The following comes from a Dec. 19 story on Aleteia.com.
Pastor Rick Warren has called on non-Catholic Christians to join with Pope Francis and the Catholic Church in pursuit of their common goals.
Warren is founder and pastor of California’s well-known Saddleback Church and author of best-selling books including The Purpose-Driven Life, which has sold 36 million copies, and The Purpose-Driven Church.
Pastor Warren was among the speakers in November 2014 at Humanum, the Vatican’s International Religious Colloquium on the Complementarity of Man and Woman. Humanum brought together faith leaders from both Christian and non-Christian religions around the world, to examine and propose anew the beauty of the relationship between man and woman in marriage.
In an interview with EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo which aired after the conference, Warren called for adherents of various Christian denominations to unite with Roman Catholics and Pope Francis to work together on three shared goals, focusing on the sanctity of life, the sanctity of sex, and the sanctity of marriage. He went on to defend Catholicism and to clarify some of the most common misconceptions about Catholic teaching, pertaining to Marian dogmas and prayer to the saints.
Warren acknowledged that there are still real differences which separate Catholics from other Christian denominations. He envisions Catholics and Protestants working together, not with a structural unity, but rather, with a unity of mission. “If you love Jesus,” he said, “we’re on the same team.”
Pastor Warren’s remarks were polite and well reasoned, and were well received in the Catholic community. To hear some conservative Christians tell the story, though, you’d think that Warren was devoid of reason and without a moral compass. Evangelical Reformed apologist James White, director of Alpha and Omega Ministries and an avowed anti-Catholic, called on Warren to repent. Matt Slick of the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, was openly critical, mistakenly claiming that Catholics had “added seven books” to the Bible. Brian Houston of Hillsong Church expressed alarm about Warren’s “subtle backslide into Catholicism” and claimed that his concern is shared by Christians nationwide.
But despite the protests from a few corners of the Protestant world, Warren has been an important voice for our shared Christian vision. He closed his remarks to the attendees gathered for Humanum by reaffirming that Catholics and other Christians serve as co-laborers for the cause of defending life and family. Speaking about the sanctity of life, sex and marriage, Warren declared, “There’s great commonality, and there’s no division on any of those three.”
To read the original story, click here.
To view the You Tube video of Pastor Warren’s Nov. speech in Rome, click below.
‘Speaking about the sanctity of life, sex and marriage, Warren declared, “There’s great commonality, and there’s no division on any of those three.”’
Wow, I’m glad I’m not on a low salt diet! I’ll need a lot of salt to take Pastor Warren’s words when he says “there’s no division on any of those three”
. Then, Pastor Warren, why did you assert your support for gay marriage, and declare your opposition to Proposition 8 in California? Did you undergo a profound conversion since then? Or did you recognize Pope Francis’s almost unlimited ability to get media attention and decide to hitch your wagon to his star?
There is no Purpose in getting your Catholicism from Rick Warren. Or the New York Times, or CNN, or The Los Angeles Times, or The National Catholic Reporter for that matter.
Kristin— you are 100% correct, especially with respect to the National “Catholic” Reporter.
And then there is Chrislam:
On November 17, 2014, Pope Francis hosted a global ecumenical conference featuring Muslim leaders, pagans, and Chrislam founder Rick Warren. The Colloquium is sponsored by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and co-sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.
The main tragic thing here is that many Protestant churches possess the values of Christianity better than Novus Ordo Catholics. I know one thing for sure, many Protestant organizations are more charitable than Catholic ones, even though they do not possess the fullness of truth which the Catholic Church does.
Fr. Karl, Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family used to have some excellent procures on chastity in dating and what to look for in a spouse. Many prolife crisis pregnancies centers used them, including Birthright. Hopefully his organization still has them since he is retiring or has retired..
Rodney, please provide links (proof) for your assertions about Pastor Rick Warren. He never supported homosexual acts, or homosexual marriage as far as I could find on any reliable source on the internet.
In fact Warren video taped his statement for his 20,000 member Church congregation that they should vote
RE: Prop 8 – abt one week prior to the election.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o4QqGbQmU0
(Of course Obama lied to Warren regarding Obama’s position – based upon Obama’s actions.)
On this web site, you will be asked to prove your statements with official links by some posters rather than allowing lies to stand.
The “links (proof)” are pretty easy to find and I would rather you would do your own research. But you can start with the article in the Washington Times Apr. 11th 2009, from which I quote ‘Evangelical leaders say they are bewildered and stunned by the Rev. Rick Warren’s apparent turnaround on gay marriage after the famous California pastor said earlier this week that he was not a proponent of California’s Proposition 8.
Mr. Warren told CNN’s Larry King on Monday that he “never once even gave an endorsement” of the proposition…”‘. Further on the article quotes Wendy wright, president of Concerned Women for America as saying “Whether he supports Proposition 8 now, after the fact, is overshadowed by the bizarre claim that he did not say what the evidence so clearly proves he said.” He also told Larry King in the above cited interview that he (Warren) called all his gay friends and apologized to them for appearing to support Pro 8.
Then you can look up Think Progress.org and you’ll see how he was twisting and turning in an effort to cater to both sides in the debate, telling his congregation one thing and the public at large something else.
” three shared goals, focusing on the sanctity of life, the sanctity of sex,
and the sanctity of marriage “.
These are not only in the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” which contains the Doctrine of our Catholic Faith,
but also in SACRED SCRIPTURE which contains in entirety the speech of God (CCC 81).
Working on the sanctity of sex calls for speaking out against homosexual acts which are gravely depraved and intrinsically disordered.
Hey, is this not the SPIRIT of Vatican II???? All religions are the same right??
It would be wonderful if the Pope taught the Roman Catholic faith and not going to the UN and talk about the MYTH of global warming, just amazing folks.
Janek, I do not think that any pope has really taught that all religions are the same. From what I have read they just teach what St. Paul taught, that we are to take from other religions what is good and leave behind what is bad and not Christian or orthodox (with a small “o”). When St. Paul was trying to convert the pagans he used their belief in an Unknown god to get across his message about Christ. The Apostles did that all the time. If St. Paul and the other Apostles and disciples had not talked to, learned about and communicated with those of other religions, they would have never converted anyone. Of course, we have to be sure that in the process we are not the ones that get converted to doing the wrong thing ourselves. That has always been an ever present danger.
I do share your concern, and I do love the Traditional Latin Mass, but it just is not for everyone, at least not now. Too often we try to tell God what to do instead of trying to find out His will for us at this time and accept that. There is a saying, “If you want to make God laugh, just tell him your plans.” How often we start a day out well planned, but it ends up quite differently.
I am gasping, stunned with disbelief that California Catholic Daily has presented this as a “news” story. Really, what does it matter to us Faithful that a Protestant minister who has written a best-seller wants to cooperate with Francis on “life issues”? We want a Pope who presents and defends the teachings of the Faith, not one who dilutes, confuses, and undermines them.
Please do not ignore the photos (from news media) of Francis holding hands with one priest with a homosexual-lifestyle-friendly ministry and kissing the hand of another priest with the same type of ministry, and then there’s Francis and a beaming Msgr Ricca embracing–after Francis refused to remove the pervert from his Vatican position.
How about reporting on Francis’s facilitating the sellout of the US to Cuba–just announced though he was busy doing this in secret for the past year. Please see https://religiousleftexposed.com/home/2014/12/if-francis-is-a-communist-pope-how-does-that-affect-catholic-faith-and-morals.html
ubipetrusest, the link you gave has NOTHING to do with anything Catholic, and is some kind of survivalist site. There are many non-Catholic sites that FALSELY think they know everything about the Catholic Faith, and perpetrate lies.
If they read the ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition’ they would have no false or stupid fears. And hopefully they would not print lies.
I suggest that when you want to know something about any particular Faith, you go to their own source for accurate information.
For the Catholic Faith only see: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm
“….the CATECHISM has raised throughout the world, even among non-Christians,
and confirms its purpose of being presented as a full, complete exposition of Catholic doctrine,
enabling everyone to know what the Church professes, celebrates, lives, and prays in her daily life.” – Pope John Paul II (CCC pg xiv)
Everyone will have to answer to God for his own actions, including Pope Francis, and Catholics know this.
None of us is without sin, and that includes the Pope, and me, and YOU.
ubipetrusest, the link you gave has NOTHING to do with anything Catholic, and is some kind of survivalist site. There are many non-Catholic sites that FALSELY think they know everything about the Catholic Faith, and perpetrate lies.
If they read the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition” of 1997 they would have no false or stupid fears. And hopefully they would NOT continue to print lies.
I suggest that when you want to know something about any particular Faith, you go to that Faith’s own source for accurate information.
For the Catholic Faith only see: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm
“….the CATECHISM has raised throughout the world, even among non-Christians,
and confirms its purpose of being presented as a full, complete exposition of Catholic doctrine,
enabling everyone to know what the Church professes, celebrates, lives, and prays in her daily life.” – Pope John Paul II (CCC pg xiv)
Everyone will have to answer to God for his own actions, including Pope Francis, and Catholics know this.
Just because the Pope says or does something, does not make it a matter of Catholic Faith and Morals that we must adhere to.
None of us is without sin of some kind, and that includes the Pope, and me, and YOU.
No Catholic is going to throw the “OFFICE of POPE” under the bus.
You must understand that there can be a difference between the “OFFICE” (aka Chair of St. Peter), and actions and statements of individual Popes which can be ignorable or in error. Popes are human beings, not God.
We have had 12 bad Popes in the Church’s 2000+ year history.
SO are you James, or are you Oscar?
Also: MAC, MADDIE, PAUL, MATT, MARY, JAMES, TED, JOSE, SANDRA… There are countless screen names in the same format (first-name-all-caps). Same person.
Reminds me of an old cartoon…a very heavy, aging woman with a cigarette hanging from her painted lips is typing on her keyboard, ” I’m about 23 and I’m really into sports so I’m pretty thin…”
Yes, Monsignor Ricca is an open homosexual and Bergoglio knows this all to well don’t think it another “misunderstanding” of what Francis said, that excuse is old already. Ricca was caught in an elevator trying to “pick up” a young man in South America, he is a Bergoglio favorite. Let’s all stop pretending all is well in Rome, far from it, Rome is in total shambles.
Cardinal George, Nov, 2014 regarding Pope Francis:
QUOTE: ” The question is raised, why doesn’t he himself clarify these things ? Why is it necessary that apologists have to bear that burden of trying to put the best possible face on it ?
Does he not realize the consequences of some of his statements, or even some of his actions ?
Does he not realize the repercussions ?
Perhaps he doesn’t.
I don’t know whether he’s conscious of all the consequences of some of the things he’s said and done that raise these doubts in people’s minds. ” UNQUOTE.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/static/cardinal-george-on-pope-francis-why-doesnt-he-clarify.html
Pray for Pope Francis. He is creating a real “mess”, like he has instructed others to do.
Messing with the Salvation of Souls has no place in the Catholic Faith.
The link does not work, but thank you for this article.
I know a lot of Christians who do not like the Catholic Church.
God bless their work of standing up for the sanctity of marriage, of sex and of life.