Uniate Cardinal calls upon Pope of Rome for Synod

[Chrysostomos]

A senior Ukrainian cardinal said Monday there was little dividing the Catholic and Orthodox Christian faiths and suggested that the pope call a meeting of the world's bishops to discuss the Eastern rite within the Catholic Church.
Link: http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=5872

[尼古拉前执事]

Ukrainian Catholic leader wants single Christian patriarchate
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=39887

Kiev, Sep. 29 (CWNews.com) - The leader of the Eastern-rite Ukrainian Catholic Church has called for the creation of a single Eastern Church in that country, joining the Catholic and Orthodox under a single patriarch.

The religious tensions that trouble Ukraine could be solved, Cardinal Lubomyr Husar said, "if Ukraine had one patriarch for all." He told the Religious Information Service of Ukraine that on this basis, Ukrainian Christians could "return to the primary unity."

The Ukrainian prelate argued that "neither Moscow nor Rome will give us unity." Instead, he said, Ukrainian Catholics should join in a single Church, and then "Rome, Constantinople, or Moscow-- which is much younger compared to them-- will just accept this fact."

It is not essential, Cardinal Husar said, that the patriarch of this Ukrainian Church should be a Catholic. The single requirement for such a leader, he said, is that "this patriarch should be a man capable of uniting everyone."

However, the leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Church-- which is the largest Eastern Church in communion with Rome-- went on to say that a united Ukrainian Church must also be in communion with Rome. Therefore, he said, even if the patriarch is not now a Catholic, he would soon enter into full communion with the Holy See.

Cardinal Husar holds the title of Major Archbishop, but the Ukrainian Catholic Church has long sought recognition as a patriarchate. Cardinal Husar argues that recognition of a Ukrainian Catholic patriarchate would be a logical step, in the "natural development for a local Church in the Eastern tradition."

However, the Major Archbishop continued, neither the Vatican nor the Ukrainian Orthodox leadership properly understand the role of an autonomous Eastern Catholic Church. He argued that the unity within the Catholic Church "should be built not on uniformity, but on the preservation of everyone's own tradition. Cardinal Husar said that the Ukrainian Catholic Church is preserving the traditions of Eastern Christianity today, and Orthodox leaders should recognize the value of that continuity with the Christian traditions of Ukraine.

The Orthodox Church in Ukraine today is split into three different competing factions. After Ukraine won independence, with the fall of the Soviet empire, Metropolitan Filaret-- who had been recognized by the Russian Orthodox Church as spiritual leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox-- split with Moscow to set up the Ukrainian Orthodox Church- Kiev Patriarchate. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church- Moscow Patriarchate retains strong ties to the Russian Church. These two factions are joined by a third smaller group, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Church, in competing for Orthodox leadership.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church- Moscow Patriarchate has clashed regularly with the Eastern Catholic Church, particularly over the decision by Cardinal Husar to move his headquarters from Lviv to Kiev. While Russian Orthodox prelates denounced the move as a infringement on the traditional Orthodox territory of Kiev, Patriarch Filaret, the rival Orthodox leader, welcomed the move.

Cardinal Husar said that the rivalries within the Ukrainian Orthodox community complicate his efforts to obtain a new union among Ukrainians Christians of the Eastern tradition. "We are in a rather chaotic state" in talks among religious leaders, he said. The Catholic prelate said that he hopes Orthodox leaders can resolve their disputes, since a united Orthodox representation would make "concrete talk much easier."

"The Church should be one, and we all recognize it," the Ukrainian Catholic leader said. The Eastern Christians of Ukraine, he concluded, need "one patriarch and one patriarchate."

[尼古拉前执事]

Published Monday, October 10, 2005
Ukraine Cardinal Wants Synod With Orthodox

By DANIELA PETROFF
Associated Press Writer
VATICAN CITY

A senior Ukrainian cardinal said Monday there was little dividing the Catholic and Orthodox Christian faiths and suggested that the pope call a meeting of the world's bishops to discuss the Eastern rite within the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, made the suggestion in a speech to a three-week meeting of the world's bishops that is designed to give the pope recommendations on running the church.

Eastern rite Catholic churches share many Orthodox rituals but are loyal to the pope.

The Catholic and Orthodox churches split in 1054 over several questions, including the issue of the primacy of the pope. Relations now between the two sides have been made tense by Orthodox charges of aggressive Catholic missionary work in Eastern Europe and by property disputes.

Pope Benedict XVI has made unifying all Christians a fundamental priority of his pontificate, and he invited a record number of ecumenical representatives to take part in the Oct. 2-23 meeting, known as a synod, including one from the Russian Orthodox Church.

In his speech, Husar noted that the Catholic and Orthodox churches share fundamental beliefs about the Eucharist, which is the topic of the synod.

The Catholic Church also recognizes as valid Orthodox ordinations of priests, and both churches recognize the apostolic succession of their bishops, meaning both trace the ordination of their bishops back to Christ's 12 apostles, Husar said.

"If the mutual recognition of the apostolic succession of bishops is recognized, and consequently that of the priests who celebrate it, my question is: what else do we need for unity?" according to a summary of his remarks released by the Vatican.

"Is there perhaps another source, or another summit superior to the Eucharist?" he asked. "And if it doesn't exist, why can't we allow concelebration?"

Husar then suggested that the pope call a new synod of the world's Catholic bishops to discuss the role of the Eastern rite church, saying there was a lack of understanding among other Catholics about its role.

He suggested Orthodox clerics be included in the meeting.

In an interview with The Associated Press after his speech, Husar noted that the late Pope John Paul II had frequently said the Catholic Church "breathes with two lungs" - a reference to the Eastern and Western halves of the church.

"At the moment we do not feel that the church is breathing with these two lungs," he told the AP.

At the start of Monday's meetings, the bishops were asked to keep the victims of the South Asian earthquake in their prayers.

Several bishops also spoke of the need for the church to incorporate more local customs into the Mass. The working document of the synod warned that while useful, such attempts at including local songs and dance in the Mass, sometimes go too far and can cause "scandal" and confusion among the faithful.

But the archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria, Monsignor John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, said such "inculturation" has had a positive effect on the church in Africa, increasing participation of the faithful and promoting evangelization, and said it should not be cause for alarm.

"Solemnity and sacredness can be expressed not only in plain chant and the organ, but also by the gong, the xylophone and the tam-tam," he said, according to the Rev. John Bartunek, a synod spokesman who read from his text.

"We may not have much to offer in terms of the glorious architecture of European cathedrals or the fabulous paintings of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci," he said. "But what we have, we are happy to give: our songs and lyrics, our drumming and rhythmic body movements, all to the glory of God."

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Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield contributed to this report.