“The Holy Catholic Church is the society of the redeemed, the visible Kingdom of God upon earth, comprising all baptized persons who believe and profess the teachings of Jesus Christ, and who at the same time are in communion with His representative, the Pope of Rome.
Just as there is only one God, one Lord and one Baptism, so is the Church “one and unique as a sacrament…a sign and instrument of unity…with the center of unity given to us by Christ in the service of Peter” “
I am not surprised to see this comment from a Latin source, especially since the article appeared in an unabashed Roman apologetics site. It is a shame though because it is precisely this sort of comment, that “the society of the redeemed” is limited to those who have submitted to the Pope of Rome, which makes it so difficult for Orthodox Christians below the level of Metropolitan to get on the reunion bandwagon.
S, this article, like so many unabashed apologetical articles put out by Latins, may well not reflect the actual position of the Roman Church and it may well be that your hierarchs and ours understand that. But to the extent that this is the sort of thing we among the laity, the lower clergy and the monastics are exposed to, the more likely it is that we will refuse any sort of communion with Rome lest we be subjected to this inside of our parishes rather than simply out in the world.
By the way, is this Robert M. Haddad the doctor from Boston who was removed as the head of Caritas Christi in Boston for “indiscretions”? I know its a fairly common name, we have a theologian with that name, but if one knows anything about an author, sometimes that explains what he/she has written.
Sounds like an exciting organization...However, the Christianity of the Scriptures alone is entirely different...A different organization altogether...
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
As one can see, flesh and blood are corrupt; there is no physical church...There are no flesh and blood bodies in the Christian church...So how do you get into the Body of Christ??? You don't...You can't...You can't join a Church to become a Christian...
The Body of Christ gets into you...It's spiritual...You can't see it...
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
That's the church, the Body of Christ I belong to...