A chara - It's a pity that the document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published last Tuesday did not start - as the congregation's own commentary on it finishes - by quoting what Benedict XVI wrote last year in God is Love (par. 14):
"Union with Christ is also union with all those to whom he gives himself. I cannot possess Christ just for myself; I can belong to him only in union with all those who have become, or will become his own. Communion draws me out of myself towards him, and thus also towards unity with all Christians."
If only the document had said in its own way what Archbishop Alan Harper said in St Patrick's Cathedral on July 1st: "Division among the people of God is a horrid thing, a scandalous thing." The essentially technical Vatican document, issued at a particular time to address particular questions, would then be more clearly seen in context, and there would be less likelihood of offending other Christians.
We already know that the various Christian communions differ theologically, and so each can point out where it considers others to suffer from defects. There are, indeed, Christian communions which hold strongly that one cannot be a Christian if one is a member of the Catholic church. One would have hoped for much more understanding of this from the Congregation in this document, in the context of the imperative towards reconciliation and unity.
The occasion, however, may have its silver lining: the interest generated can encourage dialogue, and perhaps greater sensitivity from the various separated Christian groups. Already members of our weekday congregations in the parish of St John the Baptist here in Blackrock have taken about 100 copies of the document, along with copies of the sermon by Archbishop Harper. - Is mise,
PÁDRAIG MCCARTHY,
Barclay Court,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
Madam, - It seems to me that Benedict XVI was simply bringing to the surface the different views of church held by Catholics and Protestants. The Catholic Church makes claims for herself (whether one accepts them or not) that the Protestant churches don't make, and don't want to make. Pope Benedict was, in a way, simply clarifying that. - Yours, etc,
JOHN JACKSON,
Leinster Square,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.