Letters

Finding true unity

Didymus Astle

Contents - Jul 2013 - Buy a copy now Homily: Saints John Fisher and Thomas More: from Pope Pius XI's canonisation homily Cardinal Pell's candid responses to Victorian Parliament grilling - Peter Westmore News: The Church Around the World Youth: Melbourne's young adult ministry continues its revival - Br Barry Coldrey Paul VI: Humanae Vitae: still prophetic after 45 years - Anne Lastman Cardinal Ouellet's Australian lecture: rediscover human nature - Owen Vyner Social media: Catholic activism and the AussieMite affair - Damian Wyld Formation: Future priests learn about the RCIA process - Rev Dr Elio Capra SDB Obituary: Vale Fr Paul Duffy SJ (1931-2013) - Anna Krohn Human dignity: Defence of marriage must be linked to defence of parenthood - Denise Hunnell Musicae Sacrae: The essential role of music in the Mass - Ronan Reilly Parody?: Anti-Catholic hate speech, Aussie Style (Move on, nothing to see here) - R.J. Stove Letters: Vision of Heaven? - Peter Harris Letters: Mr Hyde's lesson - John Ballantyne Letters: Healthy families vital - Brendan Keogh Letters: Finding true unity - Didymus Astle Letters: Matter of conscience - Arnold Jago Letters: Marriage simply is ... - Brian A. Coman Letters: Guilt-free sin - Paul Voskulen Letters: Offensive advert - Helen F. Daniel Letters: Contact your candidates - Gerard Calilhanna Letters: Christian civil rights - Name and Address Supplied Books: SAINTS WHO RAISED THE DEAD: True Stories of Four Hundred Resurrection Miracles - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: ST JOSEMARIA ESCRIVA AND THE ORIGINS OF OPUS DEI - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: Benedict XVI: Sts Peter and Paul, two pillars of the Church

As a Protestant convert to the Coptic Orthodox Church who has had the blessing of meeting HE Metropolitan Hilarion, the Canadian First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, I feel as though the bishop was misrepresented ("Church Around the World," May AD2000).

In the discussion I had with Metropolitan Hilarion, I found him to be most supportive of movements aimed at reuniting the Church. However it seemed to me as though he sought a genuine unity which would have a lasting effect. He seemed to think that Eastern Catholics were 'jumping the gun,' so to speak – resulting in ordinary villagers being divided between those ready to unite and those who are not.

So when the bishop said, "If the pope will support the union ... it will bring no good", my impression is that he means the possibility of Pope Francis encouraging individual Christians to transfer from an Orthodox jurisdiction to a Catholic jurisdiction (or what many lay Orthodox refer to as 'poaching'). Such a process would have the effect of entrenching in the minds of lay Orthodox that Rome is not interested in a genuine unity of Christian witness, but simply wants to 'steal the sheep to their own fold'.

The Orthodox find dialogue about unity a painful topic because of the division of families within villages and the resulting tension it creates. From an Orthodox perspective, genuine unity would be more easily achieved were the clergy of both Catholic and Orthodox Churches to co-operate on a local level in programs designed to benefit the community, e.g., feeding the poor, supporting widows, building orphanages, supplying adoption services so as to decrease the horrifying abortion rates in Eastern Europe, etc.

Regarding suspicion towards Jesuits, common among many Orthodox Christians, this has resulted from a prolonged process of cultural misunderstandings.

The circumstances are like twisted knots in a large ball of string. They take time to unravel because the people who created them didn't mean to make them in the first place. A long string of accidents over many years requires caution to correct lest the situation not be improved as we all hope it will be. Yours peacefully in the faith and love of Christ our Lord and Saviour.

DIDYMUS ASTLE
Brisbane, Qld

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 26 No 6 (July 2013), p. 15