Thus saith the Vatican: non-Catholics aren’t part of the true church.
How’s this for a marketing slogan:
Christianity: Answering Questions Nobody’s Asking Anymore
Thankfully many Catholics have a long history of ignoring headquarters.
My father’s family is big and Irish and Catholic. My dad was supposed to be the priest in the family. He even went to seminary for a time; it didn’t stick. Exhibits A, B, C, and D: my siblings and I.
He died a Presbyterian seeker.
The summer before R and I got married, we were at a family event and someone asked us whether our wedding was going to be in The Church. I said yes, seeing as how it was a verbal question… I didn’t pick up on the capital letters. Yes, we’re getting married in the church as opposed to Hermann Park or VFW Hall.
My grandparents are as staunch Catholics as you can get. I’m sure it grieves them that few to none of their dozen-plus grandchildren are Catholic.
But I got a letter from them recently, and it was addressed to
Rev. Firstname Lastname.
In it they shared a hope that they could someday come and hear “their number 1 granddaughter preach the Word of God.”
Let the pontiff pontificate. I’m moving on. And so are a lot of people.
12 Responses to “on being a ‘real’ christian”
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Asides
» It’s National Procrastination Week (who comes up with these things?), and in honor of people like me who like to celebrate NPW all year long, here’s a good article.
» Best packaging. Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in another country that stood off the shelves? Well, that’s kind of a silly question, but I’ve come this far with the blog challenge… I did get this Gelaskin for my laptop. If you see me in the coffee place, say hi.
» When did you get your best rush of the year? Here.
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Surely he is going to back pedal on that one.
Does he have a corner on the market? And WHOSE market is it anyway?
until they get to suburban pres to hear you, make sure they know how to listen in on your online sermons.
and keep that letter and envelope in a safe place so you can pull it out on a rainy day.
That is beautiful. It is how I felt when all by Baptist family (including a smalltown East Texas SBC preacher) told me how proud they were of what I was doing as a Presby minister. I did not expect how much it would mean to me. Definitely put that letter in your smile-file.
amen and amen.
glad your grandparents are so awesome, too!
Living down here in the New Orleans area, the Church is the RC church until proven otherwise.
The night before we got married, my now father in law told my husband that we were not really getting married and that would mean we would be living in sin…..
20 years later, we are still living in sin.
FWIW … there was a link on Presbyweb today to the “Christianity Today” comments on this . Evidently the Pope is reiterating something that was issued under John Paul II in 2000.
Basically, the “TRUE” church is one that can show a direct lineage back to the apostles through apostolic succession. However, it also states that in other churches the Holy Spirit is working to help those who believe to attain salvation.
Nice of him to toss us a bone !!
And wasn’t the 2000 paper written by then-Cardinal Ratzinger?
Living and pastoring in one of the most RC neighborhoods in one of the most RC cities in the US, I’ve learned a lot about the eye-rolling attitude of many clergy and laity over such pronouncements. “Dominus Jesus” was a blot on the papacy of John Paul II, but it was indeed written by the former Cardinal Ratzinger.
While I will continue to strive for ecumenical cooperation, I have to admit that the new document’s insistence that Orthodox and Protestant churches are “wounded” with the clear implication that the RC is not “wounded” is dangerously arrogant. The RC hierarchy has demonstrated how out of touch they are, unable to see the wounds caused by the church’s misogyny, child sexual abuse, and blind opposition to birth control and safe sex education.
I’m certainly not asserting that Protestants or Orthodox are BETTER than the RC, merely that we are all wounded, all imperfect in our efforts to follow Christ.
Now if only we could get certain quarters within the PC(USA) to stop nattering on about who’s a “real” Christian and who is not….
Yep, some years before being elected as Bishop of Rome (to the See of Peter?), Ratzinger referred to non-Roman Catholics as “ecclesial communities” rather than churches. When I commented, a friend remarked to me, “‘Ecclesial communities’ is a big step of from ‘heretical ministries,’” which apparently was an earlier designation.
Well, I guess I’m not a real Christian with the rest of us.
I’m disappointed, but I’m not sweating the pope’s decision.