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Colson’s Ecumenical Activism

Timothy George, dean of the ecumenical Beeson Divinity School on the campus of the Baptist Samford University, pays tribute to Charles Colson’s work with Roman Catholics:

In the early 1990s, Colson joined with his close friend, Father Richard John Neuhaus, to begin the project known as Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT). Catholics and evangelicals were, and remain, the two largest faith communities in North America. Increasingly, they found themselves drawn together in what I described at the time as “an ecumenism of the trenches,” especially in defense of the sanctity of life from conception to natural death.

… The work of ECT still continues. Our most recent statement, “In Defense of Religious Freedom,” was published in the March 2012 issue of First Things. Bereft now of both of our founders, the ECT project moves forward, building on the initial statement drafted by Colson and Father Neuhaus (who died in 2009): “We thank God for the discovery of one another in contending for a common cause. Much more we thank God for the discovery of one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Read the rest at the National Catholic Register.

Related: Colson will be buried at Quantico National Cemetery and a memorial service is set for May 16 at Washington National Cathedral. Listen to an audio tribute on Beeson Divinity School’s podcast.

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