YELLOW PACK CHRISTIANS

The Pope has just issued a declaration that the Roman Catholic Church is the "One True church". All other churches, such as Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Non-Denominational, even Russian Orthodox, are not real churches at all. In fact all non-Catholic Trinitarian Christian churches are just "ecclesiastical communities". It's never really bothered me at all what the Pope thinks, but when I heard this statement coming out over the airwaves it sent a chill through my soul.

I vividly remember a time when young Irish men and women came into Christian Fellowship meetings with black eyes or smashed car windscreens or having been thrown out of home, and all because they had made a decision of conscience to stop going to Mass. Ireland in the early 1980's was a very difficult place to live as an ex-Catholic. The Catholic Church operated what amounted to an Islamic type policy on the ground when dealing with those who choose to convert to a different faith. It was a lot worse in the fifties and sixties when you had no choice but to emigrate if you converted.

Thankfully today in Ireland most Catholics are a lot more tolerant of religious minorities here, and some, including the Christian Brothers, have become a joy to deal with. Courteous, respectful and tolerant are the words I would use of my experience over the last few years in Cork. However, only last week we also had an encounter with one of the "old guard" of Catholics, an unknown lay person who came in to tell us exactly what he thought of Christian Fellowships (the words were hissed at us). He happened to be in the vicinity of one of our meetings and came over to us uninvited and offered us his opinions, free of charge! To say he was hostile would be an understatement, and I was left thinking that if he were an Islamic extremist, he would be first in the queue for a suicide bombing. Probably aimed at us, or some other "ecclesiastical community" that doesn't quite fit into the current Pipe Dream, or should that be Pope Dream?

You see what the Pope says influences people like him a lot. And if a member of his family starts attending a non-Catholic church with all the One True Church stuff going on in the background, then we're not too far away from black eyes and smashed windscreens again. This superior, proud, arrogant attitude is saying to the hundreds of millions of non-Catholic Christians that we are only yellow pack Christians, just like the really cheap brand of groceries sold in bargain supermarkets here.

There's a time to keep your opinions to yourself, but there's also a time to speak out. I have to speak out against this arrogant and dangerous statement from Pope Benedict. It's wrong and untrue, in every sense. If I as a church leader were to announce that Grace Christian Fellowship is the one true church I would immediately be written off as some kind of cult leader, and rightly so. But the Pope can say it, and it's accepted?

Thank God, that for the most part, the real people of Ireland are not so easily led anymore, even if it is the Pope who says it. Besides, I always preferred yellow pack toothpaste anyway.......