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
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