Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants
There has been a lot of conversation recently about the relationship between the Roman Catholic church and other denominations. I invite you to take time to read a couple relevant articles:
Pope approves document that stirs Protestant criticism (The Kansas City Star)
Vatican reaffirms Catholic primary: Document cites "wound" in Orthodox, Protestant churches (The Washington Post)
A brief quote from the article in the Post:
In five questions and answers issued with the document, the Vatican stated that "these separated churches and Communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation.
"In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church." I appreciate that the document does not go so far to say that Orthodox and Protestants are not instruments of salvation. However, I think that stating that this is a derivative value from the Catholic Church and other communities of faith are suffering from "defects" is really not helpful in the movement toward unity throughout Christ's body and for God's work on earth.
What do you think? Does it matter?