Raoul Dederen

TEN YEARS AGO the "Dutch Catechism" stunned Roman Catholics. It was a daring discussion of divine rev elation, very much in tune with the spirit of Vatican II. Earlier this year, the publication of an ecumenical catechism, The Common…

THERE IS a curious ambiguity about the ecumenical situation at present. Optimists and pessimists seem drawn up in confrontation, regardless of church allegiance or lack of it. One need only survey the present scene and compare it with the…

SOME OF the bright halos of hope that have caused many to anticipate an updating of the Roman Catholic Church as called for by Pope John XXIII have been tarnished in the past ten years. In no case is this more evident than in what has happened…

THAT THE PAPACY is "the great est obstacle on the road to Ecumenism" was acknowledged by Pope Paul VI in an address to the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity on April 28, 1967. Yet several of the bilateral consultations in which the…

A FEW months ago, in another attempt to implement the guide lines of Vatican II, Pope Paul VI named thirty new cardinals, raising the number in the College of Cardinals to a record high of 145. The new appointments were part of his plan to…

CALL it revival, spiritual renewal, or whatever, something big and of unusual significance is happening in Roman Catholicism. Singing with great enthusiasm, holding hands in the air while praying, speaking and singing in tongues, tens of…

AMONG the remarkable developments that have marked the Roman Catholic Church in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council is the widespread abandonment by Catholics of the sacrament of penance—or confession, most keenly associated…

HAS THE ecumenical movement gone as far as it can? Or is the present lull merely a rest period before another surge toward Christian unity?

The reason these questions are currently being raised is clear enough: the ecumenical fervor…

ROMAN CATHOLICS are Johnny-come-latelies on the ecumenical scene. In fact, their ecumenism has been in large measure a response to Protestant and Orthodox initiatives. Like much else it began with Vatican II. Ever since, however, the question…

WITH the sudden death, a few months ago, at the age of 73, of Msgr. Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer, founder and president-general of Opus Dei, the Catholic Church lost one of her most creative figures. He leaves a record of personal achievement…

THE charismatic renewal is the most exciting and vital thing happening in the Roman Catholic Church today. To many, it is also the most frightening.

It is part of a larger charismatic movement that has cut across…

IS THE World Council of Churches, and in particular its Faith and Order Commission, shifting from a "churchly" ecumenical orientation to a more social-activism form of ecumenism? Has the Faith and Order Commission, traditionally concerned…

TO BELONG to the church of God is a unique and soul-satisfying privilege. It is the divine purpose to gather out a people from the far corners of the earth to bind them into one body, the body of Christ, the church, of which He is the living…

IT IS often said that there is a crisis of authority today. It is, indeed, a time when values that have come down to us from the past are being widely questioned both in the world at large and within the church.

Some find it surprising…

OUR AGE has been one of earthshaking change. This climate of change has deeply affected our theological way of thinking. New points of view, less easily identifiable with established pat terns, have been clamoring for recognition.…

Following election by the shortest conclave in modern times, Venice-based Cardinal Albino Luciani was installed on September 4 as John Paul I, 263rd Pope of Roman Catholicism's 732 million adherents worldwide. On September 28—only…

In a previous article, we noted what may seem a surprising fact to some—that both Roman Catholics and Protestants hold that man is justified by God's grace. ¹ Fundamental divergences exist, however, between the two positions.

While…

The Christian church is that body of people who have been reconciled to God and their fellow men in Jesus Christ. They are all members of a body of which Christ is the head (Eph. 1:22, 23). ¹ The Christian life, however,…

Discussions during a 1970 conference between Seventh-day Adventist theologians and representatives of the World Council of Churches led to the request by the participants of the ecumenical group to present a concise, yet clear statement…

Q. Pope John Paul II is only the second pope in history to visit the U.S. There seemed to be even more interest and fanfare regarding Pope John Paul's visit than there was fourteen years ago when Paul VI came. What reasons…

Since his election almost a year ago, John Paul II has made a strong public impact. Yet it is only recently that his impact as a leader of the Roman Catholic Church has been felt. His visit to Latin America, his first en cyclical, and his…

A few months ago a special synod of the Dutch bishops met in Rome under the auspices of John Paul II to attempt to find a solution to the controversies and divisions that have characterized the Catholic Church in that country for…

The gay crisis has come to church. Some homosexuals are coming to church not only for forgiveness and mercy but to say to the church, as they have to the world, "Homosexuality is not sinful; it is natural to me. God made me this way. He accepts…

We believe in ... one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father,…

On October 16, 1987, John Paul II began his tenth year as pope. Since his election to the papacy some nine years ago, he has maintained a breathtaking schedule. Even though he has set for himself a pace he might find…

On October 31,1999, representatives of the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) formally signed a joint statement on the theological issue of justification an issue that played a crucial role in the debates…