Pope Declares the Need for Real Ecumenism

From Rorate: Glorious words of the Holy Father:

[T]he Church is Catholic from her first moment, her universality is not the fruit of the successive inclusion of various communities. From the first instant, in fact, the Holy Spirit created her as the Church of all peoples; she embraces the entire world, she transcends all limits of race, class, nation; she breaks down every obstacle and brings all men together in the profession of the One and Triune God. From the beginning, the Church is One, Catholic, and Apostolic: this is her true nature and as such it must be recognized. She is Holy, not thanks to the ability of her members, but because God Himself, with His Spirit, creates, purifies, and sanctifies her always.

Benedict XVI

Homily (Pentecost)

June 12, 2011

Thorn of Christ's Crown Given to Orthodox in France

Editor: earlier this month, it was reported that the lance that pierced Christ's side was found.  Now, we find his crown, a thorn with a precious reliquary, being part of an ecumenical gesture in France.


The Society  of the Helpers of the Holy Souls consigned the Seminary of the Russian Orthodox Diocese for France a priceless reliquary which contained the thorn from the crown of Jesus.

Paris - Vienna (kath.net/PEW) Cardinal Franz König's traces arrive now in France as the gesture of an ecumenical friendship between the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Church:  The Society of helpers [A Religious Society founded in 1856 in France] consigned the Russian Orthodox Seminar for the Diocese of France Epinay-sous-Senart a priceless reliquary,  which according to Tradition contained a thorn from the crown of Jesus.  The massive silver reliquary holds a quartz crystal with the thorn.  During the French Revolution the reliquary was sent next to Prague and later to Vienna.  Cardinal Franz König gave the reliquary in 1960 to the Society of the Helpers.

The consignment to the Russian Orthodox Seminary took place as part of a liturgy celebrating a feast.  At the end of the liturgy Sr. Genevieve Medevielle, the Household General of the French Province of the Helpers gave the priceless reliquary to Bishop Nestor of Cherson (the Diocese of the Moscow Patriarchat for France which doesn't carry this name officially any more fro the old early Russian Eparchie).  The Parisian Auxiliary Bishoperic de Moulins-Beaufort was present at the gift of the reliquary.

Russian Orthodox Church hierarch calls for strategic alliance with Catholics, Protestants

Editor: The only course is through true ecumenism. The problem will be highlighted by the fact that most protestant organizations don't find abortion, birth control or the dissolubility of marriage to be problematic.

Moscow, February 28, Interfax - Russia's moral and demographic situation raises a question about its future, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, said.

"I often say that today there is a bad need for a 'strategic alliance' between Orthodox believers and Catholics, members of the ancient eastern Churches, traditional Protestants, that is to say all those who defend true Christian values - the family, children's upbringing, indissolubility of marriage, the value of human life from inception until death," the Metropolitan said in an interview published in the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily on Monday.

All these notions are being "totally reviewed, and we must oppose this," he said.

"Otherwise, both Russia and the Christian civilization in general will over [not so much] time lose their 'salt,' lose their image and remain just a subject of study for historians and archeologists," the hierarch said.

Russians "are beginning to get used to their country's "severe demographic crisis," he said.

Asked what the Church can suggest to change this situation, he recalled the recent major initiative by Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, involving a set of proposals to fight abortions, to support families with many children, to help children left without parents and to pass new legislation to protect families and childhood.

Link to interfax...

Such Judgments Provoke New Tensions: EU Court Meddles in Russian Society

The Russian Orthodox Church is attempting to get human rights charges reviewed -- It could not be that the European Supreme Court for Human Rights (EGMR) in Strassburg should prescribe a homosexual demonstration in Moscow.

Strassburg/France (kath.net/APD)  The Russian Orthodox Church has called on the Russian Executive to cooperate in reconsidering a human rights charge.  The call clearly mirrored the December edition of "Orthodoxy Today" over which the anger of the Moscow Patiarchate was against that of the European Supreme Court for Human Rights in Straussburg which called for the alowance of the "Gay Parade".  It could not be that the EGMR Russia would prescribe a homosexual demonstration, explained the representative of the Moscow Patriarchate in Strassburg, Igumen Filaret (Bulekov)..

For a year long the Moscow city authorities had refused to allow a "Gay Parade" in the Russian capital.  While the organizers came before a Russian court with their complaint,  the European Supreme Court gave way to it.  The Court ruled on 21. Oktober that the Moscow City authority's ban against the homosexuals contravened three fundamental rights:  the right to assemble -- and association, the right to effective representation as well as the prohibition against discimination.

While the Russian homosexual movement considered this ruling as a victory, the Russian Orthodox Church criticized the judgment.  Such decisions are not only unsuccessful attempts to create social peace and to strengthen personal liberties, they promote even newer tensions as well, explained the 33 year old Igumen, who has represented his church since 2004 fat the European Council and also the Pastor of the All Holy Church in Strassburg.

 Thanks again to Kath.net, which enjoys the endorsement of the Holy Father.

Calgary Anglican parish accepts Pope’s offer to join Rome

Perhaps this is jumping the gun, but it should be evident why the incoming Anglicans are regarded with such suspicion by many Bishops and their camp followers, they're afraid of being put out of work.

Calgary Anglican parish accepts Pope’s offer to join Rome

Archbishop Koch Says Protestants Have Rejected Real Purpose of Ecumenism

Robert Mickens and Christa Pongratz-Lippitt20 November 2010

Cardinal-elect Kurt Koch, the new president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), has accused Protestants of renouncing the original goal of ecumenism. They have succumbed to a relativistic view of ecclesiology based on shared communion between separate Churches, he said this week, and in doing so have abandoned the proper ecumenical aim of genuine unity.

“It is decisively in this postmodern mentality characterised by pluralistic and relativistic tendencies that is found the great challenge to the search for visible unity of the Church of Jesus Christ,” the Swiss archbishop said on Monday at the opening of the PCPCU plenary assembly in Rome marking the fiftieth anniversary of the pontifical council. In a theologically dense address to his first PCPCU plenary since becoming president last July, he said this mentality was found among not only Protestants but also “many Catholics”.

The PCPCU president, who is to be made a cardinal in today’s consistory, said the current crisis of ecumenism boiled down to what he called the two “profoundly different mentalities” that shape the way Catholics and Protestants describe the nature of the Church.

Read further...

Synod hears repeated calls for common Christian Easter date

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At a synod concerned primarily about peace and the continued presence of Christians in the Holy Land, one of the suggestions made repeatedly was that Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans and Orthodox finally celebrate Easter together each year.

"We truly hope for the unification of the Easter holiday with the Orthodox churches," Latin-rite Auxiliary Bishop William H. Shomali of Jerusalem told the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East Oct. 14.

Celebrating Easter on the same day also implies observing Lent together, he said, which would give Catholics of the East and West an opportunity to witness together to their disciplines of Lenten fasting and abstinence.

Read further...

Papal Primacy: Russia Leads the Resistance

[Chiesa] ROME, October 6, 2010 – While the Eastern Churches are slowly approaching the convocation of the pan-Orthodox "Great and Holy Council" that should finally unite them in a single assembly after centuries of incomplete "synodality," the other journey of reconciliation, which sees the East in dialogue with the Church of Rome, is also taking small steps forward.

The object of this dialogue concerns the only real sticking point dividing Catholicism and Orthodoxy, the primacy of the pope.

The latest evidence came a few days ago, in Vienna, where from September 20 to 27 the joint international commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church met as a whole, precisely on the universal role of the bishop of Rome during the first millennium of Christian history.


Read further...

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk meets with Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn

On September 22, 2010, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, DECR chairman, who is on a visit to Vienna for a meeting of the Joint Theological Commission for Dialogue Between the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Churches, met with the head of the Vienna archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn.

Metropolitan Hilarion told the cardinal about today’s life of the Russian Orthodox Church, the trips made by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in Russia and far- and near-abroad countries, the Church’s missionary and educational work as well as the work of the Department for External Church Relations and some other Synodal institutions of the Moscow Patriarchate.

They discussed prospects for Orthodox-Catholic cooperation in Europe in general and a possibility for carrying out joint educational activities and youth events, in particular.

In conclusion of the talk, which was held in a warm and friendly atmosphere, Metropolitan Hilarion presented Cardinal Schoenborn with an icon of the Most Holy Mother of God.

Link to original...Russian Orthodox Church...

Catholic, Orthodox Churches to try to overcome millennium-long disagreement

Moscow, September 22, Interfax - A joint international commission on dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, which began in Vienna on Tuesday, will discuss the Pope's primacy in the first millennium.

"This is the most complicated subject in the dialogue between the Orthodox and the Catholics, because the attitude toward the bishop of Rome's ministering is key for the modern Catholic Church," Hegumen Philipp (Ryabykh) representing the Russian Orthodox Church at the session told Interfax.

The presumption that the Pope has ecumenical jurisdiction goes against Orthodox ecclesiology, which teaches that, while the Orthodox Church preserves unity of faith and church governance, it still consists of several local churches, Father Philipp said, who is a deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations.

Read further...Intterfax...

Cardinal Kasper Admonishes Germans to Obey Holy Father

[Vatican] Germans must have more respect for "their" Pope, hear [obey] and try to understand him. With these words Walter Cardinal Kasper admonished his countrymen from Bishops to Theologians, from Priests to simple believers. In an interview with the German weekly Focus he noted, that abroad "many shake their heads about the manner and fashion, with which Germans handle the Pope from their own homeland."

A few days before the begin of the State Visit of Pope Benedict XVI in Great Britain and his Pastoral trip to Scotland and England the German Curia Cardinal warned of an "aggressive atheism" in Great Britain. He criticized also that the British Airways employee was "discriminated" against, because she wore a cross. One employee had been forced to remove the cross, which she wore on a chain around her neck.

The Pope will, upon his visit in Scotland and England on an ecumenical level to bring about "heavy dialog" with the Anglicans, says the Cardinal. The Beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman "will be no setback" for Ecumenism, said the Cardinal with conviction. He reviewed the Church's opposition to women's ordination with the observation: The Protestants 'don't have celibacy, but women pastors. Are you telling me they have it better?"


Link to original at Katholisches...

A Destroyer of the Faith Leaves the Curia

"Porous, ambiguous, deceptive", the famous Mainz Canon Lawyer, Father Georg May, let loose a scathing condemnation on the departing president of the Vatican Office for Unity.

[kreuz.net] "In the era of Kasper the extraction of the knowledge of the faith from Catholic Christians was expedited."

Mainz canon lawyer, Father Georg May, said this for the Catholic Monthly 'Kirchliche Umschau' about the newly President Emeritus of the Papal Office for Unity, Walter Cardinal Kasper (77).

The unrestrained ecumenism tore apart all the boundaries: "The people didn't know truth from error, or to distinguish the Church of Christ from schism."

Father May did not blame this entirely on Cardinal Kasper. Actually, he accused him of not having done anything to oppose this development.

Cardinal Kasper had not been qualified for transfer to that office.

He worked for false principles, that there are more commonalities with the protestants than things that separate us.

Fr. May contradicted that: "The opposite is the case."

The protestant theology is "almost in every way an unceasing opposition to Catholic Faith and moral teaching."

The Faith Distorted and Falsified

The third edition of the standard work 'Lexikons fuer Theologie und Kirche', which today's Cardinal Kasper had circulated in the years 1993 to 2001, Father May indicted as a danger for Theology and Church:

"Here the Catholic Faith in numerous places was distorted, falsified and deficiently represented."

The actual articles for the elucidation of the Faith were "porous, ambiguous and deceptive".

Even the moral teaching was "twisted, falsified and brought close to protestantic views."

The most recent history of the Church in an accompanying work was "progressivistically assigned".

Falsely Distorted

On the suggestion that today's Cardinal Kasper was promoted by the famous Catholic Theologian Leo Cardinal Scheffzczyk (+2005) in Tubingen, Father May exclaimed:

"As Cardinal Kasper was promoted, the Church showed immediately then the first twitches of disaster, that would break over it."

Today's Cardinal Kasper was completely gliding on the Progressive channel.

He followed exegetes, "who had not learned the bible methodically, and in whose hands the Gospel was transformed into a novelistic tale. "

Cardinal Kasper had worked to "loosen the Dogma" -- cited Father May the convert and Indologue Paul Hacker (+1979).

For example Father may mentioned the fact, that the Cardinal had portrayed the teaching on Christ's divinity and humanity as overreaching":

"It is too little, when Walter Casper merely says that the death of Jesus is, >>the consequence of his act<<".

This Theology is incapable of securing young people in their Faith.


Illusions About Successor

Father May is enthusiastic about Cardinal Kasper's successor, Msgr Kurt Koch (60).

He is is supposedly in opposition to the Princes of the Church, a pastor.

Also, he has no illusions about hostility to the Church -- especially in Switzerland:

"If he will be able to ward off the pressures of unteachable ecumenists, remains to be seen."

Father May holds it to be a first duty to diminish ecumenism.

Next time: abyssal opposition desperate the Church from the Protestants.


© Bild: gemeinfrei

Not a Good Choice: Basel Should Get a Good Bishop Out of This

Pope Benedict XVI has chosen Bishop Koch for the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, replacing another German speaking Archbishop. A lot has been said about this appointment that portrays the new office holder as a good choice, but it's hard to see how this could be the case since many of his public acts and statements put him so squarely against the incipient reform Benedict XVI is said to be accomplishing.

Father Z says this is a good appointment (and perhaps it is), but he certainly isn't as he says, "Another man closely tied to Pope Benedict" which seems to have been something else when we looked at it earlier today, something more affirmative and less neutral... Perhaps Father Z corrected himself, or we misread the blog, wait, here it is,

Archbishop Koch is known to be in the theological orbit of Papa Ratzinger.

Known by whom? It seems apparent to everyone, including the embatteld orthodox priests of the Basel Diocese that this man will not be missed and is in no way in the theological orbit of Pope Benedict, that is, if we assume that Pope Benedict is a restorer of Tradition. In any event, Kreuz.net tells a different, more interesting, tale. These sorts of appraisals in the English speaking world seem to happen frequently. It certainly happened in the case of the allegedly conservative Cardinal Schonborn. We've noticed that many of his supporters have grown silent.

What's more than clear is that there are appointments which are unsatisfactory to conservatives, and there are those appointments unsatisfactory to the old liberal Catholics, Catholics who believe the Church needs to change with the times. Is this Pope Benedict's way to isolate an absentee Bishop with controversial theological positions by promoting him to an increasingly irrelevant position?

Perhaps this is an effective downgrade for the Pontifical Council?

So the tragic praxis will continue in Rome, to perpetuate a betrayal of trust against the Holy Father.

Msgr Koch worked at first as a Pastoral Lay Assistant in spiritual care.

After his ordination in June 1982 he later received a doctorate for Dogmatic and Moral theology from the Catechetical Institute in the central Swiss city of Luzern.

Later he was active as the old liberal honorary professor for Dogmatics, Ethics, Liturgical Science and Ecumenical Theology at the University of Luzern.

In his lectures he portrayed the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the fundamentalist corner because of his theological positions.

In 1995 Msgr Koch was selected as the successor of the fallen Basel Bishop Hansjörg Vogel. Because of his contentious theological positions the Vatican hesitated a long time with the announcement of his appointment.

Bishop Koch set himself in the Swiss Bishops Conference against the course of reform of the former Bishop of Chur, Msgr Wolfgang Haas.

Msgr. Koch is till today a partisan of women priesthood. He is a declared enemy of celibacy.

In the last fifteen years he was hardly interested in his bankrupt Diocese and not first among these his orthodox priests, who were completely isolated there.

Instead of that he was gladly occupied in the lecture circuit.

In the Diocese of Basel the following title is circulating for the information by the Roman authorities about Msgr Koch: "Old Liberal Alcoholic Follows Cardinal Kasper".

The next Bishop of Basel will have a very difficult inheritance.

In a letter to all Ministers, which was sent by mail today, writes Bishop Koch, that his Diocese is already vacant on July 1st and he would be called to Rome.

The Pope appointed an Apostolic Administrator to the Diocese of Basel at the same time on June 30th

Link to kreuz.net...

Meanwhile, Bishop Mixa is being given some time out for a while till the smear campaign launched against him by the old liberals in Augsburg cools down, at AP.

Serbian Patriarch Advocates Dialogue with Rome

By JOVANA GEC

The Associated Press
Thursday, January 28, 2010; 8:39 AM
The new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church on Thursday urged dialogue to overcome long-standing divisions with Roman Catholics.

Patriarch Irinej said that a 2013 anniversary important to Christians would be a “good opportunity … to meet and talk.”

He added that “with God’s help this (dialogue) would continue to overcome what had happened in history and take a new, Christian road.”

Link to eirenikon...

h/t youngfogey at conservative blog for peace, here....

Orthodox and Catholic Agreements on Papal Primacy

Apparently we weren't supposed to see this yet, but I'm glad we are, especially since it's proving that we were right all along.

The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium

Joint Coordinating Committee for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church

Aghios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece, September 27 - October 4, 2008



Introduction

1. In the Ravenna document, "The Ecclesiological and Canonical Consequences of the Sacramental Nature of the Church – Ecclesial Communion, Conciliarity and Authority", Catholics and Orthodox acknowledge the inseparable link between conciliarity and primacy at all levels of the life of the Church: "Primacy and conciliarity are mutually interdependent. That is why primacy at the different levels of the life of the Church, local, regional and universal, must always be considered in the context of conciliarity, and conciliarity likewise in the context of primacy" (Ravenna document, n. 43). They also agree that "in the canonical order (taxis) witnessed by the ancient Church", which was "recognised by all in the era of the undivided Church", "Rome, as the Church that “presides in love” according to the phrase of St Ignatius of Antioch, occupied the first place in the taxis, and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the protos among the patriarchs' (nn. 40, 41). The document refers to the active role and prerogatives of the bishop of Rome as "protos among the patriarchs', "protos of the bishops of the major Sees' (nn. 41, 42, 44), and it concludes that "the role of the bishop of Rome in the communion of all the Churches' must be 'studied in greater depth". "What is the specific function of the bishop of the “first see” in an ecclesiology of koinonia?" (n. 45)

Read further...

In Russia the Path to Unity is Defrosting

Anyone who knows us and has been following us knows that we've been predicting this for some time.

Neville Kyrke-Smith has visited Eastern Europe for the past 25 years. Now, he believes the end of the schism with the Orthodox is in sight

"The Lefebvrists, the Anglicans... will it be the Orthodox next?" asked one slightly bewildered Catholic priest recently. Pope Benedict XVI is turning out to be ecumenically audacious. For this he has faced criticism, misunderstanding and accusations of insensitivity. But Pope Benedict and Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church seem now to be making progress in preparing the ground to overcome the Great Schism of 1054.

When I was in Russia late last year the Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Mennini, commented on the imperative aim of both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI to build "a dialogue of truth and charity" with the Orthodox. He emphasised how vital this was and thanked Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) for its work in supporting Catholic, Orthodox and ecumenical projects in Russia:

"We have to encourage the Catholic community to show solidarity to the Orthodox. The initiative of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI is so important. Thank you for all that the charity does for the Church and for building relations with the Orthodox, in line with the will of the Holy Father... and Our Lord!"

Read further...

Protestant Studies Fathers and Becomes Byzantine Catholic

We found this article at Medjugorje Central at Spirit Daily.

Sees Byzantine church a “perfect marriage” of Eastern traditions and unity with pope

By PATRICIA COLL FREEMAN

Catholicanchor.org

A former Lutheran pastor from Northern Michigan now heads St. Nicholas of Myra Byzantine Catholic Church in Anchorage.

On Oct. 31, Father James Barrand, 52, succeeded just-retired pastor Father Mike Hornick at the little, dome-topped church, where an ancient Catholic liturgy is celebrated everyday. Father Barrand is quick to explain that he got to the icon and incense-filled church with the help of ancient guides — the Early Church Fathers — who chanted the same Divine Praises in the first centuries of the church as he does now.


FOLLOWING THE FATHERS

While a Protestant seminarian, Father Barrand had been fascinated by the Catholic Church.

“I had been exploring it all the way through seminary,” he told the Anchor.

Father James Barrand celebrates the Divine Liturgy at St. Nicholas of Myra Byzantine Catholic Church in Anchorage on Dec. 30. At right, Father Barrand stands along side the screen of icons, in front of the sanctuary of the church. His concentration was the study of the Fathers of the Church, the influential theologians and writers of the first centuries after Jesus Christ. They include St. Augustine, St. Ignatius of Antioch and St. John Chrysostom.

As with many Protestant denominations, Father Barrand explained, Lutherans think they must “restore” the church to “its pristine shape before the corruption – as they saw it – of the Middle Ages. So they very much encourage people to go back to the Fathers. So I did.”

Read further...

Muslims and Christians Flock To See Mary In Cairo

Our Lady is appearing to Copts in the poorest neighborhoods of Cairo. She doesn't say anything, but her presence speaks nonetheless. Like children, the Copts and some Muslims crowd around her mantel, seeking protection, maternal love and hope. The following is from "The Watchers Lamp" blog.

(ANSAmed) - CAIRO - Exorcisms and alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary are occurring in Cairo, in two of the city's poorest neighbourhoods, and the two phenomena are drawing in throngs of the faithful, mostly Christian Copts but Muslims as well. The most recent event is the one which occurred last Friday in the El Waaraq neighbourhood, located in the Giza area. The Egyptian Gazette reports that many claim to have personally witnessed the Virgin Mary on the roof of St. Michaels church with her arms opening in their direction, while the smell of incense and a flock of doves surrounded the area. This event allegedly occurred at least twice, but a Church appointee was unable to capture it on video. People are now awaiting for the return of Copt pope Shenouda III to return to Cairo from the USA on the day after tomorrow. He is expected to set up a committee that will look into the alleged apparitions, and to decide on the now sizeable amount of money offered by the faithful.



http://watcherslamp.blogspot.com/

Catholics and Orthodox Sharing Priestly Duties in India

Catholic and Orthodox Churches have agreed to share priestly services and infrastructure, in a major development in their 356-year-old troubled history.

The Inter-religious Dialogue Commission of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council met with the Syrian Jacobite and Syrian orthodox Churches mid December to seek ways to foster better unity and cooperation among them, UCA News reports.

The three Churches are based in Kerala, southern India, and trace their faith to Saint Thomas the Apostle.
The Church split in 1653 after Portuguese missioners tried to impose their ways on the native Christians.

Link to orignal...

Archbishop Williams is Harpooning Ecumenism

This raises more questions than ever about what kind of damage this will do to ecumenism and just how committed Archbishop Rowan and the Anglican Communion is to what is departing from Ecumenism and entering into the field of Interreligious Dialogue (Dialogue of Catholic Church with non-Christian religions) Damian Thompson poked fun at Archbishop Rowan for his remarks:

Pope's policies 'theologically eccentric', says head of blissfully united Anglican Communion