There's been a good deal of activity in recent weeks on the fronts of the ecumenical and denominational mainline.
Here are a few items of particular note:
- At last week's General Assembly of the PC (USA), the delegates were treated to an unconventional address from an ecumenical observer (video here). Terry Mattingly documents at GetReligion and The Republic the words of Orthodox priest Siarhei Hardun of Belarus to the PC (USA):
"Christian morality is as old as Christianity itself. It doesn't need to be invented now. Those attempts to invent new morality look for me like attempts to invent a new religion -- a sort of modern paganism."
"When people say that they are led and guided by the Holy Spirit to do it, I wonder if it is the same Holy Spirit that inspired the Bible, if it is the same Holy Spirit that inspires the Holy Orthodox Church not to change anything in Christian doctrine and moral standards. But if it is the same Spirit, I wonder ... if there are different spirits acting in different denominations and inspiring them to develop in different directions and to create different theologies and different morals?"
As Mattingly rightly observes, Fr. Hardun "used his moment at the podium to deliver a message that was courteous and stunning at the same time, if not genuinely offensive to many in the audience." And as a a colleague of mine has quipped, Fr. Hardun shouldn't be expecting an invitation back next year.
- Compare Fr. Hardun's remarks to the mainline PC (USA) with Patriarch Kirill's statements regarding views of moral issues shared with Pope Benedict XVI. As Kirill said, "liberal secular philosophical slogans are repeated
within the Protestant churches and grow roots in religious thought."
- Speaking of "liberal secular philosophical slogans," the gender justice movement is in full swing at the Lutheran World Federation. According to ENI,
"Equitable participation in God's mission is the hallmark of an inclusive communion. Member churches are therefore urged to take appropriate steps towards the ordination of women, and, where it is not the case, to put in place policies of equality," LWF general secretary Rev. Ishmael Noko said in his address to the LWF's highest governing body on 21 July in Stuttgart, Germany. A similar ideology caused quite a stir among the Lithuanian Reformed representation at last month's World Communion of Reformed Churches Uniting
General Council. The issue there was not the fact of women’s ordination, but rather the worldly and ideological way in which the gender justice agenda was being pursued in an ecclesiastical context.
- David Virtue of the orthodox Anglican movement gets off a few zingers as he reviews the achievements of female bishops in The Episcopal Church: "Today, TEC has a woman Presiding Bishop who many think is about the worst of the worst. Not only is she not remotely orthodox in faith and practice, she preaches 'another gospel' (Gal.1:7) that is no gospel at all. She believes that social amelioration through Millennium Development Goals will bring about the Kingdom of Heaven on earth where, presumably, she will be made CEO alongside our Lord, if indeed He is necessary at all."
- Craig A. Carter (at his wonderful blog) wonders whether The Episcopal Church really does care about the poor given their advocacy of other issues, implicitly applying the economic idea of opportunity costs: "Remember this little item the next time some liberal 'poverty activist' tries to make you feel guilty because you are not supporting their socialist agenda. Ask yourself if they really care about the poor. If they can waste this kind of money on ridiculous games of pretending that homosexual relationships are really the same as marriage except in the obvious ways they are not, how committed are they to the poor?"
- One of the trends among mainlines is the push to "engage" the youth, who have been leaving in droves. As part of the broader effort, which includes youth conferences, sponsorships, and representative quotas, the National Council of Churches reports on the revival of the U.S. Student Christian Movement (SCM).
- The LWF is facing a structural deficit, financial troubles shared by the broader ecumenical movement. Not surprising, I say, given that as I write in Ecumenical Babel, that the materialist and reductionist view of work and labor eventually undermines the very basis of these groups' own financial support. These fiscal realities are pushing some of the ecumenical efforts to engage the youth as well as "evangelicals."
Kudos to Fr. Hardun. What a thoughtful and thought provoking way to "speak the truth in love."
Posted by: Death Bredon | July 24, 2010 at 10:28 PM