well, apparently some current-day members still do believe in the eucharist the same way that they did in dark ages.
hence the need for brackets.
for an example, see here:
Posted by niftydrifty—April 05, 2008, 5:10 pm
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Sorry ‘bout That Whole `Idolatrous’ Bit
The Christian Reformed Church says isn’t doesn’t really think the Catholic Mass is idolatrous ... well, sort of.
The Grand Rapids-based CRC has been wrestling for years with what to do with the (circa 1563) Heidelberg Catechism that calls the Catholic Mass a “a condemnable idolatry.”
At issue had been the 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 idea being that Reformers thought the Catholic Mass re-sacrificied Jesus over and over again during Communion, which implied that the original sacrifice on Calvary 2,000 years ago didn’t do the job once and for all.)
Three years ago, the CRC said the section didn’t really apply, and then last year the CRC said it doesn’t apply, but we’re still going to keep it on the books—with a footnote.
Did you follow that?
Now the CRC has published its report and made it available online. Bottom line: there are differences in how the two churches understand Christ’s sacrifice, and the Mass, but the 1563 Heidelberg Catechism didn’t “accurately represent the Catholic Church’s beliefs on the topic.”
As for the CRC’s beliefs on the topic, the CRC says the original language remains on the books, in [brackets], denoting that the troublesome language is “no longer confessionally binding on members of the CRC.”
Now that that’s all cleared up ...
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 7:36 pm
Comments
Next entry: Rolling in His Grave
Previous entry: The Seven Deadlies