Father James Massa is the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs.He says:
Seven year after "Dominus Iesus," we are still facing a problem with insufficient attention to the Catholic doctrine of the Church. Perhaps in an effort to underscore God's saving work in other churches and Christian communities, some theologians have failed to make it clear that the one Church of Christ is uniquely identifiable with the Catholic Church. Other churches and communities welcome the saving presence of Christ into their midst, but only in the Catholic Church does the one Church subsist in fullness. Contrary to what some Catholic theologians have written, there are no other "subsistences."
It is so beautiful to read of someone in the hierarchy taking liberal theologians to task.
I don't think there is anything substantially new here. But I do believe that the restatement of the Catholic position offers those of us involved in the dialogues to take more seriously what are the Catholic "gifts" that we bring to the table. Pope John Paul II said that ecumenism is less an exchange of ideas than an exchange of gifts. Eucharist-centered worship, episcopal ministry, and papal primacy are the unique Catholic gifts. They should never be placed "under a bushel basket."
Beautiful! I like a clergyman who stands up for the faith.
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