International Commission for Theological Dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox meets in Ravenna
Ravenna,Italy, Oct.10,2007 (CINS/EWTN:Joan's Rome) - The Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox began its 10th plenary assembly in Ravenna, Italy on Monday, the second such meeting to be held since the resumption of dialogue during the 2006 plenary in Belgrade. The commission was established in 1979 by Pope John Paul II and Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I, and held its first assembly in Patmos-Rhodes in 1980.
For one week, the 60 members of the commission - 30 Catholic and 30 Orthodox - will study a document entitled "The Ecclesiological and Canonical Consequences of the Sacramental Nature of the Church: Conciliarity and Sinodality in the Church." A communiqué from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said that the study of this document "was part of the program agreed at Patmos-Rhodes in 1980" but was "suspended to make way for questions concerning the relationship of Orthodoxy with the Oriental Catholic Churches following the collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe. With the plenary of Belgrade, the commission reactivated its normal theological agenda."
The commission is jointly presided by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and His Excellency Ioannis (Zizioulas), metropolitan of Pergamo.
The Catholic members are cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests and lay experts in various fields. The Orthodox members represent the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, the Orthodox Patriarchates of Moscow, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria, and the Orthodox Churches of Georgia, Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Albania, the Czech Lands, Slovakia, Finland and Estonia.
This Commission is the primary means for attempting to resolve the split which has existed between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches since 1054. Set up in 1979, it subsequently had a number of successful plenary sessions and produced a number of joint documents. However, the focus on Eastern Rite Churches of the eighth plenary session, held in Emmitsburg, Maryland in July 2000, was so difficult that further meetings of the Commission were suspended indefinitely. In June 2005, two months after the election of Pope Benedict , the Orthodox Churches announced their willingness to resume the international dialogue, and it was agreed that the Commission should focus on the most critical issue separating Orthodox and Catholics -- the issue of papal primacy. The first meeting of the resumed dialogue was held in Belgrade, Serbia in September 2006 and, though no joint document was produced, the atmosphere was described as “very cordial” and “marked by a spirit of friendship and trustful collaboration.”
Last November, during Pope Benedict ’s trip to Turkey, it seems that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew proposed to the Pope that both of them be present in Ravenna to open the commission’s meeting. That has not, of course, happened. It is believed that this meeting was opposed by the Moscow Patriarchate in order not, it seems, to give the impression that the Ecumenical Patriarch represents the head of all Orthodox Churches who do not, in fact, have one leader, as the Pope is for the Catholic Church.
Unity among Christians was a very high priority for John Paul II in his 26 plus years as Pope, and is also at the top of Pope Benedict ’s agenda.
Those attending from the United States include Cardinal William Keeler, emeritus of Baltimore, and Father Paul McPartlan from Catholic University. Representing Rome are Cardinal Walter Kasper and Bishop Brian Farrell from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Also on this commission is Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna.
I cannot remember who said, “All it takes for evil to prevail is for one good person to do nothing.” Well, I’d like to turn those words around to mean that good can indeed prevail if one person does something meaningful – if one person remains convinced they cannot be a bystander in life.
One such person – and he is relative to this story on Catholic-Orthodox dialogue - is Peter Anderson of Seattle. We “met” through my work with EWTN, specifically my blog, and he has had other contacts with EWTN and its staff. He recently wrote to me about a program of prayer he organized at 20 of the most famous Catholic Marian shrines during the week of the plenary for its success, a prayer crusade started for the success of Orthodox-Catholic encounters, for Christian unity to become a reality. “This is based,” he wrote me, “on a belief that Our Lady will have an important role in uniting her Orthodox and Catholic children and that prayers at her famous shrines are especially powerful.”
This all struck a chord with me because I have been interested in Catholic-Orthodox relations since I began covering the Vatican several decades ago, first as a free-lance writer on Church affairs, then for the National Catholic Register, then my years at the Vatican and now as EWTN’s bureau chief in Rome.
This is Peter’s story:
“I have been interested in Orthodox-Catholic relations for 25 years. In 2000, with the blessing of Cardinal s Kasper and Keeler, I organized a prayer vigil at the Mount St. Mary's Seminary (in Emmitsburg, Maryland) during the time of the eighth plenary. The vigil was held in the same seminary building as the plenary, just down the hall. An Orthodox monk (who is now Bishop Benjamin responsible for the Orthodox Church of America's Diocese of the West) and I brought the Sitka icon of the Mother of God (one of the most famous Orthodox icons of Mary in the Americas) from Alaska to be the focus of the prayer vigil. During the plenary, approximately 800 Orthodox and Catholic came to pray before the icon for the success of the plenary.
“I personally believe,” he writes, “that if the 1000-year split between Orthodox and Catholics is to be healed, there must be a prayer program to support the theological dialogue. Because Belgrade was a far away, I decided to write to 20 Marian shrines in the summer of 2006. This year I have expanded it by writing to the primates of the 15 Orthodox Churches as well as the 20 Catholic Marian shrines. Throughout, I have made it very clear that I am acting simply as a Catholic layperson and not for the Pontifical Council. However, I know for a fact that the Pontifical Council and various members of the Commission believe that prayers are greatly needed and appreciate the prayers from the Marian shrines.”
Peter received wonderful responses from most of the shrines in 2006 and is still receiving answers for his request for prayers for the Ravenna meeting. He is quite clear in his letter to shrine directors that he has no relation to the Vatican - except for encouragement from officials - but is simply a Catholic layman who longs for Christian Unity and prays to that end. Some of the shrines participating in that prayer crusade are the basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome, Lourdes, Fatima, Czestochowa, the National Shrine in Washington, Altoetting in Germany, Montserrat in Spain, Mariazell in Austria, Knock in Ireland, Loreto in Italy and La Salette in France.
And everyone who reads this blog today could say one simple, heartfelt “Ave Maria” for the success of the Ravenna meeting, for Christian unity – and you’d be in good company. Not just Peter Anderson’s but the late John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.
U.S. Catholic Bishops Issue Letter Of Solidarity To Bishops In Myanmar
Washington, USA,Oct.07, 2007- The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sent a letter of support to the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Myanmar addressing the recent outbreak of violence that has overtaken that nation during the past two weeks and offered prayers for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The USCCB also sent a letter expressing the bishops’ concern to the U.S. ambassador of the Union of Myanmar, urging a peaceful solution “in order that there will be stability, peace and non-violence.” Both letters were signed by Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando, Florida, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Policy.
The letters were sent in the wake of wide-spread protests against the military government of Myanmar that led to a government crackdown. The non-violent protests against the 45 year old military dictatorship have been met with an increasingly violent response.
The U.S. Bishops’ letter to the bishops of Myanmar concludes with assurances that “in union with Pope Benedict XVI we are offering prayers that the current conflict will be resolved peacefully for the welfare of the people of your nation.”
Filipino bishops call on Catholics to pray for peace in Myanmar
Manila, Philippines, Oct. 04,2007 (CINS/AsiaNews) – The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called on the country’s Catholics to pray and offer masses for a “peaceful and non-violent solution to the situation in Myanmar.” The bishops stressed that Filipinos can easily empathise with the Burmese people because of the Philippines’ own experience of repressive rule.
In a message read in every diocese, Mgr Angel Lagdameo, CBCP chairman and archbishop of Jaro, said that “[h]aving ourselves experienced what it is to be under Martial Rule and participated in the peaceful restoration of our democracy, we can understand as well as sympathize with the monks, people and bishops of Myanmar.”
A few days ago, the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) sent a letter of solidarity to Mgr Paul Zinghtung Grawng, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar (CBCM), expressing their closeness and pain for the situation in Burma.
“We pray that the problems in your beloved country would be resolved through peaceful dialogue for the sake of the common good,” wrote Mgr Orlando Quevedo, FABC secretary general and archbishop of Cotabato (Philippines), in the letter.
Catholic Bishops reverse earlier opposition to state law requiring Plan B for rape victims
Aboard the papal plane, Sep 29, 2007 (CINS/CNA).- The Catholic Bishops of Connecticut have reversed a previous decision and are allowing Catholic hospitals to provide Plan B, an emergency contraceptive, to rape victims without an ovulation test.
Their decision comes just days before a new state law would require the distribution of Plan B, regardless of religious beliefs. The Act Concerning Compassionate Care for Victims of Sexual Assault, which takes effect Monday, will require a pregnancy test, but not an ovulation test, before the drug is administered.
In a statement from the Connecticut Catholic Bishops, “The Bishops and other Catholic health care leaders believe that this law is seriously flawed, but not sufficiently to bar compliance with it at the present time. We continue to believe this law should be changed.” Originally, Church officials had stated that the treatment was identical to abortion, however they have backed away from this position.
According to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, a woman who has been raped has the “moral right” to prevent pregnancy for three reasons:
“First, the rapist (including his sperm) is an unjust aggressor who has violated the woman’s dignity. Second, rape is an act of force and violence, unlike the conjugal love in marriage whereby both spouses give freely of themselves in an act of unitive and procreative love. Third, the woman is not responsible for the action, and thereby has the right to prevent the pregnancy.”
However, according to the Arlington Catholic Herald, the real difficulty in rape treatment protocols is having moral certainty that conception has not occurred. Once conception has occurred, the new life is a new, unique human being. As stated in the Declaration on Procured Abortion, "From the time the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor of the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth. It would never be made human if it were not human already.”
Determining whether or not conception has taken place, has been the issue in Connecticut. With the new law, and the uncertainty surrounding Plan B, the Catholic hospitals will be allowed to provide Plan B without ovulation tests. However, the bishops have determined that due to the fact that “the teaching authority of the church has not definitively resolved this matter and since there is serious doubt about how Plan B pills work…[t]o administer Plan B pills without an ovulation test is not an intrinsically evil act.”
The bishops say in their statement that a pregnancy test will provide them with enough information to determine whether or not conception has taken place.
Plan B is a high dose of a drug found in many regular birth-control pills. Its maker, Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., got approval last year to sell the drug over-the-counter.
The company says Plan B can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. The drug works by stopping ovulation and has no effect on an existing pregnancy.”
Catholics and a few priests join monks and demonstrators
Yangon, Myanmar, Sep.29,2007, (CINS/AsiaNews) – Many Catholic students and a few priests are among the throngs of people marching in defiance of the bans imposed by Myanmar’s ruling military junta, local sources told AsiaNews. Myanmar’s bishops released a statement a few days ago calling on the country’s 600,000 Catholics to pray for the people of Burma and for national reconciliation.
In the message they urged priests to avoid being directly involved in demonstrations but told lay people to work for the good of the country as best they could.
In the last few days rosary prayers have been recited in the evening just before curfew.
In Yangon and Mandalay Catholic students from secondary schools and universities have marched with the population.
Some priests have also visited Buddhist monks to express their support for what they are doing.
“The history of the Burmese Church is one of martyrs,” said one faithful. “We are not afraid of risking our lives for our country.”
Other sources told AsiaNews that despite the curfew and the ban on gatherings of more than five people, Burmese are determined to keep marching until a breach is made in the lack of freedom and dialogue imposed by the junta.
“People are desperate, especially because of the untenable economic situation,” they explained. “Families have no money for rice; there is neither power nor gas. The military is everywhere and it is scaring us, but they won’t stop us. Our monks, exhausted by marching and soldiers’ violence, move us and drive us to continue the fight.”