Saturday, July 30, 2005

Antiochians do the Right Thing!

Great news from Fr. Patrick Henry Reardon:
July 28, 2005
Breaking News: Orthodox Leave NCC
Dearborn, Michigan. July 28, 2005.This afternoon the General Convention of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America voted overwhelmingly to leave the National Council of Churches of Christ. The General Convention is holding its annual meeting this week in Dearborn, Michigan.
The action was not a temporary "suspension" of membership, but a formal withdrawal from the NCC. The clergy unanimously approved the withdrawal, followed by a unanimous vote of the lay delegates supporting the move. An announcement of the final vote was met with thunderous applause by the Convention.
Reasons given for the withdrawal include the general liberalism of the NCC, whose General Secretary, Bob Edgar, withdrew his signature from a statement defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.
Metropolitan PHILIP, head of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, was reportedly outspoken in calling for the church to withdraw from the NCC, stating that the relationship had proven fruitless.
The National Council of the Churches of Christ has listed on its website "36 member communions and denominations." It now has 35.

My reflection:
It's about time!!!Now if the OCA an d the Greek Archdiocese will follow suit, this will only put the nail on the coffins of the NCC and the WCC. It's time now to focus on real ecumenical work-with the Oriental Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, and the Evangelicals. I think the Fellowship of St. James provides an excellent venue for a forum of like-minded Christians who are serious about "mere Christianity" to come together and speak prophetically to a culture that is hell-bent on its own moral destruction.

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