The World of Grandpa Don

Christian Unity

The following is a January 17, 2002 message from John Renaud of Canadian Catholic Radio.

Dear Brothers in Christ.

This message to an Anglo Catholic friend contains much that I feel I should share with brothers in Christ who are Catholic and of other Christian faiths, especially the later sections about the work for church unity in Canada,..and with the joint effort of members of diverse Chritian faith communities in Windsor area who will organize the upcoming Great Lakes Celebration with Dr. Graham Bell.

It is a sign of the common love that all Christians must witness to. There is only one Lord and Savior of us all, and together we praise the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior, and will invite Christians of all faiths to witness to their faith and persons with no faith to make their commitment to Christ or those who because of life's hurts, have forgotten their first love, the Lord Jesus, need to come home to the Savior and renew their baptismal commitment to the Lord.

The following is an example of what love can do, even bringing members of different faith traditions together for fellowship and worship of the Savior. One thing for sure about the Great Lakes Celebration, it will be a real blessing to all who are involved, to Praise the Lord Jesus and witness to His Power to transform lives.

*****

The welcome of Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth to the Cardinal this past weekend and his sermon at St. Mary's Parish in London, may be a foretaste of more to come between our the Anglican/Catholic churches..

Richard, I hope that some of the links and documents I have included on the Apologetics Page from the UK might cause those who log on to think about their relationship to Christ, and how they experience Christ in their church, its beliefs and worship, and appreciate the same in the other church,... and how they may help the cause of unity between Anglicans and Catholics move forward by understanding the past events, as they happened historically and the work of both churches to point out what is in common beliefs and practices,.. to move forward together.

I really believe,. not being a theolgian or an historian, that those who are experts in these areas will find the keys to open up new areas of agreement, especially between Anglo Catholics and Catholics. I do believe that eventually there will be formal agreement between the two, but how will it officially be done? 

I think Newman for our two churches is a guiding light in this search ,..we need people , clergy and lay who have a deep love of Christ in the church, that their life and their search will be a blessing to us both. Catholic laity are aware of Newman but not of others who chose to remain within the Anglican communion or present Anglicans and their breakthroughs in theology to bring us closer. At a future time, we will look back in appreciation at the ecumenical work that had been done passing through difficult meetings to work out agreements, but we must always remember that we are brothers in Christ through our Baptism, and with other Christians, we Catholics rejoice in the faith in Christ that saves, a faith that grows nurtured in a faith community where sacramental encounters with Christ reveal the Kingdom of God, and regardless of how we understand the development of the history of our churches, more good times are coming like that about which we are so glad , the meeting between the Queen and the Cardinal.

I think my including the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in England link and the Scriptural Rosary link may be received as the most positive addition by non Catholics.

*******

In a couple of days will began the annual prayer for Church Unity . In an article in the National Canadian Catholic Register by Father Damian MacPherson.." A Year of Hope for Christian Unity.." The material for ecumenical worship services, jointly issued by the Canadian Council of Churches and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, uses the Psalm 36 as a touchtone. to receive a free electronic version of this years kit send an e-mail to novalis@interlog.com

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Canada is January 20 -27. Quoting from the article.." Unlike past years, this years Christian Unity is not dated. The idea is to encourage parishes and prayer groups to expand the spirituality of ecumenism beyond the official week, said Father MacPherson, the archdiocese of Toronto's ecumenical and interfaith director.

Pentecost, Holy Week, World Day of Prayer, and World Communion Day ( Oct 6 ) are all excellent occasions for Christians of different traditions to pray together. The Anglican-Lutheran agreement is a great encouragement to anyone who embraces the spirituality of ecumenism. When Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox gather this year to pray to God that He heal the sin of division among Christians, it will be with the knowledge we have at least one example of how divisions can be overcome in Canada, said Rev. Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan, the Anglican Church of Canada's director of faith, worship, and ministry. " There's a sense of hope in the Anglican-Lutheran relationship, in seeing what a renewed church can look like,where were not talking about uniformity but communion," she said. " There are families of churches, but each with their own liturgical celebrations." People all over the ecumenical movement are looking at the new Lutheran-Anglican relationship as an example of what's possible, said Br. Gilles Bourdeau, director of the Canadian Center for Ecumenism in Montreal." The spirit of dialogue, the spirit of understanding, respect, recognition, hascertainly arrived," said Bourdeu. "With the events of Sept 11 in the background of everything we do now, the drive to discover and define a spirituality of ecumenism is a little more urgent this year", said Bourdeau. " The terminology is not necesarily clearer today, but the spirit behind ecumenism, the relations between people of different faiths or differenet ideologies, is certainly more critical, more needed than it appeared to be maybe three months ago ", said Bourdeau. Richard, I remember a quote of Blessed John XX111 to visiting Jews,." I am Joseph , your brother ." How much more for those of us baptized in Christ !

* Friends in Christ, please share this message with your friends if it may help further our common search for greater unity in Christ. 

Yours in Christ,
John Renaud

www.canadiancatholicradio.ca