Tuesday, April 26, 2005

World Council of Churches - Letter to the Holy Father

In congratulating the newly-elected pope, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia prayed for "renewed commitment" to "ecumenical openess" and "a dialogue of conversion".
"Dialogue of conversion" evidently means that which is discussed in Ut unum sint:
In the Document, ecumenical dialogue takes on a specific characteristic; it becomes a "dialogue of conversion", and thus, in the words of Pope Paul VI, an authentic "dialogue of salvation".60 Dialogue cannot take place merely on a horizontal level, being restricted to meetings, exchanges of points of view or even the sharing of gifts proper to each Community. It has also a primarily vertical thrust, directed towards the One who, as the Redeemer of the world and the Lord of history, is himself our Reconciliation. This vertical aspect of dialogue lies in our acknowledgment, jointly and to each other, that we are men and women who have sinned. It is precisely this acknowledgment which creates in brothers and sisters living in Communities not in full communion with one another that interior space where Christ, the source of the Church's unity, can effectively act, with all the power of his Spirit, the Paraclete.

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