IS THE CATHOLIC COUNTER-REFORMATION OVER?
On Sunday, October 8, Dr. Eduardo J. Echeverria gave a lecture on the Catholic Counter-Reformation at 7pm at 14th Street Christian Reformed Church in Holland.
The Catholic Counter-Reformation is over insofar as the Catholic Church now recognizes the Reformation as a renewal movement. This does not mean that Christ's ecumenical imperative (John 17:11, 20-21) has now been completely fulfilled. Catholic teaching sees the Church's unity both as a gift, an existing reality, and a task. Since Vatican II (1965), the Catholic Church has been irrevocably committed to receptive ecumenism, in which ecumenical dialogue is an exchange of gifts, a dialogue of love, stemming from a common cause in the Gospel. The basis and limits of this ecumenism will be explored.
Dr. Eduardo Echeverria is a Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan.
