[Rytwyng]

...there is no appropriate category in Catholic thought for the phenomenon of Protestantism today (one could say the same of the relationship to the separated churches of the East). It is obvious that the old category of ‘heresy’ is no longer of any value. Heresy, for Scripture and the early Church, includes the idea of a personal decision against the unity of the Church, and heresy’s characteristic is pertinacia, the obstinacy of him who persists in his own private way. This, however, cannot be regarded as an appropriate description of the spiritual situation of the Protestant Christian. In the course of a now centuries-old history, Protestantism has made an important contribution to the realization of Christian faith, fulfilling a positive function in the development of the Christian message and, above all, often giving rise to a sincere and profound faith in the individual non-Catholic Christian, whose separation from the Catholic affirmation has nothing to do with the pertinacia characteristic of heresy. Perhaps we may here invert a saying of St. Augustine’s: that an old schism becomes a heresy. The very passage of time alters the character of a division, so that an old division is something essentially different from a new one. Something that was once rightly condemned as heresy cannot later simply become true, but it can gradually develop its own positive ecclesial nature, with which the individual is presented as his church and in which he lives as a believer, not as a heretic. This organization of one group, however, ultimately has an effect on the whole. The conclusion is inescapable, then: Protestantism today is something different from heresy in the traditional sense, a phenomenon whose true theological place has not yet been determined.”

-- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, "The Meaning of Christian Brotherhood" (Ignatius Press)

The supreme irony of all this, is that by validating the good that Protestantism has done, he makes the Tiber seem a bit warmer.

[PAR35]

Sounds like Parisi needs to track down that Ratzinger fellow and straigten him out. He might have trouble doing that, however, as I understand Ratzinger recently changed his name and moved to another country.

[redgolum]

Something that was once rightly condemned as heresy cannot later simply become true, but it can gradually develop its own positive ecclesial nature, with which the individual is presented as his church and in which he lives as a believer, not as a heretic. This organization of one group, however, ultimately has an effect on the whole. The conclusion is inescapable, then: Protestantism today is something different from heresy in the traditional sense, a phenomenon whose true theological place has not yet been determined.”

Funny thing that. As I have commented to Kolo a few times, we all tend to drift to the same point in certain areas. That was not always true, at times because of intensely political things.

For instance, prior the fall of Constantinople, there was no theological way that any western ruler could be recognized by the Emperor of the Eastern Romans (Byzantine) as anything else but a rebelling barbarian king. The thought of the time was that if you were truly catholic and orthodox Christian (lower case c and o), then you had to be under the government of the one universal Emperor.

That isn't the case now, and probably won't be in the foreseeable future.

What is also fascinating to me is that in the Asian and African mission fields, there is a lot of cooperation. The Lutheran Church in Seoul has no problem working with the local Catholic diocese. Also (and rather ironically) the Lutheran churches in many parts of Russia haved helped push some wandering Russian Orthodox back to the Orthodox, while trying to convert the truly unchurched. My point is that in parts of the world, some of these debates aren't even on the radar screen of the local Christians. Perhaps when the Church is reunited, it won't be from the West, but from the East!