The Diakonia Council of Churches is calling people of faith in Durban to its annual ecumenical Good Friday service at dawn on April 19. The event, a traditional highlight of Durban’s Easter weekend, begins...
Church / Ecumenical dialogue / Keenan Williams
by Keenan Williams · Published April 9, 2019 · Last modified April 2, 2019
I find it disturbing when some Catholics believe that outside of the Catholic Church there in no salvation. This comes off the back of a discussion I recently had with a good friend of...
Church / Ecumenical dialogue / Erin Carelse / Prayer / Women and the Church
by Erin Carelse · Published February 19, 2019 · Last modified February 18, 2019
Lay women throughout the world and from all walks of life are invited to join in the Women’s World Day of Prayer (WWDP) to intercede for Slovenia, on March 2, starting from 9:00. The...
by Jael SC · Published October 30, 2018 · Last modified October 29, 2018
The Russian Orthodox Church’s decision to sever ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople will affect ecumenical dialogue, but the long-term implications remain unknown. Paulist Father Ron Roberson, associate director of the US bishops’...
While some German bishops have decided that non-Catholic spouses of Catholics may receive Communion in individual cases according to pastoral needs, inter-Communion in Southern Africa is governed by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference’s “Directory on Ecumenism”, which was approved by the Holy See and released in 2003.
Church / Ecumenical dialogue / Eucharist
by Jael SC · Published July 3, 2018 · Last modified July 2, 2018
The German bishops are not the only bishops in the world to propose or adopt pastoral guidelines for allowing an Anglican or a Protestant married to a Catholic to receive the Eucharist under certain...
Church / Ecumenical dialogue / Eucharist / Letter of the Week
by Letters Editor · Published June 7, 2018 · Last modified June 4, 2018
At Communion, especially at nuptial and funeral Masses which invariably include a broad spectrum of Christians, we experience a heightened sense of the unfortunate divisions in the body of Christ.
Saying that Jesus Christ has been “hijacked” in the name of politics, a large crowd of national Christian leaders and members of their congregations vowed during a prayer service and vigil to “reclaim Jesus” from those who not only use his name for their political and personal gain, but reject the gentleness, kindness, love of neighbour, the poor and the truth that Christ embraced.
The week leading to Pentecost is the Week for Prayer for Christian Unity. I encourage our parishes and communities to try and reach out to other Christians and to open their doors to them for ecumenical experiences.
Church / Ecumenical dialogue / Eucharist
by Letters Editor · Published May 8, 2018 · Last modified May 6, 2018
With regard to the ongoing debate on Communion for non-Catholics, the Catechism of the Catholic Church in the section on the Seven Sacraments of the Church says: “Only validly ordained priests can preside at the Eucharist and consecrate the bread and the wine so that they become the Body and Blood of the Lord” (1411).
Christian Unity / Church / Ecumenical dialogue
by Erin Carelse · Published March 27, 2018 · Last modified March 22, 2018
Catholics are invited to join the Diakonia Council of Churches, when it presents its annual ecumenical Good Friday service on Friday, March 30, starting at the Durban Exhibition Centre (DEC) before processing, in silence, through the streets of the city to the Durban City Hall.
When different Christian churches recognise the validity of one another’s baptisms, they are recognising that God’s grace is at work in them, Pope Francis said.
