On March 20-22, what is being called “the first-ever Catholic-Emergent conference” will take place. The name of the conference is The Emerging Church: Conversations, Convergence and Action. Spencer Burke, of the Ooze, calls it “one of the magical moments in this movement of God.”1
The event is being erroneously advertised as a meeting of Catholic and Protestant leaders. Emergent Village states: “[T]his will be the first gathering to be planned and hosted by a team of Catholic and Protestant leaders working together for the good of the church at large.”1 The Center for Action and Contemplation (web home of Catholic priest and contemplative Richard Rohr and host to the event) also identifies the non-Catholics as “Protestants” and “Evangelicals.” However, the non-Catholic speakers for the conference would be more accurately described as emerging church leaders. The reason for this distinction is vital: Many of the leaders in the emerging church movement do not resonate with some of the most foundational doctrines of historical Protestantism and Evangelicalism (e.g., substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ and the authority of Scripture as being the inspired word of God), thus it is erroneous for them to be called Protestant or Evangelical.
Speakers for the 2009 event, on the “emerging” side include Brian McLaren, Shane Claiborne, and Phyllis Tickle. Richard Rohr represents the Catholic side. Rohr’s spirituality would be in the same camp as someone like Matthew Fox (author of The Coming of the Cosmic Christ) who believes in pantheism and panentheism. Rohr wrote the foreword to a 2007 book called How Big is Your God? by Jesuit priest (from India) Paul Coutinho. In Coutinho’s book, he describes an interspiritual community where people of all religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity) worship the same God.
To understand the significance and the ramifications of the ecumenical move toward Catholicism by key Christian figures, read Roger Oakland’s Faith Undone: the emerging church – a new reformation or an end-time deception.
For information on the teachings and beliefs of the conference speakers, please refer to Lighthouse Trails Research Project.
