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There are tragic consequences when people misunderstand the word 'ecumenism'. Some Catholics suppose that they can go where they choose, for Sunday worship; yet whenever a minister without valid orders presides at a service, Christ is not made sacramentally Present. No Catholic should miss Mass, by choosing non-Catholic prayer instead.

Many Catholics practice what must be called false ecumenism. A Catholic priest or Bishop acts against the truth if he stands with a Protestant leader and gives what is called a joint blessing. This gives the impression that they each have the same power and authority. And when a Protestant minister is invited to offer a sermon during a Mass, this is against the wish of Christ and His Church. It is forbidden.

Truthful Catholics know that there is no possibility of corporate union with a Christian group that claims to ordain people to the Priesthood and at present chooses women to receive such 'ordination' - and even proposes to make some of them to be 'Bishops'. This impossibility is obvious; although it is human nature to want to hope, when things are hopeless.

Some Christians hope in vain for re-union with the Catholic Church, while they cling to mistaken beliefs about morality, or continue to believe that their ministers have valid orders. It's as though they want to worship God in communion with Catholics, but have erected or maintained a screen or wall, which has the appearance of beautiful church architecture, but which in fact separates them from the full life of the Church, and from her teaching and liturgical life.

In the document of the Second Vatican Council, on Ecumenism, there is no part which supports the words of some people of the present day who claim that other Christians have no need to 'return' to the Catholic Church. It is always true that Christ asks, through His Church, that every Christian enter into the full Communion of the Catholic Church.