Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - May/67

Contributor - Corstian Klein

Title - "Tippy-Toe Catholics"

Topic - Unity

Ever since the Second Vatican Council there has been a great deal of excitement expressed on the matter of Christian Unity between the Catholics and the Protestants. Ecumenicists in both groups keep saying that great strides towards Christian unity have already been achieved and that we may expect a coming together of the two churches within the present generation. And indeed much has changed since this historic Council met and sent its documents into the world. We can only be grateful that there are great changes proposed and in some cases also being practiced in the Catholic Church itself. I nave read many of these documents and have found that many of the things I have believed about the Catholic are not true, at least not any more.

Changes there are, and changes there will be, but this is not to say that everyone is happy about them. Especially in the matter of unity there are still reservations not only among the Protestants but among the Catholics as well. Dale Francis, the editor of Our Sunday Visitor, of February 26, 1967 writes, "There is going to be no Christian unity that leaves out devotion to Mary and there is going to be no Christian unity that relegates the role of the successor of St. Peter to that of just another member of the Church."

He goes on to lament that so many of his fellow churchman 'tippy-toe' around the basic beliefs and doctrines of the Church in interest of Christian unity. He accuses many Catholics of being afraid of being different and of avoiding issues that clearly stand in the way of unity, of overlooking those matters that make Catholics different from other Christians. And what Mr. Francis deplores in his Church is also true of the Protestant Church. To use a different metaphor there are Protestant Churchman who 'Mickey Mouse' around with distinctive Protestant and biblical doctrines. It is well known that when we talk of the Atonement, or Reconciliation, or Redemption we are in many cases talking of two different things in Protestant circles today. And who can be happy about the COCU proposal that says in affect, "Let us merge now and decide that we are to believe and how we are to administer the affairs of the Church later?"

There will never be any unity worth talking about as long as there is no real intention of facing the issues that divide, as wonderful as it may be to discover areas of agreement. Unity is a spiritual matter more than it is an administrative matter, and this unity cannot be achieved by overlooking the differences that still exist in so much of Christendom today. It will not be achieved by Catholics that go tippy-toeing along or by Protestants that Mickey Mouse around with the central facts of the redemption that was' given to the Church when Christ was nailed to a Cross and when He rose again to give new life to dead men. The Church must not give up in her effort to seek unity, but she must not in the interest of unity give up her birth right for a mess of pottage.

Please click the "Back" button of your browser to return to previous page.