Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

encouraged to receive a blessing alongside those who receive communion.And the clergy of all traditions share together in the Protestant Communion.Most recently a Roman Catholic priest took the intercessions, while nine otherclergy ministered the other parts of the liturgy.I would call this sitting-in a ‘Sensing the Presence of Christ’. If it is objected thatthis is a sham and not the real thing, it can be urged that it is certainly betterthan sitting apart.A more difficult situation arises when considering intercommunion withEastern Orthodox believers, who have an even stronger sense of the singularityof their church than do many Roman Catholics. But ‘Sensing the Presence ofChrist’ would be a step forward here, too.Attending each other’s communion services is already being practised by othergroups, even when fully participating in intercommunion as such is not yetpossible. A correspondent wrote to me:‘Cooperative ministry to seafarers in the Port of Rotterdam, while I wasthere, was exceptional, especially with regard to the Eucharist, whichwas purposely celebrated in an identical way by Roman Catholics,Anglicans, and Dutch Reformed.’b) Churches TogetherIn 1990 Churches Together was formed from the ecumenical work of theBritish Council of Churches (BCC), which was constituted in 1942 by thecooperation of 16 denominations and several organisations. Its doctrinal basiswas that of the WCC, and therefore Trinitarian. By 1950 the BCC had 119members appointed to represent member churches covering the whole of theBritish Isles, and it operated through 175 local councils of churches. 180The basis of Churches Together reads:‘The Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland is a fellowship of Churchesin the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and in the180Rouse, Ruth and Neill, Stephen C, A History of the Ecumenical Movement, 1517-1948,SPCK, London, 1954, p 625.Page 192