Catholic-Orthodox ecumenism.

Toronto-In a lecture at St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto on December 1st, 2000, Fr. Robert Taft, S.J. addressed the current crisis in ecumenism between the LatinRite Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

A history of conflicts, invasion and forcible conversions left a legacy of painful memories and tensions which continues between Catholics (both Western and Eastern Rite) and the Orthodox until this day, he said.

In order to maintain a CatholicOrthodox ecumenical dialogue, Fr. Taft suggests the following: a purification of memory by each side's acknowledgement of its own faults; a seeking of forgiveness for the past (as Pope John Paul II has done in 2000); and an objective look at history, which does not seek to favour one's own Church. To resolve the current problems what are needed, he stated, are charity, objectivity, honesty, self-criticism, the elimination of pseudo-history and mythologies, and respect for others even when disagreeing with their viewpoints. Solutions must be mutually acceptable. It is not fruitful to live in hatred based on events which occurred hundreds of years ago.

The central point in Fr. Taft's solution for ecumenism is a rejection of "Uniatism" for the future, which he views, along with the Orthodox, as an obstacle in Church union.

Eastern Catholic, or "Uniate" Churches, as Fr. Taft calls them, were created (often forcibly) from former Orthodox communities. Eastern Christians who reestablished union with Rome have continued the rite and tradition of the Orthodox, while accepting the Pope's primacy, as their Church had, prior to the Schism (1054). The Orthodox resent any of their flock converting to Catholicism, and perceive Eastern Catholicism as a part of Western expansionism into their territories or Churches, the ultimate being their assimilation into the Latinrite Church.

Comment

Somehow it is difficult to agree with the implication made by Fr. Taft that if "Uniate" Churches ceased to exist or were never created, all would be so much better between Orthodox and Latin-rite Christians.

Fr. Taft did not mention the crucial point that there are various contentious issues (e.g. doctrinal ones) between the Orthodox and Catholics, nor the fact that whether or not a single Eastern-rite Catholic church was ever created, the Christian East and West would still be divided.

His outdated pejorative terminology does not help either. Eastern-rite Catholics prefer to be called by the name of their particular Church (e.g. Ukrainian Catholic), and not to be labelled "Uniates".

Agreeing with the Orthodox, Fr. Taft condemns Eastern-rite Catholicism as an obstacle to Church union. The Pope, on the other hand, has expressed the view that Eastern Catholic Churches are "bridges" in Church union and treasures which add to the richness of the entire Universal Church. Note Pope John Paul II's encyclical Ut unum Sint (Christian Unity, 1995) and his apostolic letter Orientale Lumen (The Light of the East, 1995). In section 60 of the former document he states: "A recognition of the right of the Eastern Catholic Churches to have their own organizational structures and to carry out their own apostolate, as well as the actual involvement of these Churches in the dialogue of charity and in theological dialogue, will not only promote a true and fraternal mutual esteem between Orthodox and Catholics living in the same territory, but will also foster their joint commitment to work for unity."

In 1964 in his Orientalium Ecclesiarum (Decree on the Catholic Churches of the Eastern Rite), Pope Paul VI, commenting on the various rites within the Catholic Church, states that "the variety within the Church in no way harms its unity; rather it manifests it" (section 2). In section 3 he attests to the equal dignity of the individual Churches or rites within the Catholic Church. Furthermore, in section 6, the Roman Pontiff encourages all members of the Eastern rite to "preserve their legitimate liturgical rite and their established way of life," and to protect and advance their ancestral traditions.

Far from seeing Eastern Churches as a "problem" or "an obstacle" in ecumenism, Pope Paul VI, in section 24 of the same document, entrusted to Eastern Catholics the "special duty of promoting the unity of all Christians, especially Eastern Christians [of the Orthodox churches], by prayer in the first place, and by the example of their lives, by religious fidelity to the ancient Eastern traditions, by a greater knowledge of each other".

Desire for Church unity, as summarized by a priest from the audience at the university lecture, fully accords with the will of Jesus Christ Himself (see Jn. 17:11).

American-born Rev. Robert Taft, S.J., was ordained in the Byzantine Russian Rite in 1963. In 1970 he received a Doctorate in Eastern Christian Studies from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, where he is currently Vice-Rector and Professor of Oriental Liturgy.