Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Rome and Moscow: a willing separation?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Rome and Moscow: a willing separation?

    AsiaNews.it, Italy
    June 3 2004

    Rome and Moscow: a willing separation?
    by Vladimir Rozanskij

    Proselytism is a trivial problem compared to necessity of
    evangelising the world. A Russian expert analyses the results
    obtained by the Orthodox-Catholic Group.


    Moscow (AsiaNews) - Cardinal Walter Kasper's recent visit to Russia
    is beginning to be show its first fruits. Probably, the most important
    result of the trip is the organisation of the Joint (Orthodox-Catholic)
    Working Group. The Joint Group, which started its activity in May,
    is established to analyse the various existing controversies between
    the two Churches, and to suggest possible solutions.

    Members of the group unofficially reported that the relationship
    between the Catholic and Orthodox participants was welcoming
    and friendly, despite the difficult issues that the Group had to
    discuss: the legitimacy of the "acts of proselytism" on the part of
    the catholic Church in the 15 years since the borders to the former
    Soviet countries opened.

    The peaceful atmosphere that pervaded the Group's meetings does
    not spring from any great achievement, but from the spirit of
    diversity that animates the protagonists of this new season of
    ecumenical dialogue. Almost with a sense of freedom, in fact, the
    representatives of the two sister-Churches were asked neither to work
    for a re-unification, nor to organise improbable meetings between
    their highest ecclesial authorities. The task is not so difficult,
    and corresponds to the present reality: The Churches will take an
    inventory of the rights and wrongs of the relationship between the
    two ecclesiastical communities with a view to avoid 'stepping on each
    other's toes' in the future.

    More than to 'reunite the family', as it were, this step is more
    like asking lawyers to divide assets and define the terms of
    the mutual, willing separation between two parties. Despite the
    doctrine of marriage (which in the Orthodox Church is not as strict
    as in Catholicism), nowadays even Catholics seem to appreciate the
    advantages of a peaceful "separation". Before Vatican II the Catholic
    Church referred to Christians of other denominations as "dissidents".
    After the Council they became "brothers" (even if affected by some
    minor imperfections), to be welcomed back home. Now, it looks like
    they are turning into "willing divorcees".

    "Microscopic" proselytism

    Therefore, the Group discussed 'concrete things', listing the names
    and surnames of those who have offended and betrayed the mission
    of the Churches. In truth, it would have been better if the Group
    had considered some important statistics as well, to give the true
    dimensions of the problem of 'Catholic proselytism'. In Russia there
    are officially 500,000 Catholics, but only 50,000 of them actually go
    to church. Most important, there are only 5,000 Russians who turned
    to the Church of Rome without having any kind of Catholic tradition
    in their families (ie. A German or Polish grandmother). Among them,
    only 2,000 had some link with the Orthodox Church in their past. In
    Russia live 150 million people.

    Truthfully, the Group considered some statistics. An orthodox
    representative quoted the "offensive" words spoken by Verbist Fr.
    Jerzy Jagodzinski, who questioned the Orthodox nature of the Russian
    population observing that, "only 1.2% of people in Moscow participated
    to the Easter celebrations", 120,000 out of 10 million. Actually,
    Jagodzinski was being generous with the Orthodox church: Moscow's
    authorities confirmed that "for Easter less than 1% of the population
    attended any kind of religious service". In the last ten years, there
    are twenty times more churches than there was under communism, with
    building being built or re-opened. Yet in relation to the immediate
    post-communism years, only one third of people now attend the services.

    Ultimately, it seems that the practical things discussed by the
    Group concern only "those provincial reports of strategic activities
    to convert people of Orthodox roots to another faith and another
    culture." According to Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the Orthodox
    delegation.. These kind of 'provincial reports' is a constant in
    Russian history, which prefers 'informing' and secret accusations to
    flagrant crimes. The Group was informed of supposed grave violations
    that happened in remote locations, above all in the Siberian city of
    Novosibirsk. Here Catholics are believed to be have been incited in
    various sectors, especially within schools, hospitals, universities
    and through TV programs. It is important to notice that Novosibirsk,
    which is 4.000 km away from Moscow, was the place of deportation of
    those considered dangerous by the Communist regime- free-thinkers and
    undesirable ethnicities. German Catholics built their church there in
    Soviet times. The Catholic activities, therefore, must be explained
    in context of the Catholic roots of many living there.

    In truth, the real reason behind the reports is something else.
    Novosibirsk in fact is a city were Jesuits have concentrated their
    efforts, the "Catholic devils" of Russian literature, an expression
    of the inferiority complex of the Orthodox towards Western culture.
    The local bishop, Mons. Jozif Werth, (a Russian German) is a Jesuit
    himself and has called many in his Community to collaborate with him,
    excluding the invitation, however, to Jesuits of the eastern rites, in
    order not to provoke the distrust of Orthodox authorities. It is as if
    the Orthodox Church would say, 'They have tried again to convert us,
    this time starting from the extreme peripheries. But again, we have
    unmasked them!'

    Targeting children's activities

    Another point of attack of the Orthodox Inquisition are "activities for
    children". Here and there, (in fact, always in the most inaccessible
    places: Murmansk, Angarsk, Sakhalin) Catholics have been accused
    of using schools and orphanages "for profit", to take the souls of
    those who would be the future sons of Orthodoxy. The fathers of the
    Work Don Calabria would be the worst ones. According to Orthodox
    authorities, these priests used to meet in a secret place not far
    from Moscow airport, in order to organise their plots against the
    local church. Actually, the fathers (from Verona) invested a large
    amount of money, more than all the money from their Brazilian and
    African missions combined, to buy and restore a completely abandoned
    tourist center. They wanted to transform it into a modern school,
    with independent heating. After 10 years, they have not still not
    obtained the permission to open the school. They wanted was to
    show the Russian people that Christians can propose an educational
    method which is absolutely "secular" in its nature and appreciated
    in the world. Paradoxically, they ended up in becoming the symbol of
    Catholic proselytism, without even having begun their work. Today
    the Rodnichock Center, run by the Fathers, is used only by groups
    of children who are always escorted by their lay tutors. The Fathers
    entirely pay for their vacations, but not even a single one of these
    children has become Catholic.

    Fr. Igor Kovalevskij (head of the Catholic delegation of the Group)
    has held the role of the peacemaker. He acknowledged that "there are
    some cases that have generated misunderstandings, as they could be
    interpreted as acts of proselytism". Patriarch Aleksij II has taken
    advantage of Fr. Kovalevskij's words by declaring, in the presence of
    Pierferdinando Casini (the President of the Italian Congress) that
    "for the first time their was official recognition of the existence
    of the problem of proselytism in the territory of the Patriarchy of
    Moscow, above all on the part of religious orders". We don't know how
    much MP Casini has appreciated these updates of the Joint Working
    Group. What is certain is that Orthodox authorities have always
    been suspicious about religious orders. Probably, they cannot fully
    understand either the independence of the orders from the dioceses
    (such thing does not exist in the East), or their missionary nature
    (and almost all the Orders have the word 'missionary' in their name).
    It is not a coincidence that in the past someone accused even the
    Indian nuns of Mother Theresa- who were called to Armenia by the
    government after the earthquake of 1998- or proselytising.

    Evangelisation

    In truth, Kovalevskij emphasised that the Catholic Church rejects
    proselytism at every level. He added that the Catholic Church has
    no intention to proselytise in Russia, as this is a country where
    it is not necessary to spread the Gospel. After all, Russia has a
    long Christian tradition. It is not the situation of New Guinea or
    an African country where it is necessary to preach the Gospel. These
    affirmations seem to be not in line with the real situation of the
    country. Kovalevskij concluded by saying that "our relationships
    with the Orthodox church are cold, but it is not winter yet", echoing
    Patriarch Aleksij who declared that "there are some clouds" over our
    relationship. In this way, with the use of these weather metaphors,
    the ecumenical dialogue has taken a new direction, to divide itself
    peacefully rather than to unite. Perhaps one can see also the design
    of Divine Providence, useful, not only to define new connections
    between Christians, but also into affect conflicts on an international
    level. Psychological and spiritual confines, more than geographical
    and political ones, show the urgency of proclaiming the Gospel of
    unity and peace in a world upset by conflicts and accusations for
    so long. Only in this Gospel will we be able to find our proper
    "ecclesial territories".

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X