Fight against caste system in India unites Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox

The video and following news story is from RomeReports.com:

There is one week a year where Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox pray together for the same cause. It's known as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Over the course of the week, Christians from several denominations highlight their similarities, rather than their differences.

This year, organizers included a group of university students from India. They integrated their concern for the “dalit,” or the untouchables, the lowest caste in society which often suffers discrimination, and who make up a large portion of Christians in India.

MSGR. BRIAN FARELL
Secretary, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
“India is one of those places that division and injustice is very visible. Every year we have a reason to go for ecumenical dialog to India, and it takes a long time to understand of the separation between social classes, religious groups, and the consequences suffering that this division in society brings.”

For Brian Farell, the Year of Faith is an opportunity to promote ecumenism because it emphasizes going back to the roots of Christianity. He says the New Evangelization will only be possible if all Christians are united.

MSGR. BRIAN FARELL
Secretary, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
“This prayer must be one that the World believes. Well, of course, if we are not one, it can be much more difficult, if not impossible, for the World to believe the Christian message.”

This year's theme, “What does God require of us?” looked to initiate dialogue between the Christian denominations to overcome divisions. The goal is for a self-assessment of whether they discriminate each other, the way other castes discriminate against dalits in India.

Signs of Christian Unity: More than 1,400 Anglicans want to join Catholic Church

More than 1,400 Anglicans want to join Catholic Church under "Personal Ordinariate" for U.S.

The video and following news excerpt is from RomeReports.com:

As of January 1, 2012, Anglicans in the United States, now have the option of joining the Catholic Church under a so called 'Personal Ordinariate.' The decision was established by the pope and the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. This allows Anglicans to join the Church while still keeping part of their liturgical practices.

Its official name is “The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter,” which will be led by former Episcopalian bishop Jeffrey Neil Steenson. It will be based in Houston, Texas.

Jeffrey Neil Steenson joined the Catholic Church in 2007 and was ordained a priest in 2009. The 59 year old priest is married and has three children. He will however, be part of the Conference of Catholic Bishops where he'll have voting power.

So far, over 100 Anglican priests have applied to become Catholic priests in this newly established ordinariate. Fourteen hundred Anglicans from 22 different parishes have also showed interest. By being part of this personal ordinariate, members will be in full communion with the Catholic Church.

This is only the second Ordinariate to be established by the Church. The first one was back in January of 2011, under the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham for England and Wales. Currently, other cases are also being considered for Australia and Canada.

Worldwide roughly 77 million people belong to the Anglican Church. The U.S. Episcopal Church has just under 2 million members.

A Bridge is being Built for Christian Unity

Photograph by Loci B. Lenar

Anglican Ordinariate: 'We Don't Have to Swim the Tiber; A Bridge is being Built' - Living Faith - Home and Family - Catholic Online

The following excerpt is from Catholic Online:

By Deacon Keith Fournier

LONDON, UK (Catholic Online) - I received a response to an article we published on the "Becoming One" gathering of those coming into full communion through the Anglican Ordinariate in the United States. It was from an Anglican priest who identified himself as "Father Luke". He wrote, "I am still in san Antonio. I wait for the plane back to Reno. My EMC (Episcopal Missionary Church) parish has voted to enter the Ordinariate, and I am pleased to have gotten together with my fellow travelers here in San Antonio. We do not have to swim the Tiber; a bridge is being built."

The imagery is apropos. This historic overture toward Anglican Christians is prophetic. A bridge is indeed being built and Pilgrims are crossing over and coming home. The implications have only begun to be realized; not only within the Anglican and Episcopal world, but within the Catholic Church. I am convinced this a part of an unfolding movement of the Holy Spirit which is fostering restored communion between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches as well as the healing of the divisions occasioned by the Protestant reformation in the West. Pope Benedict XVI is the Pope of Christian Unity. We should not underestimate the significance of what is occurring in this pregnant moment in Church history.

I have followed the movement of Anglican Clergy and lay faithful toward the safe harbor that is found in the Bark of Peter and written extensively about it. I have grieved along with many Anglicans as their own Christian community was torn asunder by the rejection of both orthodoxy and orthopraxy. It is my conviction that the influx of these Anglican Christians into the full communion of the Catholic Church through the Anglican Ordinariate is a work of the Holy Spirit, a gift to the Catholic Church and marks the beginning of the coming full communion of the whole Church.

This is the beginning of a new chapter in Church history. Pope Benedict XVI is the "Pope of Christian Unity" and the new chapter has only just begun to be written as the Third Millennium begins.

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