Respect and love are essential in the work of ecumenical dialogue, the Pope
observed at a gathering of Orthodox leaders in Rome for the Solemnity of Saints
Peter and Paul. Each year the Patriarch sends a delegation to Rome for June
29th and the Pope reciprocates by sending a delegation to Constantinople for
the feast of Saint Andrew on November 30th to share in prayer, dialogue and
fraternity. Watch the video clip.

A hallmark of Pope Benedict’s petrine ministry is ecumenical
relations with other Christians, most particularly with the Orthodox churches. Yesterday
he said:

“You are welcome guests, dear brothers, who have been sent by His
Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch, to whom I likewise send my warm and
fraternal greeting in the Lord. Let us give thanks together to the Lord for all
the fruits and benefits that the bimillennial celebration of the birth of St.
Paul has brought us. We celebrate together the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul,
the “protôthroni” of the Apostles, as they are invoked in the
Orthodox liturgical tradition, that is, those who occupy first place among the apostles
and are called “the teachers of the ecumene.”

With your presence,
which is a sign of ecclesial fraternity, you remind us of our common commitment
to the pursuit of full communion. You already know, but again today I have the
pleasure of confirming, that the Catholic Church intends to contribute in every
possible way to the reestablishment of full communion. This is in response to
Christ’s will for his disciples, and recalling Paul’s teaching in which he
reminds us that we have been called to “one hope.” In this respect, we
can confidently look forward to a good continuation of the work of the Mixed
International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox and
Catholic Churches.

This commission will meet in October to address a crucial
theme for relations between East and West, namely, “the role of the Bishop
of Rome in the communion of the Church during the first millennium.” In
effect, the study of this aspect is clearly indispensable for generally getting
to the heart of the question in the current context of the pursuit of full
communion. This commission, which has already accomplished important work, will
be generously received by the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, to whom we express our
gratitude in advance, because fraternal hospitality and the climate of prayer
that will surround our discussions cannot but facilitate our common work and
reciprocal understanding.

I desire that the participants in the Catholic-Orthodox
dialogue know that my prayers will accompany them and that this dialogue has
the complete support of the Catholic Church. With my whole heart I hope that
the misunderstandings and the tensions between the Orthodox delegates during
the last plenary sessions of this commission be overcome in fraternal love, in
such a way that this dialogue be amply representative of the Orthodox.”

On a related note, I can’t help but draw our attention to
one of the ongoing works in the ecumenical movement today is the superb work of
Prior Enzo Bianchi of the Monastery of Bose (in Italy). His monastery has
sponsored a creative renewal in religious life for men and women, a vibrant
program for the intellect, an awareness of the arts, and real fraternity. Bose
is sponsoring the 17th International Ecumenical Conference on Orthodox
Spirituality this coming September 2009. The program is exciting; the theme is
the spiritual struggle looking keenly on the relation of spiritual struggle
with Christian unity in the contemporary world.

French Dominican theologian Cardinal Yves-Marie Congar once said: “We
can pass through the doors of ecumenism only on our knees.”

Theological: concerns with regard to matters of doctrine, Liturgy and theology;

Local: promotes the
collaboration and cooperation between Christian communities living in the same
place;

Social: refers to
when the entire community is invited to participate in an activity to help
others; matters of social concern affect everybody;

Spiritual: encourages
praying together as in the Week of Prayer, for the intention of Christian unity and one’s own conversion.

Restoring unity among all Christians: Unity in Diversity, Diversity in Unity

by Fr. John J. Keane, SA

Ecumenism refers to “the restoration of unity among all
Christians.” It comes from the Greek word oikoumene meaning the whole inhabited earth and is inspired by
Jesus’ prayer to his father, “that they may all be one” (John 17:21). Unity is
seen as a gift from God that we already have, but that we must realize and
accept. Christians have been encouraging common prayer, often referred to as
spiritual ecumenism, since the 17th Century as a means to achieve unity. The
Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism called “prayer the soul of the ecumenical movement”
and called the “reconciliation of all Christians in the unity of the one and
only Church of Christ” a “holy objective.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church encourages ecumenism and urges dialogue among
theologians and meetings among Christians of the different churches and
communities and collaboration among Christians in various areas of service to
mankind as expressions of Christian unity (820-822).

In Working for Unity,
Fr. Emmanuel Sullivan, SA and his co-author Dennis Rudd write, “It cannot be
said too often that the quest for unity does not imply a need, nor even a
desire, for uniformity. Diversity is a mark of the Holy Spirit…and God, who is
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the very model of unity in diversity, diversity
in unity.”

The Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) published their 2009 Lenten reflection that portrays Jesus as a racist who reformed himself after being challenged by the Canaanite woman (see St. Matthew’s Gospel). The ACoC was apparently hijacked by the politically correct establishment who teaches in this “reflection” Jesus is a sinner. Well, this is a basic heresy. Here’s the key point of the reflection:

“… a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’ ” – Matthew 14:22-27

This not a story for people who need to think that Jesus always had it together, because it looks like we’ve caught him being mean to a lady because of her ethnicity. At first, he ignores her cries. Then he refuses to help her and compares her people to dogs. 

But she challenges his prejudice. And he listens to her challenge and grows in response to it. He ends up healing her daughter. What we may have here is an important moment of self-discovery in Jesus’ life, an enlargement of what it will mean to be who he was. Maybe we are seeing Jesus understand his universality for the first time.

Interesting. The authors of this reflection are the same people who would insist that Jesus’ way is true only for us but may be not for everyone. Perhaps the Anglicans of Canada ought to read Dominus Iesus.  This reminds me of the Office of Black Catholics in the Chicago archdiocese accusing the white priests of racism because they were white. Here it seems that the round heads want to re-educate their ecclesial community to think of the divine nature of Jesus in a way that corresponds to the liberal North American sensibilities. How typical!