This is what ecumenism should look like:
But they call this the Happy Hour Ecumenical Service. And for sure, this isn't Catholic:
On September 6, 1997, at the Waukesha, Wisconsin Expo Center Elisabeth Elliot spoke before a large gathering of multi-denominational individuals. Mrs. Elliot was questioned by a Protestant and the encounter is retold by a Protestant site from a wholly Protestant point of view. Remember who Protestants protest against; the Catholic Church!
Quote:
Question: ‘Can a person be Catholic and Christian in union?’
Mrs. Elliot: ‘Yes, we can have unity in diversity; my brother [Thomas Howard] is a Catholic and a Christian.’
Question: ‘Then is it acceptable to celebrate the [Catholic] Eucharist?’
Mrs. Elliot: ‘Yes.’
Question: ‘Of Mary, ‘queen of heaven’?’
Mrs. Elliot: ‘Excuse me, time will not allow me to expound on these questions.’
Mrs. Elliot moves on to the next in line. End Quote.
Mrs. Elliot, we wouldn’t want to ruffle the Protestant feathers more than necessary now would we?
False ecumenism is so widespread and so common and comes from so high these days, that it is no longer charitable to condemn heretics, schismatics, and other enemies of the Catholic Church. Not to challenge these people has become an act of love and responsibility.
But St Francis of Sales, Doctor of the Church instructs otherwise.
"The declared enemies of God and His Church, heretics and schismatics, must be criticized as much as possible, as long as truth is not denied. It is a work of charity to shout: 'Here is the wolf!' when it enters the flock or anywhere else." (Introduction to the Devout Life, part III, chap. 29)
Jesus said: “…there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16)
Jesus condemned interdenominationalism: “And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” (Mark 3:25)
“Where the Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be; even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church.” (St Ignatius of Antioch)
Tolerance, being one of the conditions for peace among diverse peoples, is often mistaken for ecumenism. Tolerance is simply choosing to live in peace rather than in conflict. Although tolerance can facilitate dialogue and through dialogue there is the possibility of coming together on some common ground, tolerance is still not ecumenism.
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword." (Matthew: 10, 34)
There has to be a separation of truth and error.
With truth comes division.
"Ecumenism, which is focused on unifying the Christian churches, has been twisted by the dissenters into meaning support of pluralism. Vatican II (Unitatis Redintegratio) defines Ecumenism thusly: 'The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only.' While dissenters pursue a Protestantization of the Catholic Church, where 'democratically' elected clergy and women priestesses run rampant along with voting on doctrine, Vatican II pursues ecumenism as God wants it, that being according to Catholic principles. Vatican II succinctly warns us about the fundamental problem of Protestantism:
'However, many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true inheritors of Jesus Christ; all indeed profess to be followers of the Lord but differ in mind and go their different ways, as if Christ Himself were divided. Such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.'
What are the Catholic principles? Essentially they are to bring the separated brethren into the one true Catholic Faith [13]. Dissenters instead practice pluralism in which dialogue is pushed to compromise the Truth of the Catholic Faith with that of the Protestants. Rather than help the Protestants understand the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the dissenters promote that Catholics should accept errors from Protestant (or other) faiths in the spirit of compromise, as if the doctrine of the Church is a result of human reasoning or democratic vote. Vatican II, then, defines true ecumenism as working to incorporate all people into the Catholic Faith:
'For it is only through Christ's Catholic Church, which is 'the all-embracing means of salvation,' that they can benefit fully from the means of salvation. We believe that Our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, in order to establish the one Body of Christ on earth to which all should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the people of God.'
Note that true Catholic ecumenism is also directed at achieving unity with the Eastern Churches, the Orthodox Christians, who split from the Church of Rome in 1054. However, dissenters are not generally concerned with them." @
Charismatic and ecumenist Alan Schreck:
"I hope it will be apparent to all that this book was not written to present Catholicism as the only legitimate form of Christianity and certainly not to criticize other Christians, nor to 'prove them wrong' in their beliefs." (Catholic and Christian, Servant, 1984)
WRONG,WRONG,WRONG! Every form of Christianity outside the Church is heretical or schismatic. To put it in other words, not legitimate. On the contrary, we should criticize them and we should prove them wrong in their heresies.
Ecumenism is the 'restoration of unity among all Christians'. (Unitatis Redintegratio) The goal of Catholic ecumenism is to bring back the separated brethren to the bosom of the Catholic Church. Any dialogue that waters down or compromises the Catholic faith; accepting error or altering Catholic doctrine fails to incorporate outsiders into the Church and should henceforth be rejected and denounced.
Vatican II did not change the code for salvation: 'it is only through Christ's Catholic Church, which is "the all-embracing means of salvation' Unitatis Redintegratio
'Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation' (Lumen Gentium, 846).
In Lumen Gentium, Vatican II states that “the grains of truth and holiness found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church rightly belong to the Church of Christ and possess an inner dynamism to Catholic unity” (#8). “Grains of truth” and holiness found outside the Catholic Church therefore do not belong to or come from outside sources. “Grains of truth and holiness”, according to the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, belong directly to the Holy Catholic Church.
Charismatic ecumenism is really Christian fellowship. Fellowship is a Protestant concept. This is how it works. We can all believe whatever we want to believe and we can do whatever we want to do as long as it is not Catholic! As long as Catholics are born again, get baptized in the spirit and babble in tongues they are welcome to fellowship. But they can’t talk about the Eucharist, the Holy Mother, the saints or bring out the rosary! Every ecumenical charismatic gathering works under those conditions and it would be against unity if a Catholic didn’t respect that. Protestants do not give up what they believe in. Why are Catholics so willing to set aside the treasures of their own faith? This not ecumenism! This is surrendering to the Protestant heresy.
‘Many roads lead to God’ is a fallacy! Contaminating the faith of the Catholic and failing to save the non Catholic; Catholics adopting heretical concepts and heretics getting the go ahead to stay in their error – benefits no one. Extreme ecumenism goes even further; there is but one church under Christ; and churches are mere structures that separate us from one another. (sic)
'My friend, there are not two ways of serving Our Lord; there is only one good way, and it is to serve Him as He wishes to be served'. (St. John Vianney)
The Authority of the Church
The following list was compiled by the writer of what it used to be called "St John’s Valdosta Blog":
"Outside the Church there is no salvation." -St. Cyprian of Carthage
"There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved." -Fourth Lateran Council
"We are compelled in virtue of our faith to believe and maintain that there is only one holy Catholic Church, and that one is apostolic. This we firmly believe and profess without qualification. Outside this Church there is no salvation and no remission of sins... We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff." -Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctum
"Now the holy Church universal proclaims that God cannot be truly worshipped saving within herself, asserting that all they that are without her shall never be saved." -Pope St. Gregory the Great, Moralia
"But, as is Our Apostolic Duty, we wish your episcopal solicitude and vigilance to be aroused, so that you will strive as much as you can to drive form the mind of men that impious and equally fatal opinion, namely, that the way of eternal salvation can be found in any religion whatsoever...For, it must be held by faith that outside the Apostolic Roman Church, no one can be saved; that this is the only ark of salvation; that he who shall not have entered therein will perish in the flood;" -Blessed Pius IX, Singulari Quadem
"This is our last lesson to you; receive it, engrave it in your minds, all of you: by God's commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but in the Church." -Pope Leo XIII, Annum Ingressi Sumus
"Such is the nature of the Catholic faith that it does not admit of more or less, but must be held as a whole, or as a whole rejected: This is the Catholic faith, which unless a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved." -Pope Benedict XV, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum
"The Catholic Church alone is keeping the true worship. This is the font of truth, this is the house of faith, this is the temple of God; if any man enter not here, or if any man go forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation. ... Furthermore, in this one Church of Christ, no man can be or remain who does not accept, recognize and obey the authority and supremacy of Peter and his legitimate successors." -Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos
"By divine mandate the interpreter and guardian of the Scriptures, and the depository of Sacred Tradition living within her, the Church alone is the entrance to salvation: She alone, by herself, and under the protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit, is the source of truth." -Pope Pius XII, Allocution to the Gregorian University, 1953
"They could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it, or to remain in it." -Lumen Gentium, Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on The Church
"The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council.
"...Nevertheless, our separated brethren, whether considered as individuals or as Communities and Churches, are not blessed with that unity which Jesus Christ wished to bestow on all those who through Him were born again into one body, and with Him quickened to newness of life-that unity which the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Tradition of the Church proclaim. For it is only through Christ's Catholic Church, which is 'the all-embracing means of salvation,' that they can benefit fully from the means of salvation"
"...This is the way that, when the obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical communion have been gradually overcome, all Christians will at last, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, be gathered into the one and only Church in that unity which Christ bestowed on His Church from the beginning. We believe that this unity subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time."
Unitatis Redintegratio, Vatican II Decree on
But they call this the Happy Hour Ecumenical Service. And for sure, this isn't Catholic:
On September 6, 1997, at the Waukesha, Wisconsin Expo Center Elisabeth Elliot spoke before a large gathering of multi-denominational individuals. Mrs. Elliot was questioned by a Protestant and the encounter is retold by a Protestant site from a wholly Protestant point of view. Remember who Protestants protest against; the Catholic Church!
Quote:
Question: ‘Can a person be Catholic and Christian in union?’
Mrs. Elliot: ‘Yes, we can have unity in diversity; my brother [Thomas Howard] is a Catholic and a Christian.’
Question: ‘Then is it acceptable to celebrate the [Catholic] Eucharist?’
Mrs. Elliot: ‘Yes.’
Question: ‘Of Mary, ‘queen of heaven’?’
Mrs. Elliot: ‘Excuse me, time will not allow me to expound on these questions.’
Mrs. Elliot moves on to the next in line. End Quote.
Mrs. Elliot, we wouldn’t want to ruffle the Protestant feathers more than necessary now would we?
False ecumenism is so widespread and so common and comes from so high these days, that it is no longer charitable to condemn heretics, schismatics, and other enemies of the Catholic Church. Not to challenge these people has become an act of love and responsibility.
But St Francis of Sales, Doctor of the Church instructs otherwise.
"The declared enemies of God and His Church, heretics and schismatics, must be criticized as much as possible, as long as truth is not denied. It is a work of charity to shout: 'Here is the wolf!' when it enters the flock or anywhere else." (Introduction to the Devout Life, part III, chap. 29)
Jesus said: “…there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16)
Jesus condemned interdenominationalism: “And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” (Mark 3:25)
“Where the Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be; even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church.” (St Ignatius of Antioch)
Tolerance, being one of the conditions for peace among diverse peoples, is often mistaken for ecumenism. Tolerance is simply choosing to live in peace rather than in conflict. Although tolerance can facilitate dialogue and through dialogue there is the possibility of coming together on some common ground, tolerance is still not ecumenism.
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword." (Matthew: 10, 34)
There has to be a separation of truth and error.
With truth comes division.
"Ecumenism, which is focused on unifying the Christian churches, has been twisted by the dissenters into meaning support of pluralism. Vatican II (Unitatis Redintegratio) defines Ecumenism thusly: 'The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only.' While dissenters pursue a Protestantization of the Catholic Church, where 'democratically' elected clergy and women priestesses run rampant along with voting on doctrine, Vatican II pursues ecumenism as God wants it, that being according to Catholic principles. Vatican II succinctly warns us about the fundamental problem of Protestantism:
'However, many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true inheritors of Jesus Christ; all indeed profess to be followers of the Lord but differ in mind and go their different ways, as if Christ Himself were divided. Such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.'
What are the Catholic principles? Essentially they are to bring the separated brethren into the one true Catholic Faith [13]. Dissenters instead practice pluralism in which dialogue is pushed to compromise the Truth of the Catholic Faith with that of the Protestants. Rather than help the Protestants understand the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the dissenters promote that Catholics should accept errors from Protestant (or other) faiths in the spirit of compromise, as if the doctrine of the Church is a result of human reasoning or democratic vote. Vatican II, then, defines true ecumenism as working to incorporate all people into the Catholic Faith:
'For it is only through Christ's Catholic Church, which is 'the all-embracing means of salvation,' that they can benefit fully from the means of salvation. We believe that Our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant to the apostolic college alone, of which Peter is the head, in order to establish the one Body of Christ on earth to which all should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the people of God.'
Note that true Catholic ecumenism is also directed at achieving unity with the Eastern Churches, the Orthodox Christians, who split from the Church of Rome in 1054. However, dissenters are not generally concerned with them." @
Charismatic and ecumenist Alan Schreck:
"I hope it will be apparent to all that this book was not written to present Catholicism as the only legitimate form of Christianity and certainly not to criticize other Christians, nor to 'prove them wrong' in their beliefs." (Catholic and Christian, Servant, 1984)
WRONG,WRONG,WRONG! Every form of Christianity outside the Church is heretical or schismatic. To put it in other words, not legitimate. On the contrary, we should criticize them and we should prove them wrong in their heresies.
Ecumenism is the 'restoration of unity among all Christians'. (Unitatis Redintegratio) The goal of Catholic ecumenism is to bring back the separated brethren to the bosom of the Catholic Church. Any dialogue that waters down or compromises the Catholic faith; accepting error or altering Catholic doctrine fails to incorporate outsiders into the Church and should henceforth be rejected and denounced.
Vatican II did not change the code for salvation: 'it is only through Christ's Catholic Church, which is "the all-embracing means of salvation' Unitatis Redintegratio
'Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation' (Lumen Gentium, 846).
In Lumen Gentium, Vatican II states that “the grains of truth and holiness found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church rightly belong to the Church of Christ and possess an inner dynamism to Catholic unity” (#8). “Grains of truth” and holiness found outside the Catholic Church therefore do not belong to or come from outside sources. “Grains of truth and holiness”, according to the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, belong directly to the Holy Catholic Church.
Charismatic ecumenism is really Christian fellowship. Fellowship is a Protestant concept. This is how it works. We can all believe whatever we want to believe and we can do whatever we want to do as long as it is not Catholic! As long as Catholics are born again, get baptized in the spirit and babble in tongues they are welcome to fellowship. But they can’t talk about the Eucharist, the Holy Mother, the saints or bring out the rosary! Every ecumenical charismatic gathering works under those conditions and it would be against unity if a Catholic didn’t respect that. Protestants do not give up what they believe in. Why are Catholics so willing to set aside the treasures of their own faith? This not ecumenism! This is surrendering to the Protestant heresy.
‘Many roads lead to God’ is a fallacy! Contaminating the faith of the Catholic and failing to save the non Catholic; Catholics adopting heretical concepts and heretics getting the go ahead to stay in their error – benefits no one. Extreme ecumenism goes even further; there is but one church under Christ; and churches are mere structures that separate us from one another. (sic)
'My friend, there are not two ways of serving Our Lord; there is only one good way, and it is to serve Him as He wishes to be served'. (St. John Vianney)
The Authority of the Church
The following list was compiled by the writer of what it used to be called "St John’s Valdosta Blog":
"Outside the Church there is no salvation." -St. Cyprian of Carthage
"There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved." -Fourth Lateran Council
"We are compelled in virtue of our faith to believe and maintain that there is only one holy Catholic Church, and that one is apostolic. This we firmly believe and profess without qualification. Outside this Church there is no salvation and no remission of sins... We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff." -Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctum
"Now the holy Church universal proclaims that God cannot be truly worshipped saving within herself, asserting that all they that are without her shall never be saved." -Pope St. Gregory the Great, Moralia
"But, as is Our Apostolic Duty, we wish your episcopal solicitude and vigilance to be aroused, so that you will strive as much as you can to drive form the mind of men that impious and equally fatal opinion, namely, that the way of eternal salvation can be found in any religion whatsoever...For, it must be held by faith that outside the Apostolic Roman Church, no one can be saved; that this is the only ark of salvation; that he who shall not have entered therein will perish in the flood;" -Blessed Pius IX, Singulari Quadem
"This is our last lesson to you; receive it, engrave it in your minds, all of you: by God's commandment salvation is to be found nowhere but in the Church." -Pope Leo XIII, Annum Ingressi Sumus
"Such is the nature of the Catholic faith that it does not admit of more or less, but must be held as a whole, or as a whole rejected: This is the Catholic faith, which unless a man believe faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved." -Pope Benedict XV, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum
"The Catholic Church alone is keeping the true worship. This is the font of truth, this is the house of faith, this is the temple of God; if any man enter not here, or if any man go forth from it, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation. ... Furthermore, in this one Church of Christ, no man can be or remain who does not accept, recognize and obey the authority and supremacy of Peter and his legitimate successors." -Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos
"By divine mandate the interpreter and guardian of the Scriptures, and the depository of Sacred Tradition living within her, the Church alone is the entrance to salvation: She alone, by herself, and under the protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit, is the source of truth." -Pope Pius XII, Allocution to the Gregorian University, 1953
"They could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it, or to remain in it." -Lumen Gentium, Vatican II Dogmatic Constitution on The Church
"The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council.
"...Nevertheless, our separated brethren, whether considered as individuals or as Communities and Churches, are not blessed with that unity which Jesus Christ wished to bestow on all those who through Him were born again into one body, and with Him quickened to newness of life-that unity which the Holy Scriptures and the ancient Tradition of the Church proclaim. For it is only through Christ's Catholic Church, which is 'the all-embracing means of salvation,' that they can benefit fully from the means of salvation"
"...This is the way that, when the obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical communion have been gradually overcome, all Christians will at last, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, be gathered into the one and only Church in that unity which Christ bestowed on His Church from the beginning. We believe that this unity subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time."
Unitatis Redintegratio, Vatican II Decree on
