Patriarch Filaret Supports Montenegrin Orthodox Church

Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate supported the autocephaly of the Montenegrin Church which seeks international recognition as does the Ukrainian one . The heads of the Ukrainian and Montenegrin Orthodox Churches stated as the result that they will cooperate with each other and will not pay attention to the negation of their autocephaly by the Moscow and Serbian Orthodox Churches, as the Montenegrin and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches have historic bases.

According to www.bbc.co.uk, this is the first visit of the Patriarch of the UOC-KP to Montenegro and its Orthodox Church. According to the press service of the UOC-KP, on October 24, the heads of the Ukrainian and Montenegrin Churches conducted a liturgy with the concelebration of the bishops and clergymen of the two Churches at the Square of King Nikola in the ancient capital of Montenegro, Cetinje.

The head of the Ukrainian church pointed to the "absurdity of the situation" when the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is the church with the third largest number of the faithful after the Moscow and Romanian Patriarchates, still cannot obtain autocephaly after twenty years of independence of Ukraine.

"The present the Ukrainian Orthodox Church numbers more believers (14.5 million) than the Albanian, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Czech Orthodox Churches which together number 12 million believers. According to him, the Ukrainian and Montenegrin Orthodox Churches have "historic foundations" and the "believers of the two churches live according to the Orthodox canons, dogmas, and rules and want to be together with all the Orthodox Churches but this is opposed by some Orthodox Churches," meaning the Moscow and Serbian Churches.

Source:  RISU

Halloween is 'pagan' says Church group

'Don't trample on our culture,' bishop says

(ANSA) - Vatican City, October 29 - Halloween is pagan and against the spirit of Christianity, an influential Catholic Church group said Friday.

Chiming in with the Vatican's annual warnings on the festival, the (Pope) John XXIII Association said: "Halloween was born as the perpetuation of a pagan cult which evolved over time and linked up with esoteric and occult practices".

"We are faced with a sort of revival of neopaganism which, as such, is in open contrast with the spirit of Christianity".

"Does our society really need all these messages exalting horror," asked the association's head, Giovanni Paolo Ramonda.

"At a time which should be devoted to the holy memory of our saints and souls, people unthinkingly set up 'noir' banquets, crime dinners and afternoons for children in macabre masks.

"Everyone should be reminded that Halloween comes from an ancient pagan ritual in the British Isles practised by the Druids, the Celts' ferocious priestly caste".

The bishop of the southern Italian town of Locri, Msgr Giuseppe Fiorini Morosini, intends to alert his flock of the dangers they face with a message to be read out in all parishes on Sunday, October 31.

"Halloween is not a part of our culture. We aren't against kids having fun but enjoyment cannot be pursued by destroying our holiest traditions and trampling on our culture. Death cannot be celebrated, instilling horror and dread".

The Northern League party, which jealously guards northern Italy's Celtic past, also came out against the feast this year, accusing it of being "inauthentic".

"Halloween is not part of our identity," said the Northern League's mayor of the town of Calalzo di Cadore, Luca De Carlo.

Meanwhile Italian police said they would "raise their guard" this year against anyone planning to desecrate churchyards or morgues or stage occult rites in abandoned buildings.

"We have found dead animals in caves in the past and we shall be particularly vigilant against any private associations which are a cover for Satanic groups," said a Rome police spokesman. POPULARITY RISING.

Halloween is not a traditional date on the Italian calendar but has been growing in popularity in recent years, with trick-or-treating becoming more common and pumpkin sales rising.

Codacons, a consumer group, said some 10 million Italians will be celebrating the festival this year, with a turnover estimated at some 300 million euros ($420 million).

More than a million pumpkins are sold over the holiday while fancy-dress shops whose traditional bonanza used to come at Carnival time in February now make a killing in masks, costumes and accessories.

One place in Italy has a much longer Halloween history.

A small town in the southeastern region of Puglia, Orsara di Puglia, has been celebrating it for the past 1,000 years.

According to local historians, the only real difference between the American tradition and the town's version of Halloween is the date.

Halloween, a secular take on All Hallows Eve, the night before All Saints Day, is traditionally celebrated on the night of October 31, but in Orsara di Puglia the pumpkins come out on the evening between November 1 (All Saints Day) and Nov 2 (All Souls Day).

Hollowed-out and candle-lit pumpkins are placed outside homes on the evening of All Saints Day to keep away evil spirits and witches.

Townsfolks also light huge bonfires in the streets so as to illuminate the path of souls on their way to Purgatory.

Historians have traced Orsara's tradition back to a short-lived 8th-century incursion by a Germanic people, the Longobards, who in more northern parts supplanted older civilisations and reigned as the Lombards.


Source:  ANSA

CONFERENCE OF GREEK CATHOLIC PRIESTS OF RUSSIA AND KAZAKHSTAN

In the Russian city of Cheliabinsk, a pastoral conference of the Greek Catholic clergy was held with the participation of the Apostolic Nuncio in Russia Antonio Mennini, Ordinary of the Greek Catholics in Russia Bishop Yosyf Vert, Apostolic Delegate of the Congregation of the Eastern Churches for Greek Catholics in the Eastern and Central Asia Fr. Vasyl Hovera, and priests and nuns serving in Russia and Kazakhstan.

Professor of theology at the University Notre Dame (USA), Fr. Dr. Yurii Avvakumov was a special guest of the conference. He made several reports on the history of Greek Catholics in Russia, the figures of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and Exarch of the Russian Greek Catholics, Blessed Martyr Leonid Fiodorov.

Also, Bishop Yosyf Vert and Nuncio Antonio Mennini met with the parishioners of Greek Catholic communities of the city of Cheliabinsk and Kopeisk pastored by a local parish priest Andrii Zverev.

Source:  RISU

18 Churches Of Odesa Region Defend Greek Catholics

On Sunday, October 24, prayer services will be held in churches of Odesa and the Odesa region to intercede for the allocation of a land plot for the construction of a church building of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, reads a joint address to the mayor of Odesa and the head of the Odesa Regional Administration signed by the heads of 18 Christian churches of Odesa, reports most-odessa.info.

The address was signed by bishops, senior pastors, and leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, Armenian Apostolic Church, German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ukraine, Church of Christians of the Evangelical Church, Association of Evangelical-Reformist Churches in Ukraine, Regional Association of Churches of Evangelical Christians Baptists, etc.

The letter reads in particular: “Our joint address to you was provoked by the atmosphere of unhealthy aggression artificially created in the city by certain circles with regard to the construction in Odesa of a church building of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. We, as brothers in Christ of Greek Catholics of Odesa cannot be indifferent to that. We, the heads and leaders of churches and religious associations of the city of Odesa, are aware that there are substantial differences in the creeds and church disciplines of our churches. These differences, however, cannot become a cause of persecution or discrimination of a particular religious community.”

Source:  RISU

Archbishop Dolan on Anti-Catholic Media

More from the Times

I know, I should drop it. “You just have to get used to it,” so many of you have counselled me. “It’s been that way forever, and it’s so ingrained they don’t even know they’re doing it. So, let it go.”

I’m talking about the common, casual way The New York Times offends Catholic sensitivity, something they would never think of doing — rightly so — to the Jewish, Black, Islamic, or gay communities.
Two simple yet telling examples from one edition, last Friday, October 15.

First there’s the insulting photograph of the nun on page C20, this for yet another tiresome production making fun of Catholic consecrated women. This “gleeful” tale is described as “fresh and funny” in the caption beneath the quarter-page photo (not an advertisement). Granted, prurient curiosity about the lives of Catholic sisters has been part of the nativist, “know-nothing” agenda since mobs burned the Ursuline convent in Boston in the 1840’s, and since the huckster Rebecca Reed’s Awful Disclosures made the rounds in the 19th century. But still now cheap laughs at the expense of a bigoted view of the most noble women around?

Maybe I’m especially sensitive since I just came from the excellent exhibit on the contributions of Catholic nuns now out on Ellis Island. These are the women who tended to the homeless immigrants and refugees, who died nursing the abandoned in the cholera epidemic, who ran hospitals and universities decades before women did so in the non-Catholic sphere, who marched in Selma and today teach our poorest in our inner-city schools. These are the nuns mocked and held-up for snickering in our city’s newspaper.

Now turn to C29. This glowingly reviewed not-to-be missed “art” exhibit comes to us from Harvard, and is a display of posters from ACT UP. Remember them? They invaded of St. Patrick’s Cathedral to disrupt prayer, trampled on the Holy Eucharist, insulted Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when he was here for a conference, and yelled four letter words while exposing themselves to families and children leaving Mass at the Cathedral. The man they most detested was Cardinal John O’Connor, who, by the way, spent many evenings caring quietly for AIDS patients, and, when everyone else ran from them, opened units for them at the Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center and St. Clare’s Hospital. Too bad for him. One of the posters in this “must see” exhibit is of Cardinal O’Connor, in the form of a condom, referred to as a “scumbag,” the “art” there in full view in the photograph above the gushing review in our city’s daily.

Thanks for your patience with me. I guess I’m still new enough here in New York City that the insults of The New York Times against the Church still bother me. I know I should get over it. As we say in Missouri, it’s like “spitting into a tornado.”






Source:  Gospel in the Digital Age

Senior Anglo-Catholic to Join Ordinariate

The Anglican bishop of Fulham and the chairman of Forward in Faith International has announced he will resign before the end of the year to join an Ordinariate.

Speaking at Forward in Faith’s National Assembly today, Bishop John Broadhurst, who is a senior figure in the Anglo-Catholic movement, said he intended to tender his resignation before the end of the year and join the Ordinariate in Britain when it is established. He has said that he will remain the chairman of Forward in Faith, which he says is not an Anglican organisation.

Bishop Broadhurst is a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of London. He said the Bishop of London would likely appoint someone new to fill the post Bishop Broadhurst is vacating.

He is the first senior Anglo-Catholic to announce publicly that he will join an Ordinariate when it is founded.

Two “flying bishops”, or bishops who are appointed to provide pastoral care for Anglicans who cannot in good conscience accept women priests, are also likely to tender their resignations before the end of the year in order to join an Ordinariate.

Both Bishop Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet and Bishop Keith Newton of Richborough are believed to be taking up the offer Pope Benedict made last autumn with the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, which allows for a new canonical structure for Anglicans wishing to be in full communion with Rome while retaining their identity.

This year, the General Synod of the Church of England voted down proposed measures which would have offered traditionalists a structural protection from being overseen by women bishops.

At a series of meetings called last month by the Anglican bishop of Plymouth to the signatories of a 2008 open letter against women bishops written to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York, traditionalists discussed taking up the Ordinariate. They also created a new society called St Wilfrid and St Hilda for Anglo-Catholics who were not sure about the Ordinariate.

Groups of Anglicans wishing to take up an Ordinariate must first write to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith formally requesting the canonical structure to be erected.

The Personal Ordinariate most resembles a military diocese and is thought to range over the territory of individual Episcopal conferences.

Pope Benedict XVI published the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus last November.

So far formal requests have been made in the United States, Canada and Australia among other countries.

In Britain Ordinariate groups have been forming informally over the last year as flying bishops have tried to explain to their clergy and lay people what the Pope’s offer would entail.

Among the largest worry for Anglicans considering taking up Anglicanorum coetibus is the fact that they are unlikely to be able to take buildings with them when they cross the Tiber.

Source:  Catholic Herald (UK)

Ukraine as a traditionalist haven

12 October 2010, 11:14 | Andrew Sorokovski's column

For traditionalist Catholics from the West, Western Ukraine is a dream come true. The seminaries are full. Priests in cassocks and nuns in traditional habits are everywhere to be seen. Liturgies, whether Latin or Byzantine, cling to tradition, with no unsightly innovation or unseemly experimentation. Sermons speak of sin and death. Long lines of penitents fill the confessionals, and processions grace the streets.

Traditionalists love Ukraine because there, tradition is respected. But there is a kind of traditionalism which implies more than that. It rightly emphasizes the eternal, unchanging nature of the Church as reflected in ideas, forms, and actions that remain static over time. But at the same time, it tends to ignore the organic, changing nature of the Church as reflected in those ideas, forms, and actions that should develop and change over time. The attitude of such traditionalists is unbalanced, for they prefer one essential aspect of the Church over another.

Reformers and modernists commit the opposite error. In much of the West, they have abandoned the sense of mystery and eternity in favor of a contemporary but banal, commonplace church culture. This detracts from respect for the Church and the unchanging nature of her fundamental teachings. It makes church an uninteresting experience, an insincere imitation of secular culture.

Are Ukrainian Catholics in error because of their traditionalism? Hardly. For there is a difference between true and false traditionalism. True traditionalism entails both continuity and change. Some ideas, like the basic truths of theology, remain unchanging. Some forms, like the vestments of the priest, change little over time, for they are meant to suggest the venerable nature of his office. The actions of the liturgy likewise evolve only gradually over the centuries, for the concepts that they express do not change; they themselves need to change only when they are no longer comprehensible.

At the same time, other aspects of church culture must evolve or perish. Preaching must relate eternal truths to contemporary life. Religious publications must speak to the laity in the language of the day. The Church must use the most advanced communications technology if it is to reach its faithful.

But in fact, most aspects of religious life involve both continuity and change. Church music cannot remain static, because from time to time excellent religious compositions in a contemporary idiom are created; yet it would be destructive not to emphasize the rich storehouse of traditional music. Iconography must follow defined traditions; otherwise, it loses its ability to convey profound concepts. Yet if its pictorial language does not develop, it becomes mere imitation. The same is true of church architecture, which becomes false and hollow if it merely imitates past styles with modern building materials; the best architects interpret venerable traditions in contemporary idiom.

We should therefore not be too glad that traditionalists are drawn to Ukraine. If what they find there is the right balance between the constant and the mutable, then we have reason to rejoice. But if what they are seeking, and finding, is the false comfort of mere conservatism, then we have cause for concern.

Source:  RISU

Officials of Cherkasy Regional State Administration Forced to Attend Moscow Patriarchate Church

All the employees of the Cherkasy Regional State Administration were forced to go to St. Michael’s Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) on October 14. The head of the regional administration, Serhii Tulub, prayed here on the Feast of Intercession.

According to gazeta.ua, it was not a voluntary event. “To be honest, we were forced to come to the church. There was no possibility of not attending. The officials were to gather at 8:15 a.m. in the First of May Park, where the Cathedral of St. Michael is located. In a few minutes, the governor appeared. He came inside. The heads of the departments followed him. The rest were allowed to go to their places of work,” said an employee of one of the departments, Serhii.

“I do not attend the Moscow Church on principle. I attend only the Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate. Why should I follow the governor to a foreign church? Has the freedom of worship been abolished in our country?”

The workers of the administration refused to tell their names and departments for fear of dismissal.

In September, Metropolitan Sofronii (Dmytruk) of Cherkasy refused to be included in the five of the Party of Regions running for the Cherkasy Regional Council. Nevertheless, in the region the UOC-MP openly supports the Party of Regions at the local elections. President Viktor Yanukovych is called a true Orthodox.

Source:  RISU

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.

"Just as fasting is a respected aspect of Islam and Judaism, we hope that Catholics of the Eastern and Latin Rites unify their way of fasting. This would be a positive sign for Christians and also for non-Christians," Bishop Shomali said.

The hope for a common Easter date was not mentioned in many of the formal speeches of synod members, but according to the English-language synod press briefer, it came up repeatedly in the hour of free discussion in the synod hall each evening.

For more than 15 years, the official position of the Vatican has been that it would endorse a universally accepted plan to fix a date for Easter for all Christians.

The Middle East Council of Churches has been a leading promoter of a common Easter date, particularly in view of the fact that Christians are such a small minority throughout the region.

The World Council of Churches also has been trying to work out an agreement.

The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation recommended early in October that a unified celebration of Christ's resurrection would demonstrate the unity of all of Christianity to the world. In "Celebrating Easter/Pascha Together," the consultation suggested using the most accurate scientific instruments and astronomical data available to set the date.

In a practice dating back four centuries to the reformation of the calendar by Pope Gregory XIII, most Protestants and Catholics celebrate Easter on one day, while most Orthodox observe the feast day according to the Julian calendar. The dates for Easter coincide every four years.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that some Eastern Catholics in predominantly Orthodox countries continue to follow the Julian calendar, while since the 1930s, some Orthodox communities have adopted the Gregorian calendar.

At a World Council of Churches consultation in Aleppo, Syria, in 1997, participants agreed to use modern astronomical data in calculating the date for Easter based on a formula developed by the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in the year 325. The council set Easter as the Sunday after the first full moon in spring.

With very few exceptions, the agreement has not been applied. Part of the problem is that after five centuries of having different dates for Easter, some of the Christian faithful actually see "their" Easter as part of the substance of what makes them different from other Christians.

Source:  Catholic News Service

Relics of St. Simeon given to Gr. Orthodox in Jerusalem

The Archdiocese of Zadar, Croatia, has handed over a relic of St. Simeon to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in an ecumenical gesture that the Orthodox Archbishop Theofylactus said should be “inscripted in the history of the Church in Jerusalem with golden letters.”

The mummified body of St. Simeon—who held the infant Jesus in the Temple—was taken from Jerusalem to Constantinople in the 13th century, and was apparently destined for Venice when a storm on the Adriatic Sea forced the ship off course toward what is now Croatia. The saint’s remains have been venerated in Zadar since that time.

In 2007, during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Archbishop Ivan Prendja of Zadar met with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem, and agreed to provide a relic of St. Simeon to be venerated in an Orthodox monastery dedicated to the saint. Archbishop Prendja died in January of this year, but his successor, Archbishop Zelimir Puljic, carried out his promise in a ceremony in Zadak last week, turning over the relic to representatives of the Orthodox patriarchate.

Source:  Catholic Culture

Bishops "OK" with married priests-for Eastern churches

Bishops "OK" with married priests-for Eastern churches
By John L Allen Jr
Created Oct 13, 2010

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome

Two Latin rite bishops from North America, both with large populations of faithful belonging to various Eastern Catholic churches, said today they would not be opposed if those Eastern churches decided to ordain more married priests in North America.

The prelates also said, however, that bishops from Eastern churches are not universally in favor of such a move.

The comments came from Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit and Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto, Canada, during a press conference today organized by the Catholic Near East Welfare Association and the Canadian Catholic media network “Salt and Light.”

Yesterday, Archbishop Antonios Aziz Mina, a Coptic prelate from Egypt, argued in favor of extending the practice of married priests in the Eastern churches during the Oct. 10-24 Synod of Bishops for the Middle East.
 
“Since the 1930s there has been a ban on the ordination of and the practice of the ministry by married priests outside the territories of the Patriarchy and the ‘Historically Eastern regions,’ Mina said.

“I think, in line with whatever the Holy Father decides, that the time has come to take this step in favor of the pastoral care of the Eastern faithful throughout the diaspora,” he said.

Asked what he thinks about that, Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit, the city which has the largest concentration of Arab immigrants in the United States, said he would defer to what the bishops of the Eastern churches recommend.

“The question is what will help the bishops, priests and the members of the Eastern churches in the expansion,” Vigneron said, adding that some Eastern Catholics prefer the term “expansion” to “diaspora.”

“If it helps them, it would be fine,” Vigneron said, referring to the ordination of married priests for the Eastern churches. “If they feel it’s not helpful, I would pay most attention to that.”

Since the issue arose in the synod, Vigneron said he’s talked to several Eastern bishops about it, and “they don’t all have the same view.”

Asked directly if he would worry that more married priests in the Eastern churches might call into question the obligation of celibacy for Roman Catholic priests, Vigneron said, “I would not.”

Collins echoed Vigneron’s point, saying that it’s a “complex issue” and that “there’s not a common view” among the Eastern bishops on the desirability of expaning a married priesthood in their communities outside the Middle East.

Vigneron added that he’s not sure the ordination of married priests for the Eastern churches in America and elsewhere would require special papal permission, since, he said, the bishops of those churches often say “they already have that authority under the Code of Canon Law for the Eastern churches.”

Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Ottawa, Canada, who’s not participating in the synod but who took part in today’s press conference, said that in some cases, exposure to married Eastern priests can cause confusion among Roman Catholics in the West.

“We have some chaplains in our Catholic high schools who are married priests from the Ukranian church,” Prendergast said, speaking of Ottawa. “The children obviously know that, and it can become a difficulty or a tension point.”

Prendergast said that doesn’t mean he’s against the idea, but that it suggests the need for it to explained carefully should an expansion in the presence of married Eastern priests occur.

Vigneron and Collins took much the same position on another idea floated yesterday in the synod, which is allowing the Patriarchs of the Eastern churches to exercise jurisdiction over communities outside their traditional territory. Both said they don’t object, but that the Eastern bishops themselves appear to be divided on the issue.

Monsignor Robert Stern, secretary general of the CNEWA, who’s also participating in the Synod for Bishops, said he’s picked up a variety of opinions during the coffee breaks.

“Some say it’s good that the authority [of the patriarchs] is restricted, because their culture is in the Middle East, and they wouldn’t understand the Canadian or American point of view,” he said.

“Others argue that if they’re never exposed to those points of view, how will they ever broaden their perspective?” Stern said.

Yet another proposal floated yesterday was for a “bank” of priests willing to serve for three months to a year in the Middle East, as a partial remedy to chronic shortages of clergy. Both Vigneron and Collins said they’re in favor of allowing their priests to serve, but expressed doubt that a “bank” is the best way to go about it.

Collins said a priest’s decision to serve on an overseas mission is always "deeply personal,” and perhaps can’t be organized or structured in terms of a “bank” available to go anytime and anyplace. Vigneron expressed skepticism that three months to a year would really allow a priest enough time to absorb the culture and the language in order to be effective.

Vigneron said that a joining a religious order such as the Franciscans, which already has a significant presence in the region, would be a “more well understood and easier way” for a priest wanting to serve in the Middle East.

On the broader question of whether the synod can do anything to arrest the emigration of Christians out of the Middle East, Stern said that the issue “isn’t in the hands of the church.”

The decisions by Christians to stay or go, he said, depend on “politics, peace and justice, class and social discrimination, [and] extremism,” all of which aren’t really in the power of the church to control.

Vigneron suggested that the synod may nevertheless be able to make a contribution at the level of raising consciousness, and not just on behalf of Christians but all the peoples of the region.

“The pastors of the church can speak to people of good will to invite them to take a stance on behalf of human rights,” he said. “The truth of human dignity doesn’t belong just to the Christian community. It’s vital and important for all people of the Middle East.”

“The Christian community,” Vigneron said, “can invite others to stand with us on the basis of the truth of the dignity of the human person.”

NCR's coverage of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East can be found here: http://ncronline.org/mideast_synod

Source:  National Catholic Reporter

Papal Address on Anniversary of Eastern Canon Law

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 10, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of an address given Saturday by Benedict XVI upon receiving in audience participants in a congress marking the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Code of Canons of Eastern Churches.

* * *

Lord Cardinals,
Venerable Patriarchs,
Major Archbishops,
Dear Brothers in the episcopate and priesthood,
Illustrious Representatives of other ecclesial churches and communities,
Esteemed Practitioners of Eastern Canon Law,

With great joy I receive you at the conclusion of the scholarly proceedings, which were convened to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the "Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium." I cordially greet all of you, beginning with Monsignor Francesco Coccopalmerio, whom I thank for the words he addressed to me also on behalf of those present. I thank the Congregation for Eastern Churches, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Pontifical Oriental Institute, who worked together with the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts in organizing this conference. I would like to express my cordial appreciation to the speakers for the competent scientific contribution to this ecclesial initiative.

20 years after the promulgation of "Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium" we would like to pay homage to the intuition of John Paul II, whom, in his concern that the Eastern Catholic Churches "flourish and carry out the mission entrusted to them with new apostolic vigor" (Vatican Council II, "Orientalium Ecclesiarum," 1) wanted to grant these venerable Churches a complete universal Code adapted to the times. In this way there was fulfilled "the same constant will of the Roman pontiffs to promulgate two Codes, one for the Latin Church and the other for the Eastern Catholic Churches" (Apostolic Constitution "Sacri canones"). At the same time there was reaffirmed the "very clear, constant, and firm intention of the supreme legislator in the Church in regard to the faithful safeguarding and diligent observance of all the rites" (ibid.).

The "Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium" was followed by two other important documents of the magisterium of John Paul II: the encyclical letter "Ut unum sint" (1995) and the apostolic letter "Orientale Lumen" (1995). Furthermore, we cannot forget the "Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism" published by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (1993) and the instruction of the Congregation for Eastern Churches about the application of the liturgical prescriptions of the Code (1996). In these authoritative documents of the magisterium various canons of the "Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium," just as the "Codex Iuris Canonici," are textually cited, commented on and applied to the life of the Church.

This 20th anniversary is not only a celebratory event to preserve it in memory, but rather provides an occasion for confirmation to which above all the "sui iuris" Eastern Catholic Churches and their institutions, especially the hierarchies, are called. In this regard the apostolic constitution "Sacri canones" already foresees the context of verification. It is a question of seeing in what measure the Code effectively had force of law for all the "suir iuris" Oriental Churches and also in what measure the legislative authority of each "sui iuris" Church has provided for the promulgation of its own particular law, keeping present the traditions of its right along with the directives of Vatican Council II.

The topics of this conference articulated in three unities -- history, particular legislation, ecumenical perspectives -- indicate a very important "iter" to follow in this verification. It must start from the awareness that the new "Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium" has created for the Oriental Catholic faithful a disciplinary situation that is partly new, becoming a valid instrument to protect and promote their rite understood as a "liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony, distinct by culture and historical circumstances of peoples, that is expressed a way of living of the faith that is proper to each "sui iuris" Church" (can. 28, § 1).

In this way, the "sacra canones" of the ancient Church, that inspire the Oriental codification in force, stimulate all the Oriental Churches to conserve their own identity, which is simultaneously Eastern and Catholic. In preserving the Catholic communion the Eastern Catholic Churches did not at all intend to deny their own tradition. As has been many times repeated, the full union of the Eastern Catholic Churches with the Church of Rome that is already realized must not lead to a diminution of the consciousness of the unique authenticity and originality of those Churches. For this reason it is the task of all the Eastern Catholic Churches to conserve the common disciplinary patrimony and nourish their own traditions, which is a treasure for the whole Church.

The same "sacri canones" of the first centuries of the Church constitute to a large extent the same basic patrimony of canonical discipline that also regulates the Orthodox Churches. Thus the Eastern Catholic Churches can offer a peculiar and relevant contribution to the ecumenical journey. I am happy that in the course of your symposium you have taken account of this particular aspect and I encourage you to make it an object of further study, cooperating thus for your part to the common effort to adhere to the Lord's prayer: "May all be one ... that the world may believe ..." (John 17:21).

Dear friends, in the context of the Church's current effort for a new evangelization, canon law, as the peculiar and indispensable ordering of ecclesial fellowship, will not fail to contribute to the life and the mission of the Church in the world, if all the components of the People of God know how to interpret is wisely and apply it faithfully. Thus, I exhort, as did the venerable John Paul II, all the beloved children of the Eastern Churches "to observe the precepts set down with a sincere heart and a humble will, not in the least doubting that the Eastern Churches will provide in the best way possible for the good of the souls of faithful Christians with renewed discipline, and that they will always flourish and carry out the task entrusted to them under the protection of the glorious and blessed ever Virgin Mary, who in all truth is called 'Theotokos' and who shines as the great mother of the universal Church" ("Sacri canones").

I accompany this wish with the Apostolic Blessing, which I impart to you and to those who make their contribution in the various fields connected with the canon law of the Eastern Churches.

Source:  ZENIT

"How to Wear a Cross"--if you are an Ukrainian Cabinet Minister

"A cross cannot be considered a decoration even if it is made of precious materials by a jeweler. Unlike Catholics, the Orthodox wear crosses next to their skin, under their clothes. The modern tendency to wear crosses on top of one's clothes is a violation of the traditions of Orthodox Christianity," reads Order 155 of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the approval of recommendations regarding the dress code of the employees of the secretariat of September 30, 2010, reported the press service of the government.

The dress code, however, applies not only to the employees of the Secretariat. Immediately after the new rules were approved, a photo correspondent of one of the news agencies was not let in the building of the government as he wore cargo trousers (with big patch pockets). "Do journalists visit the building of the government? We advise them to observe the official dress code," Ihor Storozhuk, the director of the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Secretariat of the Cabinet, commented to the portal Telekritika.

The mentioned order clearly does not prohibit wearing crosses on one's neck but the text can be interpreted in different ways. The authors do not specify if Catholics have a right to work in the Cabinet and wear crosses on top of their clothes or if they must observe the Orthodox tradition.



 
 Commentary of Director of Institute of Religion and Society of Ukrainian Catholic University, Dr. Lesia Kovalenko

This instruction is not surprising because it is written entirely in the spirit of the "Orthodox" declaration of human rights, which was submitted to the parliament, and other political steps of the current authorities in the area of confession. It is not clear what exactly this norm recommends. It is difficult not to agree with the content of the formulation itself (Will believers deny that the cross is not a decoration? Was it not the believers who first noticed the transformation of the sacral symbol to a trivial fashion?) However, what does the recommendation say to an employee of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers? That the authorities care about the Orthodox traditions? It would not be bad if it was about the management of a religious organization and not the management of a state authority which is secular, according  to the Constitution by which that body is governed, separated from the church (Article 35) and ideologically neutral (Article 15). And where are the norms regarding the  Muslim, Jewish, or atheistic symbols or elements of clothing? In general, neither the addressee nor the requirement of the norm is clear.

Source:  RISU

Eastern churches will dominate Synod for the Middle East

The Eastern Catholic churches will play a central role in the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, which opens in Rome on Sunday.

Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, briefed reporters in Rome on October 8 about plans for the Synod, which will run from October 10 to 24. He emphasized the “variety of traditions, spirituality, liturgy, and disciplines” that will be brought to the Synod by the Eastern Catholic representatives—who will form a majority among the Synod fathers.

Archbishop Eterovic explained to reporters that the Catholic presence in the Middle East is dominated by the “six sui juris Eastern Catholic churches, each with its own patriarch, father and head of the Church: the Coptic Church, the Syrian Church, the Greek-Melkite Church, the Maronite Church, the Chaldean Church, and the Armenian Church.” Pope Benedict has underlined the importance of these Eastern churches by taking the unusual step of appointing two “honorary” presidents of the Synod: Maronite Catholic Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and Chaldean Catholic Patriarh Emmanuel III Delly.

The Synod will set a new precedent by hearing from three non-Christian speakers, along with representatives of the Orthodox world. The special guests will be David Rosen, the inter-religious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee; and two Muslim leaders, a Lebanese Sunni, Muhammad al Sammak and an Iranian Shi’ite, Shahid Beheshti.

In another “first” for the Synod, Arabic will be one of the official languages used for the discussions, along with Italian, English, and French.

Source:  Catholic Culture

US Orthodox-Catholic dialogue outlines vision of unity

The Pope would no longer select most bishops in a vision of restored Christian unity outlined by the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation.



The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation is the official Orthodox-Catholic dialogue in the US and Canada. Last year, participants in this dialogue criticized the work of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which is the official Orthodox-Catholic dialogue at the international level.

“Steps Towards a Reunited Church: A Sketch of an Orthodox-Catholic Vision for the Future” was issued by the North American dialogue following a September 30-October 2 meeting in Washington. The dialogue also issued a second document, “Celebrating Easter/Pascha Together.”

The vision of restored unity in “Steps Towards a Reunited Church” includes the mutual adoption of the original version of the Nicene-Constantinopalitan Creed, which did not include the word Filioque (the original version said that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father,” rather than “from the Father and the Son”).

A “renewed Roman primacy” would be essential to Christian unity, according to the document:

The bishop of Rome would be, by ancient custom, the “first” of the world’s bishops and of the regional patriarchs. His “primacy of honor” would mean, as it meant in the early Church, not simply honorific precedence but the authority to make real decisions, appropriate to the contexts in which he is acting. His relationship to the Eastern Churches and their bishops, however, would have to be substantially different from the relationship now accepted in the Latin Church. The present Eastern Catholic Churches would relate to the bishop of Rome in the same way as the present Orthodox Churches would. The leadership of the pope would always be realized by way of a serious and practical commitment to synodality and collegiality.

The document also called for a significant change in the relationship of the Pope and the Roman Curia to the rest of the Church in the West. Most significantly, the Pope would no longer select bishops in the West.

His universal role would also be expressed in convoking and presiding over regular synods of patriarchs of all the Churches, and over ecumenical councils, when they should occur. In the Western Church, this same presiding function would include convoking and leading regular episcopal synods. In harmony with the Pope’s universal ecumenical ministry, the Roman curia’s relationship to local bishops and episcopal conferences in the Latin Church would become less centralized: bishops, for instance, would have more control over the agenda and the final documents of synods, and the selection of bishops would again normally become a local process.

The new documents from the North American Orthodox-Catholic dialogue, chaired by Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans and Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh, come less than a year after the North American dialogue criticized the Ravenna document, a modest consensus document on the papacy developed by the international Orthodox-Catholic dialogue. “Steps Towards a Reunited Church” appears to backtrack from this criticism by citing the Ravenna document in a positive manner.

 Source:  CatholicCulture.org

CONGRESS MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF CODE OF EASTERN CANON LAW

VATICAN CITY, 7 OCT 2010 (VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press Office, a press conference was held to present a forthcoming congress marking the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The congress is due to take place on 8 and 9 October.

Participating in today's press conference were Archbishop Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts; Archbishop Cyril Vasil S.J., secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches; Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, and Fr. Michael J. Kuchera, dean of the Faculty of Eastern Canon Law at the Pontifical Oriental Institute.

In his remarks Archbishop Coccopalmerio explained how the congress is being organised by the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts in collaboration with the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Pontifical Oriental Institute. The meeting, he said, will be divided into three sections each of which will deal with one of three major themes: the historical evolution of Eastern Canon Law, the legislative activity of the Eastern Churches, and the ecumenical aspects of Eastern Canon Law.

The congress will be attended more than four hundred participants, including experts, canon lawyers, professors and students. Representatives from the Orthodox world will also be present, as will members of other Churches and of non-Christian confessions.

The congress will come to an end on Saturday 9 October when the participants are due to be received in audience by the Holy Father.

Source:  Vatican Information Service (VIS)

Papal Primacy: Russia Heads the Resistance Against Rome

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.

At the head of the Catholic delegation was the new president of the pontifical council for Christian unity, Swiss archbishop Kurt Koch. While for the Eastern Churches, there was the metropolitan of Pergamon Joannis Zizioulas, a great ecumenist and trusted theologian of the patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, as well as an old friend of Joseph Ratzinger as theologian and pope (see photo Rupprecht/Kathbild).

For rest of story, see Chiesa Esspresso