A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 19 - Tuesday, May 11th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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ROMAN CATHOLICS, ORTHODOX MEET IN RUSSIA IN ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE LONG-STANDING DISPUTE by Judith Ingram A group of Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic clerics met for two days this week to try to work out rules of behavior that would help them avoid conflict, representatives said Thursday. It was the first meeting of a commission agreed to in February during Cardinal Walter Kasper's trip to Moscow - the highest-level visit by a Roman Catholic representative in four years. The co-chairman on the Orthodox side, the Rev. Vsevolod Chaplin, said the group discussed specific cases of alleged proselytism by Catholics, including in several children's homes run as Catholic charities. There also were some situations in which representatives of the two churches had cooperated, such as in having Catholic charity workers take their charges to Orthodox churches for prayer, he said. "We are basing our work on the ethical principles of inter-church relations, when the churches try to speak with one another about the division of their areas of secular responsibility," Chaplin said. Tensions between the churches have deep historical roots but increased markedly since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and communist restrictions on religion faded. In particular, Patriarch Alexy II, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has accused Catholics of poaching converts in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union. Pope John Paul II is eager to visit Russia, but Alexy has said no visit by the pope can be made until disputes are resolved. The Rev. Igor Kowalewski, the co-chairman on the Catholic side, said the talks represented progress because Orthodox representatives were not accusing the Catholics of proselytizing but rather of allowing situations that could be misinterpreted as missionary work. "This is already a big step forward," he said. Kowalewski stressed that the Catholics have been and will always be a minority in Russia - where they number about 600,000 amid tens of millions of Orthodox believers - and that the Vatican does not consider Russia a "missionary state" ripe for proselytizing. "Our job is the pastoral nourishment of Catholics," he said.
The commission's
next meeting is scheduled for September. |
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