ECUMENICAL SUNDAY 2010 : "YOU ARE WITNESSES TO ALL THIS"..."ONE FAITH, ONE LORD, ONE BAPTISM"..........

Reverend Dave Samuelson; Reverend Kim Leslie; Reverend Linda Prendergast;Reverend George Lawrence; Reverend Faith Whitmore; Reverend Barbara Horikoshi-Firebaugh; these are six Methodist pastors, three men and three women, who I have been privileged to know and interact with them and their congregations in Yreka, Oroville, Arden-Arcade, and East Sacramento, since 1993. They are only one group of pastors in one denomination, of the dozens of Christian ministers and Christian churches my ecumenical endeavors the past two decades have afforded me the opportunity to come to know, pray, worship, and minister, with - in the spirit of Christian Unity this annual week of observance hearkens all of us as Catholic-Christians to participate in. The oneness of faith, baptism, and the lordship we have in common as believers in Jesus the Christ, has been authentically rooted the past century plus, in this octave of prayer, in the efforts of the World Council of Churches, the ministry of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Second Vatican Council's, 'Decree on Ecumenism' in 1964, and the Pontifical Commission Promoting Christian Unity. The timing of these occurrences is not mere coincidence. They complement and ratify each other as the intention of the Divine Spirit of Unity intended by God, for the ONE, holy Church founded by Christ. This morning after presiding at the 9:30 am Mass at Sacred Heart, where I preached on Eumenism and Christian Unity, I took the five minute, three block walk up Jay Street, to Faith First United Methodist Church, to attend their Sunday Worship Service and speak on this Eumenical Sunday, at the kind invitation of their new Pastor, Reverend Barbara Horikoshi Firebaugh, on the ecumenical work of Christian unity. In turn, she delivered a wonderful homily on today's Second Reading from 1 Corinthians 12:12-31; addressing the multiple Gifts of God's Spirit and the Human Body as an analogy for the Body of Christ. The introductions and conversations I had with the congregants afterwards were cordially warm responses to my message and presence with them. Among them was a conversation with a woman about whether atheists have any chance of going to heaven, to a very engaging discussion with their Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Harvey Chinn, who served Faith First Merhodist Church from 1958-1980; and then was the Methodist Church lobbysist at the State Capitol for twenty five years 1980-2005. In the Fellowship Hall after the Worship Service, I met two women who went to Charles Goethe Junior High School and Luther Burbank High School, just a few years after I did. Also Bill Lincoln, who was a PE teacher and coach at Goethe from 1968-2001, thus while was a student there from 1968-1971. My message at Faith First Methodist, much of which I preached at Sacred Heart today and have shared in this blog column,
was well received and responded to, for which I am grateful. My appreciation is extended to those good people of God and to Reverend Barbara, for this ecumenical opportunity. I look forward to visiting them again during the next six months. As you strive to give faithful witness to uniting with your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, may our difference in denominationsm not prevent us from building bridges of reconciliation and unity between Christians of all persuasions..........Faith, Hope, Love, in Our Supreme Unifier, the Living and True God, Who Is Christ the Lord, Fr. Troy