Roman Catholics to Join Hands With Evangelicals

The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops voted Wednesday to join a new alliance that would be the broadest Christian group ever formed in the United States, linking American evangelicals and Catholics in an ecumenical organization for the first time.

Separately, church leaders authorized a third round of annual audits of all U.S. dioceses to determine whether they complied with bishops’ policies on preventing sex abuse by clergy.

The bishops also agreed to launch a multiyear initiative that would aim to strengthen marriage by, among other projects, raising awareness about church teaching on the importance of the sacrament and providing resources for church programs on preventing divorce.

The votes came as the bishops’ worked to wrap up business at their fall meeting, which ends today.

The alliance, called Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A., is to kick off next year. It would also include mainline Protestants, Orthodox Christians and black and other minority churches, although the U.S. Catholic Church, with about 67 million members, would be the largest denomination.

“It’s not to create some kind of mega-body or mega-church,” said Bishop Stephen Blaire, chairman of the ecumenical committee for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “It is a forum for participation so that we can pray together, grow in our understanding together and witness together our faith.”

It is considered a biblical imperative for Christians to find ways to build unity among their different denominations. Pope John Paul II has made such efforts a priority of his pontificate.

The bishops approved the proposal, 151 to 73. Blaire, of Stockton, called Wednesday’s vote “important and historic.”