It official, the Pope has declared June 2008 – June 2009 the Year of St Paul in honour of 2000th anniversary of his birth. One thing I found quite interesting (but of course commonsensical) is that he has asked that the year have a special emphasis on ecumenism.

Pope Benedict XVI affirmed:

“The Apostle of the Gentiles, who dedicated himself to the spreading of the good news to all peoples, spent himself for the unity and harmony of all Christians,”.

“May he guide us and protect us in this bimillenary celebration,” he added, “helping us to advance in the humble and sincere search for the full unity of all the members of the mystical body of Christ.”

Now I know it’s a while off but I’m overly excited (for numerous reasons) one of which being that I would like to learn EXACTLY what it means to be ecumenical. Now with the modest formation that I have been given, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t mean compromising on any of the central tenets of the faith in order to bring our separated brethren into the Church. (if that was the case, I’m sure ecumenism would have been done and dusted a long time ago). So what exactly does it mean for the Church to be ecumenical? How can we, as individual members of the Church, respond to the call of the Pope to be ecumenical?

I know it’s a long way off but I’m seriously quite excited and there’s no harm in being prepared a little early right?

By the way it’s also official that Bro is the new Mate…

Maybe I need to lay off the espresso for a while…