Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy
June 5, 2001
A New Millennium
The passage from the Second to the Third Christian Millennium has been a time of special reflection for Christians throughout the world. We have looked back at a millennium of division and religious conflict, and we have sought to respond to our mission to be ambassadors of reconciliation in the world, by seeking as Christians to be reconciled one to the other.
These efforts have not been without some significant success, as was evident during the celebration of the Jubilee Year and the recent visit to Damascus of His Holiness Pope John Paul II.
But we have also directed our reflection to the future and to the great challenges that Christianity has to face in this new millennium. You have chosen for your study this year: The future of Mission and Pastoral Care in the Third Millennium - Content, Problems, Tools. Just two weeks ago, Pope John Paul II called together in Rome all the members of the College of Cardinals of the Catholic Church to discuss with him the task of evangelization in the new millennium.
In his own reflection on the Jubilee Year and its celebration, Pope John Paul II published an Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte (At the Beginning of the New Millennium), in which he called upon the members of his Church to go forward with courage, placing their hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. With reference to the words of Jesus to his disciples, " Duc in altum (Luke 5:4), His Holiness urges all those who follow Christ to "launch out into the deep" in order to respond to such challenges.
In this address, I take up these themes and seek to reflect with you here in the St. John of Damascene Institute of Theology of the University of Balamand on what I see as the great challenges to Evangelization in the new millennium, and on the ecumenical responses to these challenges.
Elements of a new Culture
The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ is addressed to the world. The final instructions given by Jesus to his disciples were: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time" (Matthew 28:18-20).
What do we find when today we go out to all the nations? The Gospel has to enter into, become part of and transform the culture of the peoples to whom it is proclaimed. It does not need too much thought for us to realize that the culture of the new millennium is distinct from that of the millennium that has just been left behind. Herein lies our greatest challenge as evangelizers.
There is no doubt but that the twenty-first century presents all Christian Churches with a common challenge. We live in a world in which democracy and pluralism are becoming constantly more widely shared as fundamental values in society. I do not believe any of us here would wish to change that. I certainly would not propose to do so. And yet we are experiencing in this a new challenge: how do we bring the gospel to this new society with authority. Jesus taught with authority and many were attracted to him for that very reason: "his teaching made a deep impression on the people, because he taught them with authority" (Matthew, 7:28). His Church must also teach with authority. Very often today, however, those who hear the Church's teaching have little respect for authority. Each one has his or her own opinion, based on a multitude of sources - television, other media, what every one else thinks, etc. - or simply on their own feelings about what is right or wrong, which frequently take little account of even the basic principles of logic.
This does not mean of course that we should not teach with authority. The opposite would seem to be the case. But it means, unless I am mistaken, that we must accompany our teaching with a way of life and a manner of expression that allows us to enter the mind through the heart. We have to be seen as living what we preach.
Then again, and perhaps for the first time in the history of evangelization, we are confronted on a wide scale with a multitude of persons who do not feel any need of salvation. Many do not believe that there is a God or that there is life after death. Some of those who listened to St. Paul when he spoke before the Council of the Areopagus, in Athens, "burst out laughing" when he spoke of "rising from the dead" (Acts 17:22). Others, however, said, "we would like to hear you talk about this again". How do we speak to the world about a Saviour, when so many lack any understanding of their need of salvation, who "burst out laughing" when we speak of a life after death?
Even among those who believe in God and look forward to life after death, many have lost the sense of sin. As I have said already, in modem society people tend to form their own opinion according to what the others think and do. If the law permits an act, they see that act as being morally sound. Unfortunately, in many places, what the law permits and what the general opinion favours is often contrary to the divine law and the teaching of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We sometimes look back in disgust at the moral situation in the Roman Empire before its fall. Is our modem culture much different from that of the late Roman Empire? Have we not erected idols of our own: our sport and pop stars, pleasure and material goods? Are there any limits to sexual behaviour? Is life any longer sacred? What has become of the innate dignity of every human being, formed in the likeness of the Creator?
Christian Churches and Communions also face another common challenge in the form of widespread indifference to their message or to their search for unity. In many places, the Christian Churches and their faithful enjoy every freedom. They are not persecuted or even challenged. Rather, they are simply ignored! More and more, we are becoming a minority in a world that is bent on finding its pleasure and ultimate goal in the material world. Secularization is undoubtedly the dominant culture, strongly supported by relativism and a constant attack on family life and values.
How the devil must smile as he sees the seeds of evil that he has sown in the hearts of man produce such abundant fruit!
Globalisation
There is one other challenge that is very new and demands our common attention as Orthodox and Catholic Churches. I refer to the phenomenon of globalization in the economic field. In recent years Northern America and Europe have developed this form of economic life and the Churches have to take it very seriously.
On April 27th, 2001, Pope John Paul II received the participants in a Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, dedicated to the study of Globalization with special reference to its ethical implications. He recalled that, since the fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, the market economy seems to have practically conquered the whole world. He referred to this phenomenon as a "kind of victory of the market and its logic", while stressing that for many, especially the marginalized, it is seen as "an imposition".
His Holiness went on to point out that in itself globalization is neither good nor bad. "It becomes that which in any place it is made to become. No system is an end in itself, and it is necessary to insist on the fact that globalization like any other system must be at the service of the human person, serve solidarity and the common good." For Pope John Paul II, the ethical discernment of the value of globalization is based on two inseparable principles: first, the inalienable value of the human person, which must always be the end and not the means, a subject and not an object or a good of exchange. Secondly, the value of human cultures. " It must not be a kind of new colonialism, said the Holy Father, but respect the different cultures" (L'Osservatore Romano, 28 aprile 2001).
The question of ethics and globalization has been a topic that has had a frequent mention in Papal speeches over the past few months. In an address on May 18th , 2001, to a meeting sponsored by the Foundation "Etica ed Economia", of Bassano del Grappa in Italy, Pope John Paul II spoke at length on globalization, pointing out that while globalization undoubtedly offers great possibilities for growth and the production of wealth, it cannot of itself ensure the just distribution of the benefits of this development to the citizens of the world, and particularly to those most in need. The Holy Father continued:
The doctrine of the Church teaches that economic growth has to be integrated with other values, so as to become a "crescita qualitative" (qualitative growth): that is fair, stable, respectful of cultural and social identities, as well as being economically sustainable. It cannot be separated from investment in persons, in the creative and innovative capacity of the individual, which form the basic resource of any society" (L'Osservatore Romano, 18 May 200 1, p. 4).
This is a question that obviously has to be of common concern, to Oriental Christianity perhaps even more than it is to Pope John Paul II and the Catholic Church in Europe.
Ecumenical responses
There are many reasons why Orthodox and Catholic Churches have to come closer together and seek to restore the unity that was lost in the second Christian Millennium. The first and most pressing is of course the will of the founder of the Church, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who prayed to the Father for his disciples: "Father, may they all be one in us, as you are in me, and I am in you, so that the world may believe that it was you who sent me" (John 17:21). We are sent to the world, "so that the world may believe" that the Father sent the Son to become man, so that all men might be saved. We are Ambassadors of Christ facing a world that does not believe. Surely, then we must do all we can to overcome the difficulties of the past and face together the challenges of the present. We simply cannot afford to go it alone, as it were, in the present circumstances.
In these past eleven years of personal involvement in ecumenical relations, and especially in relations between the Orthodox East and the Christian West, I have come to appreciate deeply just how much we have in common. During the liturgies, at times of prayer and in inter-personal relations it has often been difficult for me to realize that we are not in full communion one with the other.
Yet, when it came to theological discussion and to debates that sought to examine the differences, I felt the drama of those who are near, even very near, to each other, but do everything to remain apart.
This dichotomy - which is I believe is particularly evident at the local level between Orthodox and Catholics - challenges us at the beginning of this new millennium to look beyond our well-defined borders to a world that is increasingly secularized and indifferent to our preaching. We need urgently to heed St. Paul's admonition to the Romans: "Do not model yourselves on the behaviour of the world around you, but let your behaviour change, modeled by your new mind. This is the only way to discover the will of God and know what is good, what it is that the Lord wants, what is the perfect thing to do" (Romans 12:2).
The closing years of the twentieth century saw the churches of both the East and the West deeply committed to the ecumenical movement. A radical change did take place. Christians began again to see themselves as brothers and sisters in Christ. But then they held back from moving more rapidly along the ecumenical way, which Pope John Paul II has described as the way of the Church." (JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Ut unum sint on Commitment to Ecumenism, # 7). We do not see at this time hope of a real break-through in the search for this "noble goal" (Ibidem, # 36) in the near future. Significant progress has been made, but old problems remain open and new obstacles have come to make the way more difficult.
Dialogue between Oriental Christianity and Rome
When the Church of Rome took up the question of Christian Unity in the Second Vatican Council, and cast a glance over the various Christian Churches and Communions from which it was separated, it was at once evident that for the Catholic Church dialogue with Orthodox Christianity would have a prominent place in its search for unity. The Council did not hesitate to affirm:
Although these Churches are separated from us, they possess true sacraments, above all - by apostolic succession - the priesthood and the Eucharist, whereby they are still joined to us in a very close relationship. [... ] All should realise that it is of supreme importance to understand, venerate, preserve, and foster the exceedingly rich liturgical heritage of the Eastern Churches, in order faithfully to preserve the fullness of Christian tradition, and to bring about reconciliation between Eastern and Western Christians. (SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio, # 1 5)
Unlike the relationship with some other Churches, that between Rome and the East is troubled less by matters of dogma and more by questions of history. The long period of separation and alienation had resulted in the development of differences of rite, culture, discipline and language, often considered in the course of history - and at times even today - as differences of faith. Separate political developments, the Crusades, and for a large part of Oriental Orthodoxy the subjection to the Islamic conquests have also all left their heritage (Cf. Fabrizo Fabbrini, A rebours, dal sec. XV al sec. IV.... in Purificazione della Memoria - Convegno Storico, Arezzo, 4, 11, 18 March 2000, ed. dell'Istituto di Scienze Religiose, Arezzo, pp. 186-265). I believe that, despite all this, both the Catholic Church and Orthodoxy have maintained a longing for unity, for reconciliation with the lost brother, but as you well know all attempts at restoring unity during the second Christian millennium failed to achieve their goal.
Since the Second Vatican Council
The challenge offered to the East by the Second Vatican Council did not remain without an answer. Indeed, what more eloquent answer could there have been than that of Pope Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras when they embraced in Jerusalem on January 5th 1964. The old anathemas were confined to oblivion at the close of the Council and a new Dialogue of love between East and West was underway. The expression "Sister Churches" was introduced into the dialogue and new stress given to the importance of the common baptism that catholics and orthodox share. Speaking in the Cathedral of Saint Vladimir, in Kiev, at the conclusion of the solemn liturgy for the Millennium of the Baptism of the Rus', Cardinal Johannes Willebrands referred to:
the one washing that definitively regenerates man, since these waters, by the grace of God, give the Holy Spirit to the spirit of man, and clothe man once again with the eternal and youthful image of Christ, freeing him from his decadence (JOHANNES CARDINAL WILLEBRANDS, Kiev 15 June 1988. The Cardinal quotes Euntes in mundum, #2).
He went on the state that "in Christ, the mystery of evil can still wound, but has no power to cancel the new image"(Ibidem).
The past three years have seen some deeply symbolic expressions of this reality. I would recall in particular the visits which Pope John Paul II has made to the Orthodox Churches in Rumania (May 1999) and in Georgia (November 1999), and the meetings between the Bishop of Rome and the leaders of the Orthodox Churches in Jerusalem (March 2000), in Athens and in Damascus (May 200 1).
The meeting of Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece was, in my opinion of special significance. So too were the words that the Bishop of Rome addressed to his brother of Athens, some of which I feel I must quote.
I wish first of all to express to you the affection and regard of the Church of Rome. Together we share the apostolic faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour; we have in common the apostolic heritage and the sacramental bond of Baptism; and therefore we are all members of God's family, called to serve the one Lord and to proclaim his Gospel to the world. [... ] Certainly we are burdened by past and present controversies and by enduring misunderstandings, But in a spirit of mutual charity these can and must be overcome, for that is what the Lord asks of us. Clearly there is need of a liberating process of purification of memory. For all the occasions past and present, when sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by action or omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord grant us the forgiveness we ask of him.
His Holiness went on to mention some of the "memories that are particularly painful, and some of the events that have left deep wounds in the minds and hearts of people to this day", and continued:
How can we fail to see here the mysterium iniquitatis at work in the human heart? To God alone belongs judgement, and therefore we entrust the heavy burden of the past to his endless mercy, imploring him to heal the wounds which still cause suffering to the spirit of the Greek people. Together we must work for this healing if the Europe now emerging is to be true to its identity, which is inseparable from the Christian humanism shared by East and West.( L'Osservatore Romano, 12 maggio 200 1, Documenti, p. iii).
A few days later, Pope John Paul II addressed with great emotion Christians from the various communities in Damascus, gathered together for the occasion of his visit and declared:
We remember that it was in fact in Syria that the Church of Christ discovered her truly apostolic character and took on her universal mission. The Apostles Peter and Paul, each according to the grace received, worked here to gather together the one family of Christ, welcoming believers coming from different cultures and nations. It is with satisfaction that we witness the development of co-operation between the churches and ecclesial communities. This cannot fail to contribute to reconciliation and the pursuit of unity. May this coming together help you to bear ever more credible witness to Jesus Christ, who died and rose in order "to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad" (Jn 11:52). May this co-operation make the church of Christ more beautiful and authentic in the eyes of the followers of other religions (Ibiden, p. ix).
The Dialogue of Truth
The restoration of unity is at once a work of love and a search for the common understanding of the truth revealed by God through Jesus Christ (Cf. Ut unum sint # 36) It is not a political compromise or a denial of diversity. It is a unity that is desired, not uniformity; one Church having a common faith, but lived out in a variety of liturgical, cultural and linguistic expressions. The new relationship that was established between Oriental Orthodoxy and the Church of Rome in the years following the Second Vatican Council demanded of both Churches to enter into a theological dialogue. On the visit which Pope John Paul II made to the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I almost immediately after his election as Bishop of Rome, agreement was reached on the establishment of a Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. The Commission met for the first time in 1980 on the island of Patmos to begin its work with prayer in the place where St. John the Apostle had written the book of Revelation. A new era was about to begin in relations between East and West.
The Commission has often been criticized for not beginning its work at once with the principal and fundamental reason for the separation of the Churches, namely the primacy of the Bishop of Rome. Wisely instead, the Plan for the Future Dialogue called for the Commission to set out by seeking better to understand what Orthodox and Catholics had in common, and by studying what made up their patrimony of faith. The ultimate goal was to arrive at the concelebration of the one Eucharist of the Lord.
The years between 1980 and 1990 were not without their difficulties for the Commission, but the theological dialogue between Catholic and Orthodox representatives was able to progress and to offer a well-founded new hope for the future of Christianity in Europe. Three documents were produced and agreed to that confirmed the common heritage of faith of the two partners in a number of fields. ("The Mystery of the Church and of the Eucharist in the light of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity" (Munich, 1982); "Faith, Sacraments and the Unity of the Church" (Bari, 1987); "The Sacrament of Orders in the sacramental structure of the Church, in particular the importance of the Apostolic Succession for the sanctification and the unity of the people of God" (Valamo, 1988). During his recent visit to Damascus, Pope John Paul II expressed his gratitude to His Beatitude, Patriarch Ignatius IV "for the positive and effective contribution which the Patriarchate of Antioch and its representatives have constantly made to this process of theological dialogue" (L'Osservatore Romano 12 May 2001, Documenti p.5.) I would wish to add my own special tribute to that of His Holiness the Pope, having experienced personally the precious contribution to the dialogue which has been made over the years by the delegates of the Patriarchate of Antioch. I think particularly in this connection of His Eminence Georges Khodr, Metropolitan of Mount Lebanon, whose presence was sadly missed in Baltimore-Emmitsburg in July of last year.
New difficulties
By 1990, the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue had given new hope and inspiration to all Christians engaged in the task of restoring unity among the disciples of the one Lord Jesus Christ. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and newly-gained freedom of the Churches in Eastern Europe, it seemed clear that the first steps towards reconciliation between Christian East and West would now be consolidated and progress along the ecumenical way be more rapid. Unfortunately, this has not been the case.
This new reality became apparent already in 1990, at Freising in Germany, precisely where the first agreed document of the dialogue had been signed. The re-birth of the Catholic Churches of Eastern Rite in the Ukraine and in Rumania with the fall of Communism created great tension between the Orthodox world and the Catholic Church. For the Orthodox Churches of the East, it seemed that the walls had fallen, not so much to allow them freedom to move outside their frontiers as to permit others to come in and threaten their unique role in the Nations of the East.
The dialogue was strong enough to hold despite the crisis, and attention was given to a question that had worried the Orthodox members of the dialogue from the opening session, namely the very canonical existence of Churches of Eastern Rite united to Rome but separated from their mother Church.
Here at Balamand, in 1993, the dialogue was able to move some distance along the way to resolving the conflicts that had arisen, and to establish common principles designed to ease the tension. The Catholic members felt that with the Balamand document: Uniatism, Method of Union of the Past, and the present search for full communion, they had gone as far as the Catholic Church could go without first returning to the theological dialogue in order to study the question of the primacy of the
Pope, and to seek a common understanding of the relationship between the Universal and Particular (local) Churches. Several of the Orthodox Churches, however, were not at all satisfied with Balamand and insisted on further dialogue on the question of so-called Uniatism.
The way forward seemed clearly blocked and in fact the Commission did not meet again until July 2000, when it sought without success to respond to the desire of the Orthodox Churches. The meeting in Baltimore Emmitsburg was for all of its participants a time of deep fellowship, joyful prayer and renewed appreciation of all that we have in common. Yet. we had to admit sadly that we had reached an impasse in our dialogue and could only refer back to our Churches for guidance as to how we might be able to proceed.
This was not an end to the dialogue, but a realisation that we had entered a way to which the exit was locked. The Orthodox delegates expressed their understanding that there cannot be two canonical Churches having the same rite, the same tradition, and the same discipline. If one is canonical, the other is not. Hence for the Catholic Church to consider the Eastern Catholic Churches canonical Churches within its communion is, for the Orthodox, a denial of their canonicity, despite the statements of the Catholic Church to the contrary. For the Catholic Church, the Oriental Catholic Churches are considered part of the Church, in communion with, and equal in dignity with the Particular Churches of Latin Rite. The key to open the way forward would thus seem to be a common understanding of the role of the Bishop of Rome in the Universal Church.
This is the present situation. There is, I believe, on both sides, a desire to break down the remaining barriers to the full, visible communion that we seek. Having reached the very heart of the problem, the question that confronts Eastern and Western Christianity is: can they find a way to come to a common understanding of the question of the petrine ministry that would allow for a common affirmation of faith without the sacrifice on either side of legitimate diversity?
The Christian community has come to appreciate the importance of eliminating from the world everything that could pose a threat to peace, be the cause of injustice, or degrade man and the environment in which it sees the work of God"( Ut unum sint, #75 ). Before the world, united action in society on the part of Christians has the clear value of a joint witness to the name of the Lord. It is also a form of proclamation, since it reveals the face of Christ." This co-operation in healing the moral and material sufferings of God's children should not be under-estimated. In fact, it remains today the most brilliant acquisition of the past sixty years of ecumenism. For many, this is medicine enough to heal the wounds of the past. It is not however what the Catholic Church set out to achieve at the Second Vatican Council, nor is what the Catholic-Orthodox dialogue had in mind at Patmos. In the words of a great theologian of our times and one of those who has contributed most to theological dialogue and greater understanding among Christians in these past sixty year, Jean M.R. Tillard, OP:
Separation cannot be healed by means of a simple "alliance" in the
service of justice and fellowship. Ecclesial unity does not consist
of a coalition of active forces against the force of Evil; church unity is communion before the living God (Jean M.R. Tillard, OP, Un nouvel age de 1'oecumenisme in LUMITRE ET VIE, Tome XXXIX, decembre 1990, #200, p.25.)
It seems clear to me, after these eleven years of experience with this dialogue, that Oriental Orthodoxy, that while maintaining its Byzantine and Slavic traditions, is being challenged in contemporary culture to resolve its specificity in terms of a greater ecumenicity. On the other hand,
Western Christianity will have to make greater efforts to understand and encourage this process in the East, by deeper appreciation of gifts that Oriental Orthodoxy has to offer and by exercising patience with a Church that has suffered so much in the past and has only recently been freed of the Communist yoke.
In the present context of contemporary society, the Latin West and the Oriental East cannot do without each other. To speak of one is to speak of the other. What each has to face is similar; what they seek is the same.
For this both will need courage. For the Catholic Church, there is the urgent need to look again at the manner in which the petrine ministry is exercised, something that Pope John Paul II has himself called for courageously. (Ut unum sint, # 96) The Orthodox Church has urgent need of a real aggiornamento by looking at itself in the light of its ecumenical commitment and of the challenge of contemporary society. Neither process will be easy, but only by honesty in the sight of God and before the world can the Churches hope to contribute to the world in the years ahead.
Hope for the future
Before concluding this address, I would like to share with you some of the thoughts which came to the fore in the recent Extraordinary Synod of the College of Cardinals. As we surveyed the present scene, we saw as priorities for "the future of Mission and Pastoral Care in the Third Millennium":
*The teaching of sound doctrine in full accord with the Gospel and the Apostolic Tradition;
* A Catechesis of the faithful that would deepen their understanding of the faith and bring them into personal contact with their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ;
*A more universal response within the Church to the call for holiness, among all the disciples of Christ who has challenged his followers to be perfect "just as your heavenly Father is perfect"(Matthew 5:48).
* A greater concentration on the Sacramental Life of the faithful, with special reference to the observance of the Dies Domini;
* Service to those in need, thus making known to the world the "face of Christ".
I am sure that your study in this academic year will have brought you to some similar conclusions. Surely, this should once again challenge us to work ever more closely together and, above all, to find ways out of the impasse into which our dialogue has led us.
Let me, in conclusion, share with you some thoughts of who can lead us out of this impasse and how this may be achieved. In asking these questions, I have very much in mind mainly two of the many important aspects of this delicate question.
Firstly, we are all aware, I am sure, of the various extra-ecclesial factors that are making life difficult for some of the Orthodox Churches. Their autocephalous status and special relation to the Nation-State greatly complicate not only their relationship with the West, but at times create serious tension within the Orthodox family itself.
And then, there is the always-present image of what is seen as the power of Rome and of the Papacy, often interpreted as triumphalistic.
These situations should not lead us to despair, but to seek new ways of living out the "almost full" communion that we already share. On several occasions, the Orthodox Churches and The Church of Rome have defined themselves as "sister Churches". Is it therefore enough that we leave to a theological Commission the task of guiding us forward in this relationship? I do not wish to take anything away from the importance of theological dialogue between our Churches. Without a common affirmation of doctrine, we will not be one. But surely the leaders of these Churches have to become involved more directly in this process, if we are to break out of the chains that now bind us.
As I have already mentioned, Pope John Paul II has called upon the members of the Roman Catholic Church to "launch out into the deep " (duc in altum!) (Luke 5,4) . Could not the Patriarchs and the Bishop of Rome, while not yet being in perfect communion, consult with each other on how to take us forward in our relationship? Could we not envisage a meeting of the Pope with the Patriarchs of the East in which serious discussions would take place between them on the future of the theological dialogue and on other matters of special concern and difficulty for our on-going search for unity?
In Damascus, in the Orthodox Cathedral of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, on May 5th last, Pope John Paul II reaffirmed "his desire that the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church may soon be able to continue its work in the most appropriate way"(L'Osservatore Romano 12 May 2001, Documenti p.vii.). He went on to stress that "the more the dialogue touches upon central questions, the more demanding it will become"(Ibidem).
We must, under the guidance of the Pope and the Patriarchs and Heads of the Orthodox Churches find a way forward in the dialogue. It surely cannot be right to stop our work and throw up our hands in despair when we encounter a barrier. Rather, we must seek together to find ways around that barrier, taking other roads and seeking to come back to a particular difficulty in the light of our further studies and insights.
More can be done also at the local level. I have come across some wonderful examples of prayerful co-operation between Orthodox and Catholic Bishops at the local level, and the Churches in the Middle East have given us inspiration and hope in the way that they have come closer together in recent years. But sadly I have to add that Catholic Bishops and other clergy elsewhere have spoken to me about the lack of any such contact or collaboration with the Orthodox clergy in their area. When Catholic and Orthodox Bishops cannot even pray together, how can we carry out the common task that is ours, as successors of the Apostles, of going out to the whole world and bringing to all peoples the good news of salvation? The task given to us by the Lord is urgent and immense, and it is ours - Orthodox and Catholic - together at this time.
Anyone who has lived the ecumenical experience, and in recent years enjoyed the fruits of the Second Vatican Council cannot rest at ease while Eastern and Western Christianity remains divided. The day must surely come when Orthodox and Catholics realize the importance and depth of their common Christian heritage and come together to bring Christ's saving message to a world that is in danger of self-destruction. Have we really any other choice?
