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Editorial
Vatican View Of Protestant Churches
The Vatican’s statement, in ‘Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine of the Church’ (29th June), that the Churches of the Reformation, according to its teaching, are not Churches in the proper sense, repeats the same view that last appeared in its Dominus Iesus document of 2000.
The Church, indeed, has better things to do than to argue over who is more authentic a Christian than who, but the Vatican’s ‘holier than thou’ attitude, trumpeted to the world yet again after all the representations which were made in response to Dominus Iesus, cannot go unchallenged.
It should be clear that, from our perspective, the Roman Catholic Church is indeed a Church in the proper sense, although there are certain differences of doctrine between us. However, the Vatican does nothing to further ecumenical relationships by repeatedly asserting its teaching about other Churches. Instead, it should be revising that teaching in the light of ecumenical understanding.
The Church of Ireland has recognised that in places the Thirty Nine Articles are worded in an offensive way. In the General Synod’s 1999 Declaration, our regret for that was made clear. It is only a pity that the Vatican has chosen to renew its attack on the ecclesial integrity of Protestant Churches.
Certainly, the World Council of Churches- Roman Catholic Church Joint Working Group must address this latest Vatican outburst. The fact that the Vatican may say it is only addressing Roman Catholics is beside the point. The statement has been made publicly and, even if it were only meant for Roman Catholics to hear or read, the Vatican has fundamentally misrepresented the truth about Protestant Churches.
So, let it be said that, contrary to the Vatican’s teaching, (1) Protestant Churches do retain apostolic ministry, and, in the Church of Ireland, the historic, threefold order is preserved; (2) Protestant Churches, with or without the historic, threefold ministry, are not in any way deprived of a constitutive element of the Church, ministry being given to serve, not define, the Church; and (3) Protestant Churches do celebrate the authentic Eucharist, the Table being the Lord’s, not ours.
Christian Aid has reported its estimate that 182 million people in sub- Saharan Africa could die of disease directly attributable to climate change by the end of the century. The relief and development organisation explains that climate change can be dramatic and confusing, with increasing emissions of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide and methane), meaning that more of the sun’s radiation is being trapped in the earth’s atmosphere, causing the temperature to rise.
It is this increase in temperature that is likely to result in extreme and unpredictable weather conditions in many parts of the world, leading to drought or floods. Such catastrophes are especially hard on the poor, who do not have the means to recover, yet the fact is that it is the richest countries which are polluting the earth most and the poorest countries which are, as Christian Aid describes it, "on the frontline".
In a report from last month’s G8 meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany, it was indicated that climate change had the potential seriously to damage both the earth’s natural environment and the global economy. The G8 leaders accepted their responsibility to show leadership in tackling climate change: "To address the urgent challenge of climate change, it is vital that the major emitting countries agree on a detailed contribution for a new global framework by the end of 2008 which would contribute to a global agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by 2009. We reiterate the need to engage major emitting economies on how best to address the challenge of climate change." The Heiligendamm meeting also agreed that the UN climate process "is the appropriate forum for negotiating future global action on climate change".
Just words? The coming months will tell, and much will be capable of being judged - particularly about the United States’ mood on the issue - by the level of commitment and participation at the UN Climate Change Conference next December in Indonesia. The G8 leaders indicated that they were looking to the Indonesia meeting to achieve "a comprehensive post-2012 agreement (post-Kyoto agreement) that should include all major emitters." This is a space to be watched - for action.