Catholics and Protestants: "A scandal we must overcome"

By Dr. Frank Kaufmann on February 1, 2012 12:45 PM | No Comments

SEARCHING FOR UNITY MUST REMAIN OUR GOAL, SAYS WCC GENERAL SECRETARY

"Divisions between churches remain a scandal that we have to overcome,"
Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit general secretary of the World Council of
Churches (WCC) said today at a "Pilgrimage of the Holy Robe" an ecumenical
preparatory event being held this week.

Tveit made these points in his speech on "ecumenism in motion" at the
International Ecumenical Forum (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=66988f58ce81b7a90ddf )
taking place from 30 January to 3 February in Trier, Germany.

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Catholics and Protestants Pursue Unity in Taiwan

By Dr. Frank Kaufmann on February 1, 2012 12:30 PM | No Comments

Social justice and evangelism highlight annual joint-prayer meeting between Catholics and Protestants

Reported by Chen Yi-hsuan
Written by Lydia Ma

To foster closer relationships between Catholics and Protestants and help them get to know one another, Catholic and Protestant churches in Yunlin and Chiayi region have been scheduling a few joint events every year since 2007 and taking turns hosting them. Joint events usually include a prayer for Christian unity held in mid-January, a get-together between Catholic and Protestant clergy members held in October, and a joint-caroling event held around Christmas.

This year's prayer meeting for Christian unity was hosted by Chiayi Presbytery and held at Huwei Presbyterian Church on January 15, 2012. Though one of the prayer items on every year's prayer list is social justice, this theme resonated more than ever before as participants prayed together for a return to normalcy following the presidential and legislative elections that had taken place the day before.

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Values in a healthy blend between the spiritual and the secular

By Dr. Frank Kaufmann on January 22, 2012 3:44 PM | No Comments

The post enlightenment era fractured the sacred monolith in the Western worldview and social development. There emerged what some hold to be "purely secular" sectors of enterprise. Void of sacred roots, from where will these sectors gain their ethical and moral guidelines? This is the question we face. What are the points of interface for the sacred and the secular once the assumption of shared space is broken.

In this New York Times article, Nuns who won't stop nudging we read of a true modern effort to guide corporate behavior by people who live under spiritual vows. The relationships seen here between profit seekers and champions of spiritual life, and social justice provides an encouraging model not just for economic behavior but for other secular enterprise as well.

Nuns Who Won't Stop Nudging

Long before Occupy Wall Street, the Sisters of St. Francis were quietly staging an occupation of their own. In recent years, this Roman Catholic order of 540 or so nuns has become one of the most surprising groups of corporate activists around.

The nuns have gone toe-to-toe with Kroger, the grocery store chain, over farm worker rights; with McDonald's, over childhood obesity; and with Wells Fargo, over lending practices. They have tried, with mixed success, to exert some moral suasion over Fortune 500 executives, a group not always known for its piety.

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