Dog and Cats Living Together,

Dog and Cats Living Together, Sorta-A little back-and-forth going on over "Catholics and Evangelicals Together" a conservative coalition of some high-powered players on both side, including Chuck Colson and Richard Neuhaus. Chris Burgwald starts off the festivities and David Heddle chimes in. Chris is responding to a piece from a hyper-orthodox Catholic site (I think that's what CAI is, IIUC) that is critical of making common cause with Protestants while Heddle has some problems with the mushy theology of the statement.

I agree with Heddle that the "sheep stealing" clause isn't useful; if someone is dissatisfied with the Catholic church, who am I to tell him to stay put? If someone's current church isn't helping them serve God, then go to someplace that does. However, part of the problem with such ecumenical groups is that the purists on either side won't like it. The key point of this group is for the two factions to make common cause on moral issues we can agree on. By definition, this group isn't going to affect some sort of theological merger between the two factions; there isn't a unified evangelical church to merge with anyway.

The hard-core evangelical has to remember that there are quite a few Catholics who have a saving faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior and the hard-core Catholic has to remember that God can work outside of the Catholic Church. Both sides think that they are closer to what God is looking for. Their closeness to God allows them to make common cause on issues that aren't in dispute. This bunch isn't looking to merge churches, it's looking to stop the libertine culture around us.

Yes, the statement isn't anywhere near good theology; this is a theological camel (a horse designed by committee) and looks butt-ugly and watered-down, but it was likely something that everyone could sign off on without gagging. They're agreeing to disagree on the stuff that makes the two parties unique. Let's work together where we can and agree to disagree where we can't.