Some Reflections on the Ecumenical Service at St. Joseph's

I'd like to share a couple of reflections on the prayer service that Papa Benedetto attended & what he said.

1st of all, I want to state again that the Pope pulled no punches. He layed it on the line that there is no room for relativism. There are certain basic truths that we as Christians MUST proclaim. They cannot be compromised.

From the start the Holy Father made it clear that this unity can only come about by allowing the Holy Spirit to work to accomplish this. It is only from the Holy Spirit that we will have all we need to do so "Paul reminds his hearers that Jesus, having ascended into heaven, has bestowed upon men and women all the gifts necessary for building up the Body of Christ (cf. Eph 4:11-13)."

He went on to remind us that our unity is ment to be a reflection of the unity of the Trinity. "Faced with these difficulties, we must first recall that the unity of the Church flows from the perfect oneness of the Trinitarian God. In John's Gospel, we are told that Jesus prayed to his Father that his disciples might be one, "just as you are in me and I am in you" (Jn 17:21). This passage reflects the unwavering conviction of the early Christian community that its unity was both caused by, and is reflective of, the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This, in turn, suggests that the internal cohesion of believers was based on the sound integrity of their doctrinal confession (cf. 1 Tim 1:3-11)."

Did you catch the last line, sound doctrine. No relativism. "Only by "holding fast" to sound teaching (2 Thess 2:15; cf. Rev 2:12-29) will we be able to respond to the challenges that confront us in an evolving world. Only in this way will we give unambiguous testimony to the truth of the Gospel and its moral teaching."

As I listened to the Pope say this last bit, I knew that some people had to be more than a little uncomfortable with what he said. He was challenging them to be faithful to the absolute truths of the Gospel. Fr. John Neuhaus (First Things), in his commentary on EWTN said that there are many there on the liberal side who had to be squirming at what he had to say about relativism.

After the speech Papa Benedetto met with many leaders, beginning with the representatives of some of the American Orthodox Churches. The 1 person there that was a surprize to me was the representative from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. the LC-Mo Synod does not usually participate in events like this. However, I suspect that he was 1 of the people more comfortable with what the Pope said.

Papa Benedetto has shown us the way to truly work for unity. Too many people out there want to deny & abandon the truths & teachings of the Catholic Church. They see this as the only wat to failure. The result of their actions is a watered down weak & powerless Christianity. Il Papa has made it clear that this way is doomed to failure. As Bishop Finn said in a speech on Friday at the 2008 National Catholic Prayer Breakfast: "He offers a true ecuminism."

Papa Benedetto has thrown down the gauntlet & issued the challenge. Will the challenge be accepted? Time will tell.

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This has nothing to do with the above other than the fact that Fr. Neuhaus said it at the end of the broadcast after the prayer service. He was talking about the upcoming liturgy Sunday at Yankee Stadium. & he made it sound like the music will be nothing like the horrible mish-mash that was used on Thursday.