MidnightCall Magazine
In this issue:
- Before the Last Flood — By Norbert Lieth
- Gaza Flotilla: Aggression or Self-Defense? — By Arno Froese
- Far East AsiaTrendsToday – Part III:Geo-prophecy or Geopolitics? — By Wilfred Hahn
News From Israel MagazineIn this issue:
- The Myth of the Al-Aqsa Mosque: Part 1 — By Herbert Novitsky
- ON THE HORIZON:
- Obama Honors Jewish Heritage Month
- Building an Electronic Human Brain
- ‘Iran Critics Must Get Rid of Nukes,’ Says Turkish PM
- Israel Joins Prestigious OECD Club
- Israel Accepted after Unanimous Vote
- Spy Satellite Successfully Launched
A Tendency Toward Rome
When, after the failed assassination attemps against President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, the Soviet Union and its evil empire collapsed instead, some thought they saw a sign. Perhaps it should not go uremarked, therefore, that we are about to see a similar sign: the return of a significant portion of the Anglican Church into the fold of the Roman Catholic Church. Similar tendencies toward Rome are evident in the Orthodox Churches, the Chinese Patriotic Church in Communist China and the schismatic Pius X Society.
One thing driving this, of course, is the ecumenical dialogue, which began 40 years ago under Pope Paul VI. Another is the fact that, thanks to our modern popes, the prestige of the papacy is at a level not seen in centuries. Still another is the contrast between the worldwide growth of the Catholic Church and the disintegration (not to say, disappearance) of many main-line Protestant communions, both here and in Europe. Only the evangelicals, the Catholics and the Orthodox are prospering.
As Bishop David Moyer, SSC, and Anglo-Catholic leader of the Traditional Anglican Communion and pastor of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, said, it’s now clear that the only way Christianity will survive in Europe will be through the Catholic Church.
Whether Rome’s response to the British Anglo-Catholics will be framed in such a way as to create a precedent for other Protestant ministers and congregation to join the Catholic Church is presently unknown. Personally, I hope it is sufficiently broad to enable American Anglo-Catholic to return home.
Finally, about the Tridentine Mass. While ordered, certainly for the reasons set forth in Pope Benedict’s decree and in his book on the liturgy, it is striking how this papal initiative carries the side-benefit of potentially opening doors to two other ingathering of Christians who are presently in schism with Rome. One, of course, is the bishops, priests and faithful of the Pius X Society who reject the Second Vatican Council and all its works.
The other is the Patriotic Catholic Church in Communist China, which is controlled by the Chinese government. It is not much known in the United States that the Chinese Catholic Church does not follow Vatican II and use the Tridentine Mass. As much as the papacy itself, it is the use of the same Mass in the same language throughout the world which symbolizes the unity of the Church.
The Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople participated in a service at St. Peter’s celebrating the beginning of the year dedicated to the Apostle Paul.
There they were, the symbols of the “left and right lungs of the Universal Church,” as Pope John Paul II called them, praying together in St. Peter’s. Who knows?
-Philadelphia Inquirer, 11 July 2008, pg. 23
The Roman Catholic Church, as a religious political institution, is here to stay. As a matter of fact, the power of Rome will increase substantially in the near future. While the article concludes, “Only the evangelicals, the Catholics and the Orthodox are prospering,” the author James G. Wiles fails to mention that the evangelical movement is strongly united with the Vatican when it comes to opposing gay marriage, gay clergy, women bishops, etc. The points of agreement are the points that will lead towards Rome. The religious, moral and political power of Rome is vastly underestimated; thus, we can rightly say, Rome ruled when Jesus came the first time, and Rome will rule when Jesus returns physically and literally to planet Earth.
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