Cardinal: Education in Christian basics is needed for Christian unity

Published: 2007-01-23

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While the search for Christian unity may need some creative ideas for overcoming long-standing denominational differences, it definitely needs education aimed at shoring up the basics of Christian faith, said Cardinal Walter Kasper. If ecumenism is based on unity in faith, then Christians must know and believe the faith they claim to share, said the cardinal, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. "How can you speak, for example, of justification by faith if there is no longer an awareness of God and of sin, an awareness that there is a need for forgiveness and redemption," the cardinal said at a Jan. 23 Vatican press conference. The cardinal was presenting his "Handbook of Spiritual Ecumenism" during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The handbook includes dozens of concrete suggestions for how Catholics individually and in groups can prepare spiritually for the gift of Christian unity.

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