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Published by the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese
of America, June 22, 2005
68th Meeting
of the North American Orthodox-Catholic
Theological Consultation |
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The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological
Consultation held its 68th meeting from June 6 to
8, 2005, at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological
Seminary in Crestwood, New York. It was co-chaired
by Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh and
Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati.
In its theological sessions the Consultation
continued its study of primacy and conciliarity in
the Church. Fr Alexander Golitzin offered a review
of the papers presented at the Consultation during
its earlier consideration of this topic in the
1980s. Fr Joseph Komonchak of the Catholic
University of America presented a paper entitled,
"On the Priority of the Universal Church: Analysis
and Questions," in which he focused on the
ecclesiology of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In a
second presentation, Fr Komonchak analyzed the
first three chapters of the Dogmatic Constitution
Pastor Aeternus of the First Vatican Council
(1870) that deal with the primacy of the Bishop of
Rome, and the current state of research on the
Council. In this context he also reviewed the 1875
statement of the German Catholic bishops on
Episcopal powers, and the 1998 "Reflections" of
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
"The Primacy of the Successor of Peter in the
Mystery of the Church." Fr Thomas FitzGerald of
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
presented a paper on the Orthodox encyclicals of
1848 and 1895 which express Orthodox perspectives
on the actions and teachings of the Roman Catholic
Church during that period, especially with regard
to the position of the bishop of Rome.
The Consultation also had an opportunity to review
recent major events in the lives of their
churches. Among these were the death of Pope John
Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the
death of Archbishop Iakovos who played a key role
in the founding of our dialogue in 1965, the
return of the relics of Sts. John Chrysostom and
Gregory the Theologian to Constantinople, the
situation in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of
Jerusalem, and the grant in support of our
Consultation from Mr. Emmanuel Prokopis.
The members were particularly pleased to join the
St. Vladimir's community for the celebration of
the Leave taking of Pascha, including a Divine
Liturgy in the seminary chapel on Wednesday
morning June 8.
At its next meeting, which is scheduled for
October 2005, the Consultation intends to continue
its study of primacy and conciliarity with papers
on the correspondence between Pope Innocent III
and various church and civil authorities in the
East at the turn of the 13th century, contemporary
relations with the Oriental Orthodox Churches and
the Assyrian Church of the East, the canons of the
Council of 879 regarding jurisdiction, and
relations between power, authority and pluralism
in the church today.
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 Inter-religious 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 now issued 22 agreed statements on various
topics. All these texts are now available on the
website of the USCCB at: http://www.usccb.org/seia/dialogues.htm
and on the SCOBA website at: http://www.scoba.us/resources/index.asp
In addition to the two co-chairmen, the Orthodox
members of the Consultation include Father Thomas
FitzGerald (Secretary), Father Nicholas Apostola,
Prof. Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Father James Dutko,
Prof. Paul Meyendorff, Father Alexander Golitzin,
Father Emmanuel Gratsias, Dr. Robert Haddad,
Father Paul Schnierla, Father Robert
Stephanopoulos, and Bishop Dimitrios of Xanthos,
General Secretary of SCOBA (staff). The additional
Catholic members are Father Brian Daley, SJ
(secretary), Prof. Thomas Bird, Father Peter
Galadza, Msgr. John D. Faris, Father John Galvin,
Father Sidney Griffith, ST, Father Joseph
Komonchak, Father John Long, SJ, Father David
Petras, and Father Ronald Roberson, CSP (staff).
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