Although I am not personally and specifically aware of Rev. Swank's particular theological association, I do know that he is a born again Christian, and it has been my experience that such folk tend to be (shall I be polite and say) negative toward anything Roman Catholic.

Many years ago, a church worker (now a Pastor) running some type of "home group" or Bible study, invited me to speak to his little group. I've never been particularly sure what his purpose was in doing so, and I was left "carte blanche" as to what I did and said.

Knowing nothing about his people, but a reasonable amount about him, I decided to stir him up a bit. You see, while he was a wonderful person (a white South African), he really was an evangelical fundamentalist of a type that could not stomach Roman Catholics. So I decided to tackle that issue.

I went to his group, and asked for their assistance in understanding their particular Christian theology. Toward this end, I had prepared 20 statements of faith concerning which I required their assent, dissent, and advice.

I gave each person an 'A4' copy of these articles, and asked them not to unstaple the flap at the bottom of the page. They spent a good deal of time confirming that I had indeed understood their faith, and that the statements I had recorded on the papers, were in fact correct.

When all was done, I asked them to unstaple the flap at the bottom of the page. As they did so, there was a collective audible gasp, a stunned silence, and then shock of all shocks, TEARS!

Within that flap was written something to the effect that the above stated articles of faith, were directly and exactly copied from the documents of Vatican II, and the relevant references were provided.

I had not known what to expect once the revelation was made, but had hoped that the man in charge would be a little more charitable to Roman Catholics. What I did not know, suspect or expect, was that more than half of the people gathered there were ex-Roman Catholics.

As for the tears, well it seems that many folk had been fearfully sick for the eternal future of their Roman Catholic loved ones, and the revelation that they shared the same articles of faith, suddenly lifted heartfelt burdens.

My intent that night was to show the common ground of faith in Christ. All too often and predictably so, the evangelicals I have encountered spend their time converting people to theology. Never finding common ground, they spend their time proving how people are 'not saved'; are not "true" Christians. In short, they spend their time, not spreading the good news, but the bad news.

It was wonderful to read the Rev. Swank's comments. Having personally studied in both evangelical (born again) and Roman Catholic (Liberal) universities, it's actually nice to have heard anyone at all say anything at all nice about the Pope. He, it seems to me, has been viewed by both sides as the devil incarnate.

Ah Well, that's politics for you! Yep! I said "politics!"

P.S. On the Vatican and the AntiChrist; I once read a wonderful assignment on the topic of the AntiChrist, written by a member of the Assemblies of God Church, which succeeded in proving that it is that particular church which is the AntiChrist! And he got full marks! He actually did this deliberately to prove that the university was indeed Academic and not dogmatic.

R.P.Bendedek

Email: rpbendedek@hotmail.com

R.P.BenDedek is the pseudonym of the Author of 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran' (www.kingscalendar.com), and is a guest columnist at Magic City Morning Star News. An Australian, he currently teaches Conversational English in China. King's Calendar Social Commentaries may be found at: http://www.kingscalendar.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?action=viewnews&id=331

"The King's Calendar" is a chronological study of the historical books of the Bible (Kings and Chronicles), Josephus, Seder Olam Rabbah, and the (Essene) Damascus Document of The Dead Sea Scrolls.