CHURCH OF IRELAND PRESS OFFICE
Church of Ireland House, 61 - 67 Donegall Street, Belfast BT 2QH
Tel Belfast: (028) 90 232 909
Press Officer Brian Parker (M): 07775 927 807
PRESS RELEASE
15 May 2003
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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