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J uly 1971
what is the goal of church union? What
form is the final product to take?
Unfortunately, these questions have
brought forth differcnt answers from
different theologians.
De.
John O'Brien discussed this
problem in an article in
Sa111rda)' Eve–
IJing Post.
To sorne Protestants, he said,
the goal is "simply the unity of all
be1ievers in the lordship of Christ, tran–
scending all differences in creed, ritual
and church organization. They would
establish unity by the simple expedient
of removing denominational labels,
with the
differences still remaining.
To
Catholics, most of the Eastern Orthodox
and many Protestants, unity means
much more: a substantial oneness in
faith and worship."
We mentioned the question of
com–
promiJe
earlier.
If
the goal is only the
removal of denomination labels, then
there is no worry about compromising
one's traditional beliefs. But unity of
faith and worship is going to require
sorne serious soul-searching and even–
tuaJJy a willingness to give up anything
which stands in the \vay of unity.
This would be anathema to many
churches. They point to the early New
Testament Christians who willingly
faced martyrdom rather than give up or
compromise their faith. To barter about
their basic beliefs would, to them, be a
betrayal of their Lord and Master and
the thousands of martyrs clown through
history.
An Uphill Struggle
Catholics and Protestants alike admit
the biggest single factor in the way of
unity is the
papac)'.
Pope Paul himself,
in spcaking bcfore thc Sccrctariat for
Christian Unity in 1967, stated p lainly
that the pope "is without doubt thc
most serious obstacle on the road of
ecumenism."
A few Protcstant leaders have
accepted the idea of a single Christian
spokesman and leader along somewhat
the same l ines as the pope. These in–
elude Episcopal Bishop
C.
KiJmer
Myers, who called on all Christians to
accept the pontif! as "chief spokesman
for the Christian community of the
The
PLAIN TRUTH
world," and the late bishop Pike. But
even these men generally balk when it
comes to thc qucstion of infallibi lity.
Another great obstacle to Protestants
is the adoration of Mary. In sorne ways
this is almost as hard to accept as thc
authority of thc pope. The Assumption
of Mary into heaven is rejected by al–
most all Protcstants, yet this doctrine
was establishcd by an officially "infal–
lible'' pronouncement of Pope Pius XII
in
1951.
Is this question possibly resolv–
able without one side or the other
giving in complete!y?
Many Protestants find a common
point of meeting with the Catholics
through the fact that they branched off
from the Cathol ic Church during the
Reformation. But a significant number
of denominations claim a history totally
independent of the Catholic Church. To
them, Catholic Church history is that of
a
fa/se
church - at least many havc felt
that way in the past.
For example, the question of reuoion
wíth
Rome
was put to Leslie K. Tare of
Central Baptist Seminary. His reply
was: "Üur ecclesiastical homeland ...
bears l ittle or no resemblance to the
modern Roman Catholic Church. The
Baptíst, or Anabaptist, movement pre–
dated the Reformatíon and lovks back
not to Martín Luther but to apostolic
times for its origins."
And the early Presbyterians, although
fricnd ly with other reformers, claimcd
descent from thc Scottish
Crtldees,
who
had vigorously opposed Rome.
All Have Their Problems
Ooe
question is sometimes quite em·
barrassing to mtn1stcrs and theo–
logians: How can the Protestants and
Cathoücs get together when the Roman
Catholic Church is split asunder and
when there are
11
dífferent groups call–
ing themselves Lutherans in the United
States alone?
How can the pope expect Protestants
to agree with him on such issues as
birth control when his own priesthood
is split and splintered over the same
questions? A leading U. S. news maga–
zine t itled an artide: "Catholic Church
23
Moves Toward Biggest Crisis in
400
Years," soon after the pope's pro–
nouncement on birth control. Pope
Paul has had his hands full in kceping
his own church united.
Just recently the issue of womcn in
church offices has made headlines. How
can thc Catholics, Anglicans, and Or–
thodox, who refuse to ordain women,
get togcther with the Lutheran groups
who now permit ít? This is just another
one of the multitudinous problems.
The various obstades tend to fall
under four major headings (part of
which were Jaid out by Michael Rogness
in
The Ch11rch Nobody KnotUJ)
which
can be summarízed as follows:
l.
Lack of a c/eat·ly defined goal of
11nion.
Sorne see unity in "the Lordship
of Christ" alone. But others are sure
that nothing short of unity of worship
and belief is acceptable.
2.
Doctrine and belief.
Sorne believe,
for example, that the only acceptable
form of baptism is by immersion. They
cannot tolerate such rituals as sprinkl–
iog or pouring which other relígious
groups use.
3.
Stmct11re and organization of the
chm·ch.
Protestant churches are gener–
ally founded on the principie of democ–
racy and the sovereigoty of the local
congregation. To accept the Roman
Catholic structure of cardinals and bish–
ops, with the pope over all, would be to
sail their cherished traditions down the
nver.
4.
C11lt11re and form of worship.
Part
of the disunity in the Uoited States is
the result of different national back–
grounds. For example, a group of
Lutherans immigrating from Sweden
would find themselves uncomfortable in
the "culture" of German Lutheran im–
migrants. A Pentecostal feels very out
of place at a Roman Catholic mass,
while an Anglícan would find hímself
somewhat ill at case in a Southern Bap–
t ist prayer meeting. In many areas, dif–
ferent churches tend to catee to d ifferent
social groups.
But can such innumerable competing
and disagreeing sects, dea omínations
(Colllin11ed on page 34)
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