CORRESPONDENCE
ly. This invitation can be accepted thanks to what has been aptly called the Petrine Function. The title is fitting since it corresponds to Peter's unifying role in the apostolic church: the...
...Of the many statements that can be adduced to support those propositions, I give only one: Melanchthon's dictum that "for the sake of peace and general unity among Christians, a superiority could be conceded to the pope...
...Being Christian is not an addition to being human...
...A classic example of his performance as Regent was his opposition to the appointment of Kenneth Boulding at the then fairly high salary of $25,000 (Boulding, Lord knows why, was a bete noire of the John Birch Society...
...I was on the faculty of the University of Colorado when Joseph Coors was elected a Regent, obviously as a trial run in politics before attempting the race for Governor...
...Christ's prayer that "all may be one, as the Father is one with the Son" (Jn...
...Worst of all, it is irrelevant in the context of concrete Christianity: "being Christian cannot mean ceasing to be human...
...JAMES F. ANDERSON Lager Heads Santa Barbara, Cal...
...The Protestant protest is that Christ does not share his headship of the one holy catholic and apostolic church with any other person...
...It might mean the end of the Republican Party as we know it...
...VIVIAN MERCIER...
...Neither do I, and for the same reasons...
...After B's appointment despite Coors's opposition, Joe demanded that the Regents be given a list of all those on the faculty earning more than $20,000, with a view to having them all investigated...
...In short, that function is a distinct ministry— a distinct service—for those churches and within those churches...
...It is a unifying ministry exercised in varying degrees by bishops, patriarchs, church presidents...
...Christianity is unique without being exclusive...
...2. Apart from Boulding, anybody who earned that much in those days was either working on a defense contract with FBI clearance or a cardcarrying member of the AMA in the Medical School...
...The distinction between "divine" and "human" right is doctrinaire...
...A major obstacle—perhaps the major obstacle—to actual unity among Christians is then seen to be based on a false dichotomy or separation between divine and human right...
...That text goes on to point out, in effect, that non-believers will not find Christianity credible so long as the churches remain divided...
...Since Christ is unique, a unique ministry is needed in order to give "moral and pastoral leadership" to all our fellow Christian churches "without dominating them," as the editorial wisely says...
...They go on to insist that no non-Roman catholic can accept the Roman claim that the pope has unqualified jurisdiction by divine and not human right because he is the Christ-appointed successor to St...
...On the contrary, one is a Christian "in order to be truly —Maritain would say 'integrally'— human" (Kiing...
...That protest is true: Christ is unique without being exclusive...
...The Reformers and their associates wanted and hoped for a revision of the papacy that would preserve the real unity of the universal church...
...Were this not so, Christianity would not be distinctive and catholic at the same time...
...A unifying Petrine Function without domination is indispensable...
...it requires the presence of deity...
...I was very apprehensive at the time, but I needn't have worried: poor Joe pulled up lame, didn't run again for Regent, and seems to have had no Commonweal: 95 further political ambitions—supposing any Colorado Republicans could have been found crazy enough to back him...
...17:21) refers to empirical unity...
...Furthermore, I wonder, given the monumental naivete of the Coors family, whether we are not defeating our own ends...
...I do not say the "best" representative but historically the most prominent and influential one...
...The sixteenth century Reformation was not a protest against all aspects of the papal expression of the Petrine Function but only against what were regarded as abuses of papal power...
...This was idiotic for the following reasons: 1. The figures and names were already available to anybody who wanted them...
...Integral humanism is not opposed to deity...
...I take it that being Christian is the only "divineness" that we are concerned about here...
...To the Editors: So Raymond Schroth doesn't drink Coors Beer...
...Many non-Roman ecumenists say that that "superiority" belongs to the pope "by human, not divine, right...
...Because the Petrine Function stands for unity, it requires intercommunication, mutual assistance, collaboration in the common dimension...
...But neither can being human mean ceasing to be Christian...
...I think the moral is: "Drink, or even elect, more Coors...
...But we show, among other things, a lack of Christian charity...
...In the West the main representative of this ministry has been the bishop of Rome...
...The title is fitting since it corresponds to Peter's unifying role in the apostolic church: the Petrine Function is to represent oneness (not uniformity) among such churches or assemblies...
Vol. 105 • February 1978 • No. 3
