Ecumenism Was Happening Today

I simply wanted to share this article by Nicole Winfield for AP that is titled: Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew Pray In Holy Sepulcher Church. The article reads as follows:

"Pope Francis and the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians prayed together Sunday inside the Jerusalem church that symbolizes their divisions, calling their historic meeting a step toward healing the centuries-old Catholic-Orthodox schism."

The link for the entire article is found below. Hope you enjoy reading it...blessings!



Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew Pray In Holy Sepulcher Church

Pilgrimage of Pope Francis to the Holy Land

On this site one will be able to view live CVT video transmission from Vatican Television Center, as well as the Popes agenda by date. The Vatican's link to the Pilgrimage of Pope Francis to the Holy Land from May 24-26 is below.


Pilgrimage of Pope Francis to the Holy Land (24-26 May 2014)

A Link for the Apostolic Pilgrimage this Week

I wanted to share a link which has more information about the meeting between Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew which will be taking place in Jerusalem on May 25^th, 2014. I found the link through the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website (http://www.goarch.org/). Below is the link for the Apostolic Pilgrimage.

Home - Apostolic Pilgrimage of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to Jerusalem

Pope Francis' Trip to the Holy Land

As it is well known already, in the next three days Pope Francis will be doing an Ecumenical trip to the Holy Land. I am recommending an article on NPR by Sylvia Poggioli which is titled: Pope To Travel To Holy Land With Rabbi And Muslim Leader. In the article, Sylvia Poggioli quotes John Allen, who is the Vatican analyst for The Boston Globe. Mr. Allen said:

"With Francis, his focus in interreligious dialogue is much more on the present — it's what are the challenges of today, poverty and war, and what can the religions do together in facing them," Allen says. "It is a mode of interreligious dialogue that is free of the ghosts of the past."

I hope you enjoy the article, and I will be possibly be providing other links with relevance to the trip by Pope Francis, but the link to this article in reference is below. Hope you enjoy reading…blessings!

Pope To Travel To Holy Land With Rabbi And Muslim Leader : NPR

The Taizé Community

If you were to stumble in on the German radio station Domradio at around 10 P.M. Central European time on a Saturday evening, you just might hear the evening prayer broadcast from the Taizé Community. If you are curious about listening to this evening prayer, you can listen online at http://www.domradio.de/.  Moreover, the prayer is provided online as a podcast. Now, if you have never heard of Taizé, I am getting ready to tell you a little about it, and I will also be providing their link, so you can visit their website and explore everything the Taizé Community offers on it.

What is the Taizé Community? Well, the Taizé Community is a monastic order found in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire which is in Burgundy, France. The Taizé Community is ecumenical and it is made up of more than one hundred brothers that come from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds coming from many countries around our planet.  The Taizé Community was founded by Brother Roger Schutz in 1940. In 1954, Brother Roger wrote a publication titled: The Rule of Taizé which basically provides the guide for the community.  The community has grown to become a very important place for young Christian pilgrims to visit. In fact, more than 100, 000 visit each year from many parts of our planet. What do these young people do at Taizé? Well, they study the Bible, they pray, they share and do communal work, and more. Now, why am I posting about the Taizé Community? Well, didn’t I say that it was ecumenical? The answer to both questions is because it is ecumenical. If you go on YouTube, you can find much of the beautiful worship music that they sing at the community. To close, I do not want to say too much about Taizé since you can find out more about them by exploring their link found below. Thanks for reading and blessings!

The Taizé Community

Crystal Cathedral and Christ Cathedral

Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, California was formerly known as Crystal Cathedral; however, Christ Cathedral is Roman Catholic, but Crystal Cathedral was part of the Reformed Church in America. So, what happened, how did this transition take place? Well, I am not here to get into those details or give answers about it, but if you really need to know than I am sure you can find out easily. I normally don't watch evangelical television shows anymore, but a few weeks ago while changing channels, I noticed a priest being interviewed by Bobby Schuller on The Hour of Power and it caught my attention, so I decided to listen to the interview. It turns out that the priest was Father Christopher Smith who is Episcopal Vicar and Pastor of Christ Cathedral which is formerly Crystal Cathedral. The first question from Bobby was about the light bill at the building. Obviously, they both knew it was expensive. The building is very beautiful, but seemingly high maintenance. We do know that St. Paul once said while standing in the midst of the Areopagus in Athens that: "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything (Acts 17:24-25, ESV Bible)." But, these foregoing verses do not mean that God cannot be worshiped in such Temples. Moreover, I love beautiful churches, and I think beauty is part of spirituality, plus I am also guilty of enjoying worship in beautiful churches. What really matters either way is not the building; it is as the Psalm which says: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity (Psalms 133:1, ESV Bible)!” What I found fascinating during the interview was that the more I watched the dialogue that it was very ecumenical. The two ministers knew that they were from different denominations, but they showed the love of Christ towards each other even though the transition from one building to another had been difficult for the listening audience which had previously congregated at the former Crystal Cathedral. To close, I simply want to share the link that contains a transcript of the interview in reference. The link is below, I hope you enjoy reading it.

Hour of Power : Guest Interviews : Father Christopher Smith


Reference:

ESV Bible

http://www.hourofpower.org/interviews/detail.php?contentid=8232

Pastor Rick Warren, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County, Mental Illness, and Ecumenism

I suppose the title of this post says it all, but it does leave one with questions, so I will try to explain a bit. Rick Warren’s son, Matthew Warren, shot himself almost a year ago on April 5, 2013. Mathew struggled with mental illness for many years, and sadly his suicide was a tragedy. But, that less than a year later, Mathew's father, Rick Warren has begun a Mental Illness Ministry at Saddleback Church. Saddleback Church, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Orange County, last week on March 28th, 2014 hosted an event. More than 3,000 people came together for this event which was called: The Gathering on Mental Health and the Church. Now, why am I talking about it on this blog? Well, did I mention that Saddleback Church is an Evangelical church? Well, it is! Did I mention the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange? Yes, I did! Well, if you put Roman Catholics and Evangelicals together in one room than you are having ecumenism. And, on this blog ecumenism among any Christian denominations seems like good thing, and focusing on mental illness is also a good thing because maybe it can prevent another person from ending their life just like Mathew Warren. If you want to learn more about the event I spoke about, please read the article by Sophia Lee on World Magazine at the link below. 

WORLD | Rick Warren launches mental health ministry | Sophia Lee | April 1, 2014



Reference:

http://www.worldmag.com/2014/04/rick_warren_launches_mental_health_ministry