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SCOBA
The Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas
8 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10021

PRESS RELEASE
November 4, 2003

The Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops met for the twentieth
time from October 7 to 9, 2003.  The meeting took place at the Center for
Continuing Formation at St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore,
Maryland, and was hosted by the Baltimore Archdiocese.	The Committee is
co-chaired by Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb of Mobile and Bishop Seraphim of
Ottawa and Canada, who was serving in that capacity for the first time.
Archbishop Nicolae of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America and
Canada was welcomed as a new member of the Committee.

The main theme of discussion was the relationship of the Orthodox and
Catholic churches with Islam.  From a Catholic perspective, Dr. John
Borelli, Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and
Interreligious Affairs of the USCCB, gave a presentation on the work of
various Catholic dialogues with Islam both at the national and
international levels.  This was followed by a talk by Archimandrite Daniel
Byantoro, the founder of the Orthodox Church in Indonesia, who spoke on
issues involved in Orthodox relations with Islam.  In a later session, Imam
Mohamad Bashar Arafat spoke to the bishops about Islam and its relations
with Christianity, and about his work as founder and director of the
Civilizations Exchange and Cooperation Foundation in Baltimore.

The bishops also considered two other themes during the meeting.  On
Tuesday evening October 7, presentations were made on Youth Ministry by
Rev. Mark A. Leondis, Director of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese's Office
of Youth & Young Adult Ministries, and by Rev. Brett Hoover, CSP, Director
of Paulist Young Adult Ministries in New York.	The relationship between
bishops and priests was the topic of discussion on Thursday morning October
9.  Papers on this theme were presented by Bishop Dale Melczek of Gary and
by Metropolitan Nicholas of Amissos.

The customary exchange of information about major events in the lives of
the two churches also took place.  These included the visit of Romanian
Patriarch Teoctist to Rome and Orthodox-Greek Catholic relations in
Romania; the new Charter for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and new titles
for metropolitans; developments in SCOBA; the situation of the Serbian
Orthodox Church and the visit of a Serbian Orthodox delegation to the
Vatican in February 2003; Relations between the Vatican and the Moscow
Patriarchate and establishment of Catholic dioceses in Kazakhstan; the
Orthodox Church in Ukraine, its relations with Ukrainian Greek Catholic
Church, and developments in the USA; the presence of a Vatican delegation
in Athens in February 2003; developments in the International
Orthodox-Catholic dialogue; the "Christian Churches Together in the USA"
initiative; the papal encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, April 2003; an
update on the work of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological
Consultation; the symposium on Petrine Ministry that was held in the
Vatican in May 2003; the presence of a delegation from the Ecumenical
Patriarchate to the Vatican in June 2003 that was led by Archbishop
Demetrios of America; and statements by our churches on same-sex marriages.

On Wednesday evening Cardinal Keeler presided over a Vespers service in the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, after which he invited the bishops to dinner in his residence.

The next meeting of the Joint Committee is scheduled to take place October
5-7, 2004, at the headquarters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
in South Bound Brook, New Jersey.

The Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops was established in
1981.  It has issued agreed statements on Ordination (October 1, 1988), A
Pastoral Statement on Orthodox/Roman Catholic Marriages (October 5, 1990),
a Statement of support for the historical Christianity in Eastern Europe
and former Soviet Union (September 19, 1991), a Communiqui on Eastern
Europe (October 2, 1992), and a Statement on the Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue
at the Dawn of a New Millennium (October 4, 2000).  All these texts are now
available on the USCCB website at:  http://www.usccb.org/seia/dialogues.htm
.

The Catholic members of the Committee currently include Archbishop Oscar H.
Lipscomb of Mobile (Co-Chairman), William Cardinal Keeler, Archbishop of
Baltimore, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, Bishop Tod D. Brown
of Orange, Bishop Robert Mulvee of Providence, Bishop Dale Melczek of Gary,
Bishop Nicholas Samra, Auxiliary of the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of
Newton, and Rev. Ronald G. Roberson, CSP (staff).

The Orthodox members are Bishop Seraphim of Ottawa and Canada (Co-Chairman,
Orthodox Church in America), Archbishop Peter of New York (Orthodox Church
in America), Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of
the USA), Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese),
Metropolitan Christopher (Serbian Orthodox Church), Metropolitan Nicholas
of Amissos (Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese), Archbishop Nicolae
(Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America and Canada), and Bishop Dimitrios
of Xanthos (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, staff).

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