Catholic-Orthodox dialogue drafting document on steps to unity

[Habesha]

The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation, chaired by Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans and Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh, continued to work on a statement on the steps towards unity during its recent June 1-3 meeting in Massachusetts. The statement, entitled “Steps Towards a United Church: A Sketch of an Orthodox-Catholic Vision for the Future,” will briefly outline “the history of divergences between Catholics and Orthodox, especially with regard to the role of the Bishop of Rome in the Church, according to a press release issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas. It will also outline “all that the two churches share and notes that overcoming differences has become a matter of urgency. The text also reflects on what a reunited Catholic and Orthodox Church might would look like, the ecclesial structures needed to facilitate such unity, and the questions that remain to be answered if such a reconciliation is to take place.”

Last year, the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation abandoned the diplomatic language typical of ecumenical pronouncements and issued a candid critique of the 2007 “Ravenna document,” a modest milestone in Catholic-Orthodox ecumenical relations.

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[Scoobyshme]

I heard a talk once by an Orthodox priest about the efforts at reunification of the Orthodox and Catholic churches. He said they were making good headway with regard to theology, but the harder part would be on the cultural/emotional side for the Orthodox. I think he may be right. We allow Orthodox to receive Communion, if they wanted to come, in the Catholic Church, but I believe we are restricted from receiving it in the Orthodox Church (not by the Catholic Church, but by the Orthodox Church).

It should be interesting to see if we can reunify. Maybe that’s the first step in getting Protestant Christianity to come back, too, although they’re so splintered it might take some sort of miracle by God to get them to abandon their ways.

 

[didymus]

Hate to expose my ignorance but who on the Orthodox side has the authority to make an agreement for their side?

From what little I’ve read of their history (and even recent news) it is replete with Bishops excommunicating each other, synods switching allegiance from one Patriarch to another, etc.
So if large numbers of Orthodox don’t like the terms of the new agreement on theological/liturgical/cultural grounds won’t large numbers just find Bishops who are true to their beliefs?

 

[WetCatechumen]

Hate to expose my ignorance but who on the Orthodox side has the authority to make an agreement for their side?

From what little I’ve read of their history (and even recent news) it is replete with Bishops excommunicating each other, synods switching allegiance from one Patriarch to another, etc.
So if large numbers of Orthodox don’t like the terms of the new agreement on theological/liturgical/cultural grounds won’t large numbers just find Bishops who are true to their beliefs?

Absolutely right. Look what happened when the Antiochian Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church re-entered full communion - Constantinople appointed their own Antiochian Patriarch, and now we have the Melkite Greek Catholic Church and the Antiochian Greek Orthodox Church - split almost equally in half.

There are way too many Orthodox who anti-union. It would be like making the Eastern Catholic churches all over again. Some would commune with Rome; some wouldn’t.