Source: The New Yorker By James Carroll Pope Francis will make a fate-laden journey to Ireland this weekend. On Sunday, when he addresses a throng of Catholics in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, he will recall the last papal visit to Ireland, that of John Paul II, in 1979. But another papal address of that year should also come to mind. In June of 1979, John Paul II spoke to more than a million Poles in a field outside of Krakow and set in motion events that changed history. But that was then. Nowhere is the difference between what the Polish Pope confronted and…
Browsing: Catholic Church
Source: The New York Times By making monasteries, of a sort, of our homes and hearts, we may develop the spiritual disciplines necessary to endure this seemingly endless trial. By Rod Dreher Mr. Dreher is the author of “The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation.” I have a Catholic friend who lives in an exceptionally bad diocese and who for years has been heaving rocks up mountains to keep his faith strong and his family in church. His resilience has amazed me. Yesterday, after a grand jury report revealed that bishops and other leaders of the Roman Catholic Church…
Source: US News & World Report Leaders in the Orthodox Church say the religion may need to adapt to contemporary times to remain relevant. By Sintia Radu, Staff Writer A season of religious holidays around the world moves into higher gear on Wednesday with the observance of one of the most important saints in the Orthodox Church, a person whose gift-giving legacy is partially tied to the birth of the Santa Claus legend in the U.S.and Father Christmas in the U.K. But with the arrival of St. Nicholas Day – observed on Dec. 6 in Western Christian nations but on different December days…
Source: Acton Institute by REV. BEN JOHNSON Leaders from the world’s two largest churches say that Christians in the West are facing “unprecedented” hurdles to living out their vocation according to their conscience. A statement from Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians says that as traditional Western culture – liberally influenced by Christianity – is replaced with relativistic secularism and radicalized Islam, Christians are facing new barriers to entering whole sectors of the workplace, as well as other forms of hard and soft persecution. A misunderstanding of human dignity, they say, lies at the heart of it all. “In the…
Source: St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary [SVOTS Communications / Yonkers, NY] On Monday, January 23, 2017, at 7 p.m., St. Vladimir’s Seminary will co-sponsor an “Orthodox-Catholic Prayer for Unity and Life” event at the Parish of St. John Nepomucene and St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, 411 East 66th Street, New York, NY. Other sponsors include the host parish and the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Sienna. An Orthodox Christian service, the “Akathist for the Unborn,” and a Roman Catholic service, the “Divine Mercy Chaplet,” will be held during the evening. His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon, primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA),…
Source: America – The National Catholic Review A special web round-table discussion sponsored by America Media and the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture. The current Vatican commission exploring the possibility of women deacons has raised a number of questions about their role in the church. As ordained ministers who are neither priests nor lay people, the actual role of deacons in the parishes where they minister remains unclear to many Catholics. What are deacons, and how has their role changed over history? Could women deacons revolutionize pastoral ministry and transform the church? How can the diaconate better meet the…
Source: Rome Reports The document signed in September by Orthodox and Catholics is not final,but it is an important step towards unity between the Churches. It establishes the framework for dialogue in two crucial aspects: the meaning of papal primacy, and the way of carrying out the synod; the assembly of bishops. MSGR. ANDREA PALMIERI Pontifical Council for Christian Unity “The primacy is possibly the trickiest subject in the historical dispute between Orthodox and Catholics, who have been separated for 1,000 years. That is why it was decided that we study together the first millennium, when Eastern Christians and Western…
Source: Christian Today Mark Woods – Christian Today Contributing Editor Is the thousand-year-old breach between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches a little closer to being mended? Given the history of suspicion, hostility, political game-playing and theological intransigence that has marked the process so far, it seems unlikely. But after a significant meeting between theologians from the two sides, there are signs that change is in the wind. The 14th Plenary Session of the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church met in Chieti, Italy, and has just completed its work. What’s significant is…
Source: Christian Today Ruth Gledhill CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR The Roman Catholic Church took the first tentative steps towards women’s ordination today when Pope Francis announced a new commission to look at the possibility of women deacons. However, there are concerns among campaigners for women priests in the Catholic Church that women deacons will be ordained in an attempt to fob them off from expecting any further moves towards equality. In an indication that the Pope is serious about moving forward on this issue, half of the commission’s members are themselves women, all highly regarded as intellectuals and academics from…
Source: Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America The Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops met on May 22-24, 2016 at the Saint Methodios Faith and Heritage Center in Contoocook, NH. The Joint Committee was established in 1981 by the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America, now the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States, and by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Joint Committee is the first formal gathering of Orthodox and Catholic bishops blessed and supported by both churches, and is co-chaired by His Eminence Cardinal Sean O’Malley…
Source: Catholic News Service BY SEAN GALLAGHER Catholic News Service INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) — The U.S. archbishop who is co-chair of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation and an archdeacon who helps lead Orthodox ecumenical efforts in the United States watched with interest as Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill met in Cuba Feb. 12. Both of them — Catholic Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin of Indianapolis and Orthodox Archdeacon John Chryssavgis — saw significance in the historic Havana meeting of pope and patriarch. They shared their observations with The Criterion, the newspaper of the Indianapolis Archdiocese. Archdeacon Chryssavgis, an Australian-born…