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).
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.
One way of helping to make peace is to encourage tourism to the Middle East, FR CHRISTOPHE BOYER M.Afr. found on a visit to Egypt.
Jesuit Father Anthony Egan will deliver a lecture in Johannesburg on November 18 on the subject of “Learning from Luther”.
The official Catholic-Lutheran dialogue will begin a deeper exploration of common beliefs and differences on “Church, Eucharist and ministry”, the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation announced.
Addressing an inter-denominational service in Durban’s Catholic cathedral to mark the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation, Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan of the Holy Land said he perceives “an ecumenical spring”.
The grace of God and decades of ecumenical dialogue have enabled Catholics and Protestants to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation together, emphasising their shared baptism and faith in Jesus, Pope Francis said.
Twenty theologians gathered to discuss various topics around the theme “Reformation: Whose history? Voices from the South” when the Catholic Theological Society of Southern Africa held its annual conference at Koinonia, Johannesburg
