CHANIA, CRETE - The North American Joint Committee of
Orthodox and Catholic Bishops adopted a statement on the Orthodox-Catholic
dialogue at the conclusion of its 17th meeting, which was held on the island
of Crete near Chania, Greece, from October 2nd to 4th. The statement, the
full text of which is found below, takes stock of the dialogue between the
two churches at both the international and national levels, and calls for an
intensification of their relationship, since "continued dialogue in
love is the only way that our churches can be faithful to Our Lord's command
to love one another, and to be reconciled." The bishops joined their
"prayer to those of Orthodox and Catholic faithful around the world
that our churches may continue to set aside the animosities of the past and
look forward in hope to that blessed day when we shall once again be united
around the common table of our Lord."
Before the meeting several of the Catholic and Orthodox bishops made a
pilgrimage to monastic communities on Mount Athos, the renowned center of
Orthodox monasticism, where they were warmly received. This pilgrimage was
in preparation for a discussion of monasticism in the East and West.
Archbishop Rembert Weakland presented a paper entitled The Apostolic Letter
Orientale Lumen and Monasticism East and West, and Metropolitan Maximos of
Pittsburgh responded. The bishops also heard a paper by Archbishop Vsevolod
of Scopelos: Primacy and Conciliarity. The role of the laity in our churches
was the theme of the final session. Archbishop Weakland presented a paper
entitled, The Role of the Laity: from Vatican Council II to the Bishops'
Synod of 1987, and Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh offered a response
from an Orthodox perspective. After each paper a lively discussion ensued.
In the information session, the bishops exchanged views on recent events
that affect the relationship between our churches, such as the situation in
Ukraine and Kosovo, and discussed recent documents such as Dominus Iesus and
the Note on the term "sister churches" from the Vatican's
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
This meeting of the Joint Committee of Bishops took place at the Orthodox
Academy of Crete, a center of learning and dialogue founded in 1968 under
the spiritual protection of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The bishops
expressed their gratitude to Dr. Alexandros Papaderos, the Director of the
Academy. They were also honored to meet the venerable local hierarch,
Metropolitan Irenaeos of Kissamos and Selinon, as well as Metropolitan
Irenaeos of Chania and other local leaders and friends of the Academy at a
dinner on the evening of October 2nd . Both hierarchs welcomed the group to
Crete and expressed strong support for ongoing ecumenical dialogue between
our churches.
The Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops was established in 1981
and is currently under the joint chairmanship of Metropolitan Maximos of
Pittsburgh and Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee. Other Orthodox
members include Archbishop Peter of New York (Orthodox Church in America),
Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA),
Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese), Metropolitan
Christopher (Serbian Orthodox Church), Metropolitan Nicholas of Amissos (Carpatho-Russian
Orthodox Diocese), Bishop Seraphim of Ottawa and All Canada (Orthodox Church
in America), and Bishop Dimitrios of Xanthos (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese,
staff). Other Catholic members of the Committee include William Cardinal
Keeler, Archbishop of Baltimore, Archbishop Alexander Brunett of Seattle,
Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb of Mobile, Bishop Robert Mulvee of Providence,
Bishop Dale Melczek of Gary, Bishop Edward Kmiec of Nashville, Bishop
Nicholas Samra, Auxiliary of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of Newton,
and Rev. Ronald G. Roberson, CSP (staff). In addition to this Joint
Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops, a North American
Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation has been meeting continuously
since 1965.
Statement On the Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue At the
Dawn of a New Millennium
The North American Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops
Orthodox Academy of Crete, Chania, Greece October 4, 2000
Our Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops was founded in 1981 as
a forum where Orthodox and Catholic hierarchs from the United States and
Canada could discuss pastoral matters of concern to both our churches.
Gathered together now at our 17th meeting, we wish to take stock of our
Joint Committee's work, and to affirm the importance of continued and
intensified dialogue between our two communions.
We look back with joy on the dramatic events of the 1960s that brought an
end to the many centuries of hostility that kept us apart from one another.
The meeting between Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI in
Jerusalem in 1964 was followed by the formal lifting of the 1054 anathemas
on December 7, 1965. Those excommunications were reversed, to be replaced by
relationships of love -- they were "erased from the memory of the
Church" and "consigned to oblivion." The growing dialogue of
charity between Catholics and Orthodox led finally to the establishment of
an official International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between
the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church by Ecumenical Patriarch
Dimitrios I and Pope John Paul II when the Pope visited Istanbul in November
1979. This renewed relationship has been symbolized by the semiannual
exchange of delegations between the sister churches of Rome and
Constantinople on their respective feast days, and a rejection among our
faithful of "every form of proselytism, every attitude which would or
could be perceived as a lack of respect" (Common Declaration of Pope
John Paul II and Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I, December 7, 1987).
With gratitude we note that this theological dialogue was anticipated by
almost 15 years in the United States. Prior to the establishment of our
Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops in 1981, an official
Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation had been meeting since September
9, 1965, even before the excommunications were lifted. In North America,
where Catholics and Orthodox live side by side in a place that is to a large
extent free of the political and religious tension that has often been
present in our countries of origin, our theological dialogue has been able
to make much progress and to address various theological and pastoral
questions touching upon our relationship. At its June 2000 meeting, our
North American Theological Consultation issued a document entitled,
"Sharing the Ministry of Reconciliation: Statement on the
Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue and the Ecumenical Movement." We wish to
express our satisfaction with this important text, and we recommend it
warmly to our faithful. We make our own its evaluation of the
Catholic-Orthodox dialogue and the broader ecumenical movement as rooted in
the very actions of God who "desires everyone to be saved and to come
to the knowledge of the truth" (I Tim. 2:4).
The fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe and the establishment of
religious freedom in those countries ten years ago now is a source of deep
joy for all people of faith. But these profound changes also unleashed
hostilities between our communities there that had remained under the
surface, undressed during the long years of persecution, isolation, and
silence. These problems focused on the status of the Eastern Catholic
Churches and questions of property. At the same time, strident currents
emerged in both our churches in those areas, fueled in part by the suspicion
that ecumenism was a betrayal of the true faith, and that it had been
manipulated by the communist authorities for their own ends in an attempt to
weaken authentic Christian witness. This points to the urgent need to
present the true nature of ecumenical dialogue, not as a betrayal of
anyone's faith, but as an effort to understand what we truly have in common
at a level deeper than our divisions and theological formulae.
All this has had a negative impact on the international dialogue which for
the past ten years has been struggling to deal in a satisfactory way with
the question of the status of the Eastern Catholic Churches. We regret that
the Eighth Plenary Session of the international dialogue, held in July 2000
at Emmitsburg, Maryland, was unable to make progress on this and other
significant issues.
The difficulties that have recently beset the international dialogue do not
alter our conviction that continued dialogue in love is the only way that
our churches can be faithful to Our Lord's command to love one another, and
to be reconciled. Indeed, when difficulties arise the need for dialogue
becomes even greater. As we look back on our experience of dialoguing with
one another as bishops of the Orthodox and Catholic churches, we realize
that through an honest and well informed exchange of views a solution to
even the most persistent disagreements can be perceived. Our Joint Committee
of Bishops has issued statements dealing with Ordination, Mixed Marriages
and the recent tensions in Eastern and Central Europe, and we are confident
that much more progress can be made on these and other issues. We encourage
our Orthodox and Catholic faithful everywhere to engage one another in an
exchange of views in a spirit of openness and humility so that the Spirit's
work of reconciliation might continue, for the glory of God.
Our Joint Committee is meeting on the island of Crete, whose soil has been
fed by the blood of a host of martyrs, and whose history has not been
unaffected by our sad divisions. We take this opportunity to give thanks to
God for the great strides that have been made to overcome what divides us.
As the new millennium dawns, we join our prayer to those of Orthodox and
Catholic faithful around the world that our churches may continue to set
aside the animosities of the past and look forward in hope to that blessed
day when we shall once again be united around the common table of our
Lord."
NEWS RELEASE
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October 5, 2000 Tel: (212) 570-3530, Fax: (212) 774-0215
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