The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation held its 80th Meeting
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Press Release
The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation held its 80th
meeting at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in Crestwood, New York,
from June 6 to 8, 2011. At this meeting the members assessed reactions
to the two reports they released at the end of their last meeting in
October 2010, reviewed major events in the lives of their churches, and
heard presentations on the role of the laity in the Church and
intermediate levels of ecclesial authority.
Regarding the role of the laity in the Church, the members heard two
papers. Thomas Bird, Ph.D., associate professor of Slavic Languages and
Literatures, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, NY,
gave a presentation entitled, “The Role of the Laity in the Catholic
Church: Points for Reflection.” Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Ph.D., Willard
Prescott and Annie McClelland Smith Professor of Religious Studies at
Brown University, read a paper, “Some Reflections on the Laity in
Ancient Syriac Christianity.” Father Nicholas Apostola, pastor, St.
Nicholas Romanian Orthodox Church in Shrewsbury, MA, also made an oral
presentation on the role of the laity in the Church from an Orthodox
perspective.
On the question of intermediate or regional structures of authority
in the Church, several of the Orthodox members reported on the recent
second meeting of the new Orthodox Episcopal Assembly, which took place
in New York in May. Father Joseph Komonchak, professor emeritus of
religious studies at The Catholic University of America, delivered a
paper on bishops’ conferences in the Catholic Church which included an
analysis of Pope John Paul II’s 1998 Apostolic Letter Apostolos Suos on the theological and juridical nature of episcopal conferences.
In a wide-ranging discussion of the goals and future orientations of
the Consultation, the members decided that for now they would pursue
further these two areas of investigation. The next two meetings were
scheduled for October 27-29, 2011, and June 5 to 7, 2012.
The North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation is
chaired jointly by Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans and
Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh. Due to the Metropolitan’s absence
because of illness, Rev. Dr. Thomas FitzGerald, Dean of the Holy Cross
Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA, co-chaired this
meeting on his behalf.
Aditional Orthodox members include Father John Erickson, former dean
and professor of canon law and church history at Saint Vladimir's
Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, NY; Father James Dutko,
pastor of St. Michael’s Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church in Binghamton,
NY; Paul Meyendorff, Ph.D., Alexander Schmemann Professor of Liturgical
Theology and editor of Saint Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly,
Crestwood, NY; Father Alexander Golitzin, professor of theology at
Marquette University, Milwaukee; Robert Haddad, Ph.D., Sophia Smith
Professor Emeritus of History at Smith College in Northampton, MA;
Father Robert Stephanopoulos, pastor emeritus of the Greek Orthodox
Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, New York; Father Theodore
Pulcini, associate professor of religion at Dickinson College, Carlisle,
Pennsylvania; and Father Mark Arey, General Secretary of SCOBA, New
York, (staff). Father Patrick Viscuso of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese
of America was welcomed as a new Orthodox member at this meeting.
Additional Catholic members are Jesuit Father Brian Daley
(Secretary), Catherine F. Huisking professor of Theology at the
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana; Sylvain Destrempes,
Ph.D., faculty of the Grand Seminaire in Montreal; Father Peter Galadza,
Kule Family Professor of Liturgy at the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky
Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, Ottawa; Chorbishop John D.
Faris, pastor of St. Louis Gonzaga Maronite Church, Utica, New York;
Father John Galvin, professor of Systematic Theology, The Catholic
University of America (CUA), Washington; Father Sidney Griffith,
professor in the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and
Literatures, CUA; Monsignor Paul McPartlan, Carl J. Peter Professor of
Systematic Theology and Ecumenism at CUA; Father David Petras, spiritual
director and professor of liturgy at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of
Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Pittsburgh; Sister of Charity of Leavenworth
Susan K. Wood, professor and chair of the Department of Theology at
Marquette; Vito Nicastro, Ph.D., associate director of the Office for
Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, Archdiocese of Boston; and
Paulist Father Ronald Roberson, Ph.D., associate director of the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat for
Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, staff.
Since its establishment in 1965, the North American Consultation has
now issued 25 agreed statements on various topics. All these texts are
now available on the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox
Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) website at www.scoba.us/resources/orthodox-catholic.html and the USCCB website at www.usccb.org/seia/orthodox_index.shtml.
###
