CRC Executive Director Welcomes Papal Invite

April 4, 2008 — Rev. Jerry Dykstra will be representing the Christian Reformed Church in North America at an ecumenical prayer service led by Pope Benedict XVI on April 18 in New York City. This is the Catholic leader’s first visit to the United States as pope.

As executive director of the CRCNA, Dykstra will join 250 local and national Protestant and Orthodox leaders at the service to be held at St. Joseph's Church in the Yorkville area of Manhattan.

“This is an incredible opportunity to personally sit with senior leaders from churches and denominations across North America,” says Dykstra. “It is a huge honor and also a significant responsibility to be there and to help influence the broader Christian community with the Reformed world and life view.”

In recent years, the CRCNA and the Roman Catholic Church have been in dialogue over how the two denominations view the Lord’s Supper. As a result of these discussions, “we have made excellent progress” in opening lines of communication between the churches, says Dykstra.

Dykstra says he is especially honored to be part of the prayer service since “in a time when the world is splintered into so many segments, we will have the opportunity to demonstrate the gospel of Christ. Jesus prayed for unity, and we need to take every opportunity to demonstrate that unity.”

Professor Lyle Bierma from Calvin Theological Seminary has also been invited to attend the service. Bierma, a professor of systematic theology, has worked closely with Roman Catholic theologians over the last several years on a report that clarifies the CRC’s stance on the Lord’s Supper as it relates to the Roman Catholic Church.

At issue here had been Question and Answer 80 of the Heidelberg Catechism. In the answer portion, the catechism says the Catholic Mass “is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ and a condemnable idolatry.”

The final report concluded that there remain important differences between how the two denominations view the Lord's Supper. But it also found that Question and Answer 80 did not accurately represent the Catholic Church’s beliefs on the topic.

Synod 2006 approved the report and asked that it be edited and made available to church members and others. The document was completed recently (read news story) and is posted on the CRC’s website as a free download.

- Chris Meehan, CRC Communications

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