JUNE 25, 2000
ORTHODOX OBSERVER
ECUMENICAL
Orthodox-Catholic Consultation Issues Statement on Ecumenical Witness BROOKLINE, Mass. The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation issued a common statement on the value of ecumenical witness on June 1, the final day of its meeting at the Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline. This was the 58th meeting of the Consultation, which has been in progress since 1965. Entitled Sharing the Ministry of Reconciliation: A Statement on the OrthodoxCatholic Dialogue and the Ecumenical Movement, the common statement is a reflection on the experience of dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox in North America. It places the work of the Consultation within the broader framework of the international Orthodox-Catholic dialogue, and the growth in positive relations between the two communions in recent decades. Consultation members took the occasion of the 35th anniversary of its existence to reaffirm the importance of the ecumenical witness of the two churches, and to call for an intensification of the dialogue. The text cites a certain apathy and even opposition to the ecumenical enterprise within some groups in both communions, and responds to their concerns. Aware of new tensions in OrthodoxCatholic relations that have followed the reestablishment of religious freedom in Eastern Europe, the Consultation expressed the conviction that the restoration of unity is God s will, that past divisions have wounded the lives of both our churches, that our disunity diminishes our ability to act as agents of reconciliation in our world today, and that solid theological reflection rooted in scripture and nurtured by prayer is essential if full reconciliation is to be achieved. The document also honors those Orthodox and Catholics of the past who struggled to preserve the unity of the churches. It places the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue within the context of the ecumenical movement at large, and recognizes that the work of other bilateral dialogues among the churches have benefited the work of the North American Consultation. The common statement concludes with a reaffirmation of the reestablishment of full communion as the ultimate goal of the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue that is taking place at many levels. It recognizes that this will be a gradual process that must end not in the victory of one side over the other, but with the victory of Christ over our divisions, for the sake of the salvation of all.
The Consultation also continued its study of the filioque, the addition of the phrase and the Son to the Latin version of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed s article on the procession of the Holy Spirit. Professor Alkiviadis Calivas reviewed the scriptural evidence on this question as presented in Boris Bobrinskoy s book, The Mystery of the Trinity: Trinitarian Experience and Vision in the Biblical and Patristic Tradition. Professor Brian Daley, SJ, presented a paper titled, Revisiting the Filioque (II): Anselm and Thomas Aquinas. The Consultation is still in the early stages of a major study of this matter, which for many centuries has been one of the points of disagreement between Catholics and Orthodox that has prevented the reestablishment of full communion. While meeting at Hellenic College/ Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Consultation members toured the new Archbishop Iakovos Library and Learning Center. Later in the program, they received a welcome from Archbishop Demetrios, who joined them for lunch. The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation meets under the auspices of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of America, the Bishops Committee for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. The 59th meeting of the Consultation is scheduled for Washington, Oct. 26-28. Co-chairmen are Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh and Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee. Other members include: (Roman Catholic Church) Rev. Brian E. Daley, SJ; Rev. Msgr. Frederick McManus, Rev. George C. Berthold, Prof. Thomas E. Bird, Rev. Peter Galadza, Rev. John P. Galvin, Sister Donna Geernaert, SC, Rev. Sidney H. Griffith, ST, Rev. John F. Long, SJ, Rev. David M. Petras, Professor Robin Darling Young, and the Rev. Ronald G. Roberson, CSP (staff); (from the Orthodox Church): Archbishop Peter of New York and New Jersey, Bishop Dimitrios of Xanthos (staff); the Revs. Thomas E. FitzGerald, Nicholas Apostola, Alkiviadis Calivas, James Dutko, Paul W. S. Schneirla, Robert Stephanopoulos; Alexander Golitzin, and Emmanuel Gratsias; and Professors John H. Erickson, Dr. Robert Haddad, Lewis Patsavos, and Ashbrook Harvey.
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