wfn.org | Orthodox-Catholic relations at an impasse after Baltimore talks

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Note #6146 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

9-August-2000
00283

Orthodox-Catholic relations at an impasse after Baltimore talks

‘Bitter differences' lead to dead-end, Polish ecumenist says

by Jonathan Luxmoore
Ecumenical News International

WARSAW, Poland -- High-level talks between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox
churches which ended in the United States recently were marred by
"methodological deficiencies" and a "polemical atmosphere," leaving
relations between the two Christian communions at a dead-end, according to
an expert on ecumenism who took part.
	Professor Waclaw Hryniewicz, a Catholic theologian and director of the
Ecumenical Institute at Poland's Catholic University of Lublin, said that
the leaders of Catholic and Orthodox churches now appeared "unwilling or
hesitant" to recognize their churches as "sister churches." Future
ecumenical dialogue would depend on better relations at the local level,
particularly in Eastern Europe.
	"I'm disappointed -- I was expecting a healthy compromise worthy of the
name," Hryniewicz told ENI. "This meeting was not in vain. But when there's
a conflict between two (partners acting in good faith), you have to reach a
compromise. The fact that we couldn't explains why there was no joint
declaration."
	The 64-year-old ecumenist was speaking to ENI after attending the eighth
plenary of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue
between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which ended on
July 19 in Baltimore without producing the expected joint declaration on
progress between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches.
	The two communions have much in common, but must resolve several bitter
differences, including the issue of papal primacy, before they can come any
closer to one another.
	Hryniewicz said Roman Catholic negotiators had wanted to retain the term
"sister churches" to describe the relationship between the Roman Catholic
and Orthodox churches. However, the use of the term sister churches in past
documents of the commission had been rejected as "insufficiently thought
over" by most Orthodox churches, while Roman Catholics had also now
acknowledged that it "posed certain difficulties."
	The commission's 10-day meeting was devoted to a key issue of dispute
between Orthodox and Catholics -- the "ecclesiological and canonical
implications of Uniatism." The gathering was the commission's first plenary
session in seven years.
	A communique released at the end of the Baltimore meeting stated that
participants had expressed "reserve and even outright opposition" to
documents prepared for the meeting. Participants at the meeting agreed that
further studies were needed of "theological, pastoral, historical and
canonical issues" arising from the "exceptionally thorny question of
Uniatism."
	Uniatism refers to the historical process by which Orthodox communities
accepted the jurisdiction of Rome, but retained their eastern liturgy. The
process, which gathered momentum after the 1596 Union of Brest, continued
for two centuries, during which more than a dozen Greek Catholic (also
called Eastern Catholic) churches were created in Ukraine, Romania and other
countries, in the face of vigorous opposition from the Orthodox Church.
	Hryniewicz told ENI that the atmosphere at the Baltimore talks had been
"generally tense" because of the complexity of the issues and some personal
animosities. He added that Orthodox delegates had had to "argue hard among
themselves, sometimes exceeding the rules of courtesy." The Roman Catholic
co-chairman of the talks, Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, had at one point staged a
walkout.
	"Besides difficult moments like this, caused by the very polemical
atmosphere, the talks also lacked sound methodological organization,"
Hryniewicz said. "Such discussions should be led in an intelligent, orderly
way. If the method had been better, we could have expected better results."
	He said that Uniatism continued to provoke "deep divisions" among Orthodox
churches, adding that some Orthodox participants had had difficulty
"tolerating" the presence of a Romanian Greek Catholic bishop at the talks.
	Some Greek Catholics had recently shown "definite signs" of a more
conciliatory attitude towards Orthodoxy, although Orthodox leaders were
still reluctant to acknowledge the past sufferings of the Greek Catholic
churches, said Professor Hryniewicz. "These are historical complexities
which require a neutral, objective approach. The Orthodox expect a deeper
understanding from Catholics, but this must apply to both sides. No one
knows how long it will take to achieve agreement. But an honest, sincere and
patient dialogue is the only way to go about it."
	Disputes over the revival of Greek Catholic communities in Eastern Europe,
most of which were suppressed under communist rule, have dominated the
official relationship between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches over
the past decade.
	At a press conference on July 19, Cardinal Cassidy said that Uniatism had
become the "real core" of Catholic-Orthodox dialogue, but it was too
"complicated and involved" to allow an "easy solution."
	The commission's Orthodox co-chairman, Archbishop Stylianos of Australia,
said he believed the issue was connected with the primacy and infallibility
of the Pope, both of which were unacceptable in their present form to the
Orthodox.
	In his interview with ENI, Hryniewicz said that points of agreement that
seemed acceptable to Roman Catholic theologians were often deemed
unacceptable by those "representing the Catholic Church officially." He said
further ecumenical progress would depend on "local improvements" in
Catholic-Orthodox ties in Eastern Europe. A decision to establish a joint
inter-church commission in Ukraine, taken during a recent visit by Cardinal
Cassidy to Moscow, was a "very encouraging sign."
	"If acts of proselytism cease, and good, local relationships emerge, this
would enormously contribute to improving the general situation," Hryniewicz
told ENI. "The commission members must now report back to their churches,
who will try to offer solutions capable of ensuring the dialogue's peaceful
continuation. The future depends on both sides -- although we seem to have
reached a dead-end, the situation isn't yet entirely desperate."
	Hryniewicz, who also holds the Catholic University's chair in Orthodox
theology, was one of three Polish delegates at the Baltimore talks. In
interview with ENI in April this year, he
provoked international controversy by calling on Greek Catholics to
rediscover their eastern traditions and to open a "sincere dialogue" with
Orthodoxy.
	A Polish Orthodox delegate to the talks, Archbishop Jeremiasz of
Wroclaw-Szczecin, said he recognized that the "ecclesiological status" of
Greek Catholic churches affected "key elements" of Roman Catholic teaching.
But he also agreed that the Baltimore talks had been marred by a lack of
"organizational care." Archbishop Jeremiasz said that the term "sister
churches" had been used "over enthusiastically." But he did not believe
either side had rejected it.
	"I don't think the talks were a failure -- only that they marked a very
difficult phase, in which official views appear to have triumphed," the
56-year-old archbishop told ENI. "Some
participants have begun to harden their positions self-defensively, while
external non-church factors have also exerted too much influence. But, given
sufficient will and theological freedom, as well as improved procedures, the
dialogue should continue."

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