The Two-Lung Approach

[SanRafael1102]

I have not found the quotation yet, but I remember reading that Pope St. JPII referred to the Eastern and Western Church (beyond just Eastern and Latin Catholics, but the Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholics as juxtaposed to the Orthodox Church) as the left and right lungs of the Church. This is an interesting view, and maybe I’m over-extrapolating what JPII said, but it really spoke to me.

If I see the general consensus correctly, then most Catholics believe themselves to be the true Church with the Orthodox as a schismatic group. The Orthodox believe vice-versa. Why am I wrong (as a devout Latin-rite Roman Catholic) in (instead) saying that we’re both the true Church just split from each other? I believe that Christ built a mighty fine ship, and it split, both pieces of the ship still exist (the gates of Hell hath not prevailed), but we’re just desperately in-fighting. I believe that both Churches are missing something that they can only find in the other. The Church requires the Pope, but it also desires that the two pieces be mended back together. What if we’re both the true Church in a sense? Is that just way out in left field?

Thoughts?

~Pax

 

[2towers]

I mentioned the two lung idea on an Orthodox youtube thread and got called a heretic. I don’t agree with some of the Orthodox ideas, but I do believe their sacraments are valid. I think they have a lot to offer, [but it seems very ethnic] but I am happy Roman Catholic.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’ve never seen them as schismatic in the same sense as the Protestants as they seem to have kept the basic Catholic beliefs and sacraments and as the person above stated, this seems to be more of an ethnic or geographical split. If I had a different ethnic heritage, maybe I’d be Orthodox. I much prefer being an RC though. I like the Pope, the Sacred Heart, and statues, among other things.

 

[hymin]

There is tremendous goodness in the Orthodox Church. I am always encouraged when I hear that the great schism is healing.

 

[Catholicos]

I mentioned the two lung idea on an Orthodox youtube thread and got called a heretic. I don’t agree with some of the Orthodox ideas, but I do believe their sacraments are valid. I think they have a lot to offer, [but it seems very ethnic] but I am happy Roman Catholic.

Similar experience, we had a discussion on Google and it lasted about a year. I have a lot of respect for the Orthodox Church , but the militant factions there declared all out war on me. I was surprised at how much resentment and prideful they were, the attacks were even worse than any I’ve had from protestants.

It still went ok, when the tempers finally settled down and we got into the discussion of Church history , many of the radical Orthos got shutdown. I ended becoming friends with an Orthodox Christian who was a monk at a monastery in Serbia. I got to learn a few things.

I’m very pleased with how Pope Francis brought world attention to the plight of the Eastern Christians in Iraq and Syria. Even if the majority of these Christians are Orthodox, I generally feel a solidarity in their suffering. It really made me realize how unifying the Papacy was. All the Rites of our Church with the Holy father speaking with one voice. A true unity amid a real horrific crisis.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like the Catholics and Western Church is far more willing to heal the Schsm than the Eastern Church. It would be nice if the feeling was mutual.

 

[Mary_Ellen]

Getting back to the source document, Pope St. John Paul II wrote in UT UNUM SINT, May 25, 1995

(54)…In this perspective an expression which I have frequently employed finds its deepest meaning: the Church must breathe with her two lungs! In the first millennium of the history of Christianity, this expression refers primarily to the relationship between Byzantium and Rome…