For a prolonged time now there has been little to no dialogue between the catholic and eastern orthodox churches. As Father Malcolm P. Fyfe (Vicar General, of the Catholic Diocese Darwin) in his letter to the Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, said the catholic and orthodox church could ‘perhaps be described as a state of mutual ignoring.’ However this is not to say that there is no dialogue between the two denominations. People like Professor Catherine Clifford are promoting dialogue between the two denominations suggesting that parishes inform the laity of the church about their commitment to finding christian unity further promoting the idea of ecumenism. Furthermore Catholic and greek orthodox have been the most progressive towards complete unity between the Christian denominations.
Subsequently, whilst dialogue between eastern orthodox and catholics has been kept to a minimum in Australia, this does not mean that there is none at all. Eastern catholics, Roman catholics and Orthodox Christians (mainly greek) have been participating in dialogue and meet up regularly in Ronchester. Dr Joseph G. Kelly describes that the main drive behind this came from Pope John Paul the second when he stated ‘the church breathes on two lungs, the east and the west’ promoting discussion and the idea of learning from each other, and valuing each church's traditions as a unique individual in order to have a united Christian Church. As Father Patrick Cowles, Pastor (Greek Orthodox Church) said ‘this dialogue between the churches will promote a shared vision,’ that may bring back the churches in one body.
This promotion of dialogue has also been addressed in Professor Catherine Clifford’s presentation called ‘Fifty years of dialogue.’ The aim of the presentation, as Professor Clifford’s described it, was to inform laity of differing Christian denominations ‘to understand their church’s commitment to the search of Christian Unity.’ Professor Clifford also illustrated that ‘there is a wonderful resource that we too often forget; the number of interchurch families in our parish communities today are enormous.’ An an example of this is Christopher Zagoudis, whose mother Rebecca Zagoudis was Roman Catholic and Father was Fred Zagoudis was Greek Orthodox. Chris was baptised in the Orthodox church but under his mother's instructions was confirmed in the Catholic Church. He received the sacrament but the Catholic church realising that he was Greek Orthodox did not recognise this. His mother received a fine and Christopher was stripped of the document recognising that he was confirmed in the catholic church. This is just one example of dialogue between the two churches of this sort. In context to Professor Clifford’s presentation this is a common problem and should be addressed by both denominations.
However beside all of this the Catholic and Greek Orthodox denominations have been the most progressive in their search for unity growing closer together with each year since the second Vatican Council. One of the main reasons why the process is so slow is because the Greek Orthodox church did not send observers to the second Vatican Council but they did have fraternal delegates in the ‘major ecumenical events of the Jubilee Year 2000 in Rome,’ as stated by Mons. Eleuterio Fortino in his essay titled the ‘Dialogue between Rome and Greek Orthodox.’ Pope Francis noted this and took part in an Orthodox mass in Constantinople (November, 2014) where he ticked of three reasons why greek orthodox and catholics should unify: ‘to defend the poor, to end war and heal conflicts.’ This sparked dialogue between the christian denominations leading to groups similar to the one at Ronchester.
As a final analysis the Catholic and Orthodox churches have been progressive in their dialogue aiming to unify both denominations “to confront the challenges of the secular world” (as stated by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations). Groups like the one in Rochester are the beginning of this process of unification and dialogue. There is still a long way to go but through continued dialogue between the two denominations unification should be looked forward to and celebrated by all Christian denominations. As Pope Francis mentioned in his speech in Constantinople “the orthodox and catholic churches must join in Full Communion.”
Video on Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Dialogue:
Subsequently, whilst dialogue between eastern orthodox and catholics has been kept to a minimum in Australia, this does not mean that there is none at all. Eastern catholics, Roman catholics and Orthodox Christians (mainly greek) have been participating in dialogue and meet up regularly in Ronchester. Dr Joseph G. Kelly describes that the main drive behind this came from Pope John Paul the second when he stated ‘the church breathes on two lungs, the east and the west’ promoting discussion and the idea of learning from each other, and valuing each church's traditions as a unique individual in order to have a united Christian Church. As Father Patrick Cowles, Pastor (Greek Orthodox Church) said ‘this dialogue between the churches will promote a shared vision,’ that may bring back the churches in one body.
This promotion of dialogue has also been addressed in Professor Catherine Clifford’s presentation called ‘Fifty years of dialogue.’ The aim of the presentation, as Professor Clifford’s described it, was to inform laity of differing Christian denominations ‘to understand their church’s commitment to the search of Christian Unity.’ Professor Clifford also illustrated that ‘there is a wonderful resource that we too often forget; the number of interchurch families in our parish communities today are enormous.’ An an example of this is Christopher Zagoudis, whose mother Rebecca Zagoudis was Roman Catholic and Father was Fred Zagoudis was Greek Orthodox. Chris was baptised in the Orthodox church but under his mother's instructions was confirmed in the Catholic Church. He received the sacrament but the Catholic church realising that he was Greek Orthodox did not recognise this. His mother received a fine and Christopher was stripped of the document recognising that he was confirmed in the catholic church. This is just one example of dialogue between the two churches of this sort. In context to Professor Clifford’s presentation this is a common problem and should be addressed by both denominations.
However beside all of this the Catholic and Greek Orthodox denominations have been the most progressive in their search for unity growing closer together with each year since the second Vatican Council. One of the main reasons why the process is so slow is because the Greek Orthodox church did not send observers to the second Vatican Council but they did have fraternal delegates in the ‘major ecumenical events of the Jubilee Year 2000 in Rome,’ as stated by Mons. Eleuterio Fortino in his essay titled the ‘Dialogue between Rome and Greek Orthodox.’ Pope Francis noted this and took part in an Orthodox mass in Constantinople (November, 2014) where he ticked of three reasons why greek orthodox and catholics should unify: ‘to defend the poor, to end war and heal conflicts.’ This sparked dialogue between the christian denominations leading to groups similar to the one at Ronchester.
As a final analysis the Catholic and Orthodox churches have been progressive in their dialogue aiming to unify both denominations “to confront the challenges of the secular world” (as stated by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations). Groups like the one in Rochester are the beginning of this process of unification and dialogue. There is still a long way to go but through continued dialogue between the two denominations unification should be looked forward to and celebrated by all Christian denominations. As Pope Francis mentioned in his speech in Constantinople “the orthodox and catholic churches must join in Full Communion.”
Video on Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Dialogue: