailed the Catholic-Reformed dialogue, saying that it
has "made an important contribution to the demanding work of theological
reflection and historical investigation indispensable for surmounting the
tragic divisions which arose among Christians in the sixteenth century."

	The Pope also spoke of a need for "a purification of memory," noting
that his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, was a pioneer in this endeavor.

	"I am pleased to learn that several of the Reformed Churches ... have
undertaken similar initiatives," he said.

	After the meeting, WARC's general secretary, the Rev. Setri Nyomi,
said: "This visit was an important symbol of WARC's commitment to Christian
unity as well as to working with other Christian world communions in
transforming the world into more just communities."

	The full text of Kirkpatrick's message to Benedict, dated Jan. 7:

Your Holiness, in this Season of Epiphany we greet you in the name of Jesus
Christ, who is revealed as Lord and Savior of the world. We extend a special
word of congratulations to you as you begin your ministry as the Successor to
Peter and assure you of the prayers of Reformed Christians all over the world
that God will richly bless your ministry.

We come representing the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the global
fellowship of 215 churches of Reformed and Congregational traditions composed
of some 75 million Christians from all parts of our world. We are churches
shaped by the Protestant Reformation and its values but also deeply committee
to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church of which both of our
communities are a part.  

We are extremely grateful for the three phases of the Reformed-Roman Catholic
dialogue that have been completed and have born real fruit in our common
understanding of the presence of Christ and the nature of the church and in
our common witness to the Kingdom of God. We are eager to begin the next
stage of efforts to move closer together in common faith and witness and look
forward to exploring this possibility with the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity while we are here in Rome. As Reformed Christians,
we will also soon be commemorating the 500th anniversary of the founding of
our movement and are eager to find ways to approach these events and our
learning from them ecumenically with our sisters and brothers from the
Catholic Church.

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches has recently concluded its 24th
General Council, the every seven year gathering of leaders from Reformed
Churches all over the world - this one held in Accra, Ghana in August of
2004. The theme of that Council was Jesus promise in John 10:10 that he has
come so that all "may have life, and have it in fullness." The exploration of
that theme and the witness of our growing churches in Africa and other parts
of the South led us to a common core commitment to justice in the economy and
the earth as our central calling as Reformed Churches in this period of
history. We see this commitment not simply as a matter of social justice but
rather as a concern that is central to the very integrity of our Christian
faith. We are eager during our visit here at the Vatican to pursue with you
how Catholic and Reformed Christians might be partners together for God's
justice in a world wracked by poverty, war, ecological destruction, and the
denial of hu!
 man freedom.

Finally, we come as pilgrims in the cause of Christian unity. At the core of
our tradition is the understanding that to be Reformed is to be faithful to
Jesus' high priestly prayer "that they might all be one ... that the world
might believe." (John 17: 21) We are grateful for new ecumenical
breakthroughs between Protestant and Catholics. In talking with the Moderator
of the Waldensian Church here in Italy, who is part of our delegation, I was
pleased to learn of positive new ecumenical developments between Protestants
and Catholics around honoring the Bible and inter-confessional marriages and
of new structures of ecumenical cooperation at the grass roots levels -
developments that are paralleled in the U.S.A. where I live and in many parts
of the world.

However, there is still much to be done to move beyond our past condemnations
of one another, to truly respect one another as parts of the one body of
Jesus Christ, to serve God together without worrying about inhibitions in our
nations, and to come together at the table of our Lord. We are eager to be
partners with you in this important ministry of Christian unity.

In many ways, historians will likely look back on the second millennium of
Christian history as the millennium of the division of the Christian Church.
May we together, in the power of the Holy Spirit, commit our efforts to make
the third millennium the era of the reuniting of the broken body of Christ.
May God bless you and may God bless our common efforts to be pilgrims
together for the unity that Christ intends for the Church and the world!

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