NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

     

ORTHODOX, CATHOLIC LEADERS TO MEET IN MARYLAND IN 1999

      BALTIMORE (CWNews.com) - An ecumenical commission of Catholic and Orthodox leaders will meet in Maryland next year for their first meeting in the Western Hemisphere, the Baltimore Sun newspaper reported on Wednesday.

      The newspaper quoted Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore as saying that he had extended the invitation to the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue to meet at Mount Saint Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland from June 7 to 15 in 1999. "Nine years ago, as the only American Catholic bishop participating in the dialogue, I extended an invitation to meet for the first time in the Western Hemisphere, and specifically at Emmitsburg," Cardinal Keeler said. He repeated the invitation to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians, when he visited Baltimore in October.

      The discussions in Emmitsburg would focus on how each church exercises authority through meetings of their respective bishops, like the Pan-Orthodox Synods or the Second Vatican Council. The commission has issued three statements since it began meeting in 1979. The first, on their shared understanding of the Eucharist, was issued in 1982 after a meeting in Munich, Germany. A second statement on sacraments came out of a 1987 meeting in Bari, Italy. The third statement, on the sacrament of priestly ordination and apostolic succession was produced at a 1988 meeting in Valamo, Finland.