The Portal March 2015 | Page 20

THE P RTAL March 2015 Page 20 Commissioner Bill Cochrane of the Salvation Army Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane continue their ecumenical series T he Salvation Army has recently had conversations with the Catholic Church. Intrigued by this, we went to see Commissioner Bill Cochrane, the International Secretary to the Chief of Staff and of International Ecumenical Relations. We wondered how these conversations came about. Commissioner Cochrane replied, “A previous General encouraged conversations with other denominations. Initially between individuals, these later became formalised. “Not everyone received them well. There are Catholics for whom the Reformation is a short term aberration, and evangelical Protestants who consider any contact with Rome to be the devil’s work. We may have people who take that view in the Army, but fundamentally ecumenical life is just a given now.” Cmr Bill: “No, it began in the 1970s. We understand commissioning in the context of the military metaphor which the Salvation Army is; ordination is a concept which some find difficult. We understand that, but we’re on a fast ecumenical journey. There is suspicion over conversations with the Catholic church in some countries where the Salvationists are a minority in a dominant Catholic culture. “There places where we were vilified and considered to be heretical and unacceptable, but this changed and J+R: Noting that Salvation Army Officers are now I hope that was because we were known by our fruit “Commissioned and Ordained” we asked, “Is the word rather than by any claims we make for ourselves. It’s ordained new?” been a rapid journey. We’re 150 years old this year; a very young denomination contents page