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A DIVIDED CHURCH IS IN NO POSITION TO PREACH RECONCILIATION
Ecumenism has not produced the results hoped for in recent years and is generally regarded as running out of steam, according to the Venerable Gregor McCamley, Archdeacon of Down and Rector of St Columba’s Parish in east Belfast.
Speaking at the Church of Ireland General Synod in Dublin today, Mr McCamley continued: “The Pope’s latest encyclical on Inter Communion does not make the situation any easier. The one bright spot on the horizon is the Church of Ireland/Methodist Covenant but even here the difficulties have yet to be faced.”
Mr McCamley said that in general there is great disillusionment with ecumenism. “Nevertheless on a positive note we are all ‘in Christ’ and nothing can break that bond of unity which exists here and now,” he said. “But that is not enough; there is no room for complacency. This God given unity must find visible expression in and through the Church – the body of Christ. At present it is a broken body in need of healing.”
He added: “A divided church is not only a scandal to the world but an offence to God. A divided church has lost the moral authority to preach reconciliation to a divided world. Ecumenism is evangelism in action, it is evangelical in its very nature because it is obedience to the will of God that the world might believe.”
Mr McCamley stressed that Christian Unity visibly expressed in One Body of Christ does not mean uniformity. “There can and I believe should be diversity-in-order. We are not talking about a corporate merger or scheme embracing the lowest common denominator. The richness of every tradition would need to find expression in a united but also diverse church. Unity does not necessarily mean uniformity.”
He concluded: “Ecumenism is not an optional extra for the Christian Church, it is not just for those who ‘like that sort of thing’. It should be at the very heart of our thinking and praying and our mission.”
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