Ecumenical Martyrs "keep plugging away"...

John Allen, in his latest edition of All Things Catholic, has this to say:

“Christianity is supposed to provide an "optic" for reading the world that is different from purely human logic. If that's true, one would expect Christians to make choices that defy conventional wisdom. Traditionally, this has been the role of the martyrs. Less dramatically, however, one can also see it in ecumenists who are still committed to the vision of full, structural unity within the divided Christian family. Despite a fairly persuasive case for futility, ecumenists keep plugging away.”

Yep, that’s us, the martyrs of 21st Century ecumenism…

Later in the column, he reports that Fr Ron Roberson suggests the Catholic-Orthodox Joint International Commission ought to get along better now that Greek Orthodox Archbishop Stylianos of Australia is no longer at the helm. Hmm. It would be both tactless and a risk to my employment to agree with Fr Roberson, but others involved in dialogue with the Orthodox in Australia might just do so.