Baptists End Talks with Catholics
NEW YORK, Mar. 23, 01 (CWNews.com) - The Southern Baptist
Convention is ending 30 years of ecumenical work with the
Catholic Church, according to a report by Associated Press
this week.
The Rev. R. Philip Roberts, the president of Midwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, said that
although a 1994 convention resolution endorsed the talks
with the Catholic Church, "many Southern Baptists became
suspicious of these discussions."
The talks began in 1971 as an opportunity to promote
understanding of shared doctrines as well as differences.
The Rev. Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School in
Birmingham, Alabama, like Roberts a participant in the talks
on the Baptist side, noted that a small faction of Baptists
had "a strong and somewhat strident reaction against this."
George said, "Ecumenism is not a high priority for most
Southern Baptists."
Two previously scheduled meetings of the 14-member panel
will be held, on September 6-8 at Southeastern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and a
final session in 2002. The negotiators hope to issue a
document on salvation and a summary report on their
contacts.
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March 25, 2001
volume 12, no. 84
USA News
www.DailyCatholic.org
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