ORTHODOX-CATHOLIC DIALOGUE ON CHURCH STRUCTURES CONTINUES
Orthodox News
The Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas
8 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10021
November 1, 2007
THE ORTHODOX-CATHOLIC THEOLOGICAL CONSULTATION
HOLDS ITS 73RD MEETING
ORTHODOX-CATHOLIC DIALOGUE ON CHURCH STRUCTURES CONTINUES
New York City - On-going dialogue on church structures continued at the
North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation Oct. 25-27. The
dialogue marked the first of its meetings on the West Coast.
With the generous support of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute, the
Consultation met on the campus of Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los
Angeles, under the chairmanship of Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh and
Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati. The Institute was established in
2005 to foster ecumenical relations between the Catholic and Orthodox
communities.
On October 25, two Consultation members spoke at a public lecture on the LMU
campus about two of the North American dialogue's most important recent
agreed statements. Father Alexander Golitzin of Marquette University spoke
about the 1999 statement, "Baptism and 'Sacramental Economy,'" and Jesuit
Father Brian Daley of the University of Notre Dame reflected on the 2003
common text, "The Filioque: A Church-Dividing Issue?" On October 26
Archbishop Pilarczyk presided at a Mass in the LMU chapel. It was followed
by a luncheon attended by LMU faculty and Michael Huffington.
The main focus of this seventy-third meeting of the Consultation was to
synthesize the studies presented thus far on primacies and synodality in the
two churches. For this purpose three Orthodox and three Catholic members
gave brief presentations summarizing their understanding of the state of the
question and an outline of how the churches might function in the event of
the reestablishment of full communion. Orthodox papers included "Primacy in
a United Church" by Prof. Paul Meyendorff, "An Orthodox Papacy: Primacy as
Principatus" by Father Theodore Pulcini, and "What Exercise of Universal
Primacy/Synodality Would be Possible?" by Father Robert Stephanopoulos.
Catholic presentations included "Towards a Rapprochement with Orthodoxy:
Exercises and Principles of Primacy/Synodality" by Sister Susan K. Wood,
Ph.D, "The Reform of Deformed Churches" by Rev. Chorbishop John D. Faris,
and "Universal Primacy/Synodality: Problem and Ur-Problem" by Vito
Nicastro, Ph.D. Briefer reflections were offered by Father Daley, Father
James Dutko, and Paulist Father Ronald Roberson.
As usual, one session of the meeting was devoted to an exchange of
information about major events in the lives of the Catholic and Orthodox
churches. Items discussed included the visit of the Archbishop of Cyprus to
Rome, the death of Patriarch Teoctist of Romania and the election of his
successor, the meeting of the international Orthodox-Catholic dialogue in
Ravenna, developments in the Orthodox Church in America, the Motu Proprio of
Pope Benedict XVI on "The Roman Liturgy Prior to the Reform of 1970," the
document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Responses to
Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church," and
the recent pilgrimage to Rome, Constantinople and St. Petersburg led by
Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley and Metropolitan Methodios of Boston.
The next meeting of the Consultation is scheduled to take place June 2-4, at
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts.
In addition to the two co-chairs, the other Orthodox members of the
Consultation include Father Thomas FitzGerald (Secretary), Father Nicholas
Apostola, Prof. Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Father Dutko, Prof. Meyendorff,
Father Golitzin, Dr. Robert Haddad, Father Paul Schnierla, Father
Stephanopoulos, Dr. John Barnet, Rev Dr Theodore Pulcini, and Father Mark
Arey, General Secretary of SCOBA (staff). The additional Catholic members
are Father Daley (Secretary), Prof. Thomas Bird, Holy Cross Father Lucien
Coutu, Father Peter Galadza, Chorbishop Faris, Father John Galvin, Father
Sidney Griffith, ST, Father Joseph Komonchak, Father Paul McPartlan, Father
David Petras, Sister Susan K. Wood, Prof. Nicastro, and Father Roberson,
who serves as staff.
The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation is sponsored
jointly by the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the
Americas (SCOBA), the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious
Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and the
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Since its establishment in 1965,
the Consultation has issued 22 agreed statements on various topics. All
these texts are now available on the website of the SCOBA at
<http://www.scoba.us/resources/orthodox-catholic.html>
http://www.scoba.us/resources/orthodox-catholic.html and on the USCCB
website at
<http://www.usccb.org/seia/orthodox_index.shtml>
http://www.usccb.org/seia/orthodox_index.shtml