Magyar Egyház, 1966 (45. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1966-11-01 / 11-12. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 15 WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY Churches throughout the United States and the world will launch an eight-day round of special activities January 18-25, in observance of the 1967 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Business, professional and civic groups will be asked to join the churches in programs of worship, study, dialogue and action designed to strengthen the Christian community’s sense of oneness and focus its witness before the community at large. Celebrated by Roman Catholic as well as Protestant, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox churches, the annual observance has as its theme for 1967: “Called to One Hope” (Ephesians 4:4). The week of prayer is sponsored in this country by the National Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Department and recommended by the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Commission for Ecumenical Affairs. It is promoted internationally by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Association for Christian Unity in Lyons, France. A prayer leaflet for 1967 use in U.S. services has been jointly published by the National Council and the (Roman Catholic) Gray moor Friars for the second consecutive year, thus providing a common source of prayers and procedures for Protestants and Catholics alike. Daily prayers from the leaflet invoke divine blessing on all Christian churches by name, on the World Council of Churches and the World Evangelical Fellowship, and on “governments and international organizations.” One prayer reads in part: “... that the peace of Christ may prevail in all racial and national conflicts — for justice for the oppressed, the poor and the hungry and those dispossessed of their rights.” It leaves a blank space in which worshippers may refer to specific local needs and problems.. Another calls for a “faithful use of the Bible by all Christians” and a “renewal of missionary responsibility in the churches.” Prayer leaflets and posters for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity are available from the National Council of Churches’ Publication Services, 475 Riverside Drive, New York City. The cost is $2.50 per hundred copies. Some of our Hungarian Reformed churches include these leaflets in their Christmas mailing as a gift to all members. Mixed Marriage Remains Issue in Reformed-Roman Catholic Relations (Geneva) The next session of Reformed-Roman Catholic talks in North America will take up one of the thorniest problems between the two communions — mixed marriages. The decision to put this question on the agenda of a meeting in April, 1967, was taken in Chicago during the fourth in a series of conversations under the auspices of the American Roman Catholic Bishops’ Commission on Ecumenical Affairs and the North American Area of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Six North American member churches of the WARC are represented in the talks. It was also announced during the meeting that a joint brochure, “Worship and Study for Roman Catholic and Protestant,” will be available for distribution in the spring of 1967. The booklet is designed for use at Joint Thanksgiving services, during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and on joint occasions of prayer for peace and renewal of the church and for common Bible study and discussion. Other Reformed churches have recently issued declarations on mixed marriage. The Council of the Swiss Protestant Federation has responded to a recent statement by the Swiss Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference by saying that “it is clear from the bishops’ declaration that in spite of the hope raised by the Vatican Instruction of last March, a whole series of prescriptions not acceptable to our Reformed Churches remain in force.” The Council went on to point out that “in the course of discussions between the Commission of the Bishops' Conference and the Commission of the Federation, the Catholic Church has become less and less shy about this principle of reciprocity between the churches. We have great expectations for this dialogue, in which mixed marriage has already been discussed.” In a similar vein, the Synod of the Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine declared that the Instruction contains “less than the Council had led us to hope for” and pointed out “the extreme confusion which is threatening to paralyse dialogue between the churches.” The Synod further enjoined its pastors against participating in a mixed marriage in a Roman Catholic church on the terms permitted by the Instruction. Noting that many churches of the Reformation have taken similar action, the Synod expressed hope for “a joint statement of policy which will unite all their pastors.” To date, no Reformed church which has spoken on the Instruction has been able to accept the minor concessions offered in it. (RPPS) WCC Leader Welcomes Pope's Interest In A Common Bible In response to Pope Paul Vi’s directive that the Secretariat for Christian Unity plan to cooperate with Protestant Bible groups in the production and distribution of common translations of the Scriptures, Dr. W. A. Visser t’Hooft, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, issued the following statement: “We are glad that Pope Paul VI has so strongly underlined the necessity and desirability of common translations of the Bible to be used by all Christian churches together. “During recent years much progress has already been made in this field. In several countries work on common translations is already in progress and agreements have been made for the common use of existing translations. “The joint working group created by the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches has encouraged these developments. As all churches undertake the task of translation together, they will not only avoid the unnecessary duplication of work, but will make a great contribution to the ecumenical dialogue, which must be based on our common reading and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.” (EPS—Geneva) Alberto Moravia, Italian author: “It is shocking to realize that the world is being governed by people who have no idea of physics.”
