One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church

Should the Orthodox church be in dialogue with the Roman Catholic one? Yes. Will we reunite? It would take a miracle.

By Fr. Patrick Reardon

Were I to list the thousand reasons why Rome is my favorite place in all the world, most of them would have to do the Eternal City’s long association with Christian history. On those all too rare occasions when I am able to get back to Rome, most of my time is spent visiting the catacombs, the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul, the Circus Maximus, the Colosseum, and other sites precious to Christian memory. My personal sentiments about Rome were well summarized by St. Abercius, the second-century Bishop of Hierapolis in Asia Minor, who had made a pilgrimage to the Eternal City. Later, in the inscription that he crafted for his own tomb, he referred to the church at Rome as “the queen with the golden robe and golden shoes.” Starting with the blood of the Neronic martyrs, there is no city on earth, I think, more deeply saturated in Christian memory.
Surely, then, any Orthodox heart must be saddened when remembering the long and deep estrangement between ourselves and that venerable institution described by St. Irenaeus of Lyons as “the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul.”
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Catholic Bishops Conference, Other Organizations, File Brief in Assisted Suicide Case

link to legal brief: http://www.usccb.org/ogc/ashcroft2.pdf — Catholic Bishops Conference, Other Organizations, File Brief in Assisted Suicide Case WASHINGTON (May 6, 2005)

In a friend-of-the court brief filed today in the United States Supreme Court, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and other religious organizations declared that the U.S. Attorney General was correct in finding that assisted suicide is not a legitimate medical practice under the Controlled Substances Act. The amici asked the Supreme Court to reverse a Ninth Circuit decision striking down the Attorney General’s interpretation of the Act. The high court is expected to render a decision on the case, Gonzales v. State of Oregon, next term.

“The Attorney General’s conclusion that there is a difference between assisting suicide and managing pain, and that the former is not a legitimate medical purpose within the meaning of the Controlled Substances Act…while the latter is, is not only eminently reasonable but also supported by longstanding medical practice and past interpretation of the Act,” the brief said. “Enforcing the distinction leads to improvements in patient care. Blurring the distinction has been harmful to patients and jeopardized their care. Government does not serve the public interest or the common good by facilitating the killing of innocent people, regardless of their medical condition.” The brief noted that medicine by its very definition aims to prevent illness, to heal, and to alleviate pain.
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Chaos, farce in Jerusalem

Ekathimerini GORAN TOMASEVIC/REUTERS

Rebel bishops say deposed patriarch tried to lift cash, land sale deeds

An Orthodox monk stands outside a building belonging to the Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem yesterday, where the fight between the deposed Patriarch, Irenaios, and the majority of his bishops and clerics continued unabated. Irenaios has ruled out resigning, while 75 churchmen, including 15 out of the 18 bishops on his Holy Synod, the Patriarchate’s ruling body, have moved to dismiss him. Yesterday, dissidents accused the patriarch of trying to steal cash and documents regarding the controversial sale of Church property in Jerusalem that touched off the crisis. Meanwhile, the head of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios, was asked yesterday about the crisis. ‘I cannot work miracles,’ he said.

The situation at the strife-ridden Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem remained tense over the weekend, with dissident clerics claiming to have foiled a plan by the deposed patriarch yesterday to lift cash and potentially incriminating documents from Church premises.
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Why I’m Rooting for the Religious Right

Wall Street Opinion Journal JAMES TARANTO Thursday, May 5, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

Secular liberals show open contempt for traditionalists.

I am not a Christian, or even a religious believer, and my opinions on social issues are decidedly middle-of-the-road. So why do I find myself rooting for the “religious right”? I suppose it is because I am put off by self-righteousness, closed-mindedness, and contempt for democracy and pluralism–all of which characterize the opposition to the religious right.

One can disagree with religious conservatives on abortion, gay rights, school prayer, creationism and any number of other issues, and still recognize that they have good reason to feel disfranchised. This isn’t the same as the oft-heard complaint of “anti-Christian bigotry,” which is at best imprecise, since American Christians are all over the map politically. But those who hold traditionalist views have been shut out of the democratic process by a series of court decisions that, based on constitutional reasoning ranging from plausible to ludicrous, declared the preferred policies of the secular left the law of the land.

For the most part, the religious right has responded in good civic-minded fashion: by organizing, becoming politically active, and supporting like-minded candidates. This has required exquisite discipline and patience, since changing court-imposed policies entails first changing the courts, a process that can take decades. Even then, “conservative” judges are not about to impose conservative policies; the best the religious right can hope for is the opportunity to make its case through ordinary democratic means.

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Mass. Democrats expected to back gay marriage

Boston Globe Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff | May 4, 2005

The Massachusetts Democratic Party is poised next week to add an endorsement of gay marriage to its platform, despite a nationwide backlash against same-sex marriage that led voters to approve bans in 11 states last fall.

Philip W. Johnston, the state Democratic Party chairman, said yesterday that the party’s 3,000 delegates will consider the platform change May 14, three days before the first anniversary of legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. State Democratic parties in Iowa and Colorado added endorsements of same-sex marriage to their platforms last year.

If approved by the party delegates, the new addition to the Democratic Party’s platform will read: ”We affirm our commitment to the Massachusetts constitutional guarantee to same-sex marriage, and all of its rights, privileges, and obligations, and reject any attempt to weaken or revoke those rights.”

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Body and Spirit: Why Attending Religious Services May Benefit Health

By KEVIN HELLIKER, Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

The number of Americans who attend religious services at least once a week jumped nearly three points to 27.5% during the two years ended in 2004, according to statistics to be released this week by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center.

This leap could be good news for the nation’s health. A growing body of scientific evidence shows that Americans who attend religious services at least once a week enjoy better-than-average health and lower rates of illness, including depression. Perhaps most important, the studies show that weekly attendance confers a significant reduction in mortality risk over a given period of time.
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Beijing’s Orthodox community has first Paschal divine service since 1957

English Translation by Nina Tkachuk Dimas

For the first time since 1957, the Chinese capital’s Orthodox community had a festive Paschal service today, reports “ITAR-TASS”. Albazinians – descendants of Russian cossacks from the Albazin fortress of the Amur — adhere to Orthodox traditions. At the end of the XVII century, the Albazinians served in the Manchurian imperial guards.

In the absence of an Orthodox priest who is Chinese, the service was lead by a layman in one of Beijing’s [Roman] Catholic temples.

“Today’s event needs to be considered as a sign of the Chinese authorities’ attention to this problem”, stated ROC/MP priest Dionisy Pozdnyaev, who arrived in Beijing from Xianggang/Hong Kong. Beijing’s Orthodox now have hope that the question of ordaining a priest will be resolved, especially since candidates are available.”

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A Striking Contrast

May 3, 2005 Michael Medved

Contrasting comments by two prominent religious leaders show why some denominations grow while others decline and wither. Just before his election as pope, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger gave an inspiring speech about the need to pursue timeless truth and to resist “the dictatorship of relativisms.”

Meanwhile, Gene Robinson, the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, spoke to Planned Parenthood and compared the Passover story of the Book of Exodus to his coming out as a gay man. “I know what it’s like to leave Egypt, or leave the closet,” he declared, adding: “We need to teach people about nuance, about holding things in tension, that this can be true and that can be true…”

No wonder that his Episcopal church faces division, disinterest, and disastrously declining numbers, while the uncompromising Catholic message remains powerful and relevant. In the marketplace of religious ideas, most consumers seek guidance, rigor and continuity, not New Age nuance or anything-goes-trendiness.

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Benedict XVI Looks Toward Unity With Orthodox

Zenit News

Continues a Tradition From the Window of Papal Apartment

VATICAN CITY, MAY 1, 2005 (ZENIT.org).- Benedict XVI extended Easter greetings to Orthodox Christians, who were celebrating the day, and indicated again he will pursue the goal of Catholic-Orthodox unity.

In his first Regina Caeli address from the window of his papal apartment, the Holy Father today said God is “asking us to travel decisively down the path toward full unity.”

Tens of thousands of people were gathered below in St. Peter’s Square to hear the Pontiff’s address, which continued a Sunday tradition of Pope John Paul II’s.
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