Ecumenical allies? Orthodox, Catholics take aim at European secularism

[lemonbeam]

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – For years, the Vatican has suggested that a promising area of ecumenical cooperation was a joint struggle by Christian churches against the moral and social challenges posed by a predominantly secular society.

Now the Russian Orthodox Church has come forward to propose a strategic alliance with the Catholic Church aimed, in effect, at saving Europe’s soul from “Western post-Christian humanism.”

The offer came in an introduction written by Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion to a book of speeches by Pope Benedict XVI on Europe’s spiritual crisis, published in Russian by the Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate. In an unusual move, the Vatican newspaper published almost the entire introduction in its Dec. 2 edition.

Archbishop Hilarion, who is president of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, took a combative tone in his text. He denounced the “militant secularism” adopted by an increasingly united Europe, warned that religion was being closed off in the “ghetto” of private devotion, and urged Christians to confront their governments on issues like abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage – even to the point of civil disobedience.

Read more: catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0905462.htm