Fr. Ron Roberson, who is quoted below, will be one of the speakers at the Light of the East Conference on Feb. 5, 2011 at St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine, CA, co-sponsored by St. Paul’s and SSJC-WR.
Documents offer steps toward unity between Catholic, Orthodox churches
Monday, October 11, 2010
By Dennis Sadowski, Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Catholic and Orthodox church representatives have offered their vision of what the unity of both churches might look like in two statements approved during a recent meeting at Georgetown University.
Developed by the 24 members of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation during a three-day meeting in Washington that ended Oct. 2, the statements acknowledge common beliefs and history.
Released Oct. 7, the statements also identified areas where the churches diverge in leadership and other practices that must be reconciled before the nearly 1,000-year separation between the churches can end.
One statement addresses issues of disagreement such as the role of the pope and how leadership on behalf of the church by the bishop of Rome can be carried out. The second statement discusses the importance of developing a specific set of criteria for determining the date of Easter so that both churches can proclaim the resurrection of Christ to the world with a unified voice.
Paulist Father Ronald Roberson, associate director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and a consultation member called the statements “unprecedented.” The full article can be found on the US Catholic website.
Additional details on this meeting and link to text of the official document can be found on the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops (SCOBA) website.