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VATICAN CITY (CNS) � Theological dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox churches has been derailed for six years. In mid-September, 60 ecumenical experts will try to get it back on track.

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The Catholic-Orthodox international dialogue commission is meeting in the Serbian capital of Belgrade Sept. 18-25, in what Pope Benedict XVI has optimistically described as a "new phase in dialogue."

That the encounter is taking place at all has been described as a big step forward by Vatican officials. Representatives from 10 Orthodox churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church, will attend.

But church officials also recognize that it wouldn't take much to send the whole enterprise off the rails again.

For one thing, the two main topics of the meeting are papal primacy and the role of Eastern Catholic churches � two of the sorest points in Catholic-Orthodox relations.

In fact, it was the re-emergence of Eastern Catholic churches in post-communist Eastern Europe that so troubled the mixed commission's meetings throughout the 1990s. After an acrimonious meeting in Emmitsburg, Md., in 2000, the dialogue was suspended.

Orthodox leaders who met with Vatican officials in a planning session late last year wanted these two issues high on the agenda, according to Vatican sources. The Orthodox still feel threatened by the resurgence of Eastern Catholic churches and continue to have doubts about how papal authority would work in a reunified church.

The hope on the Vatican side is that these topics will be examined in a new theological framework, that of the church as "koinonia" or communion, and not on the emotional level that has characterized past discussions.

"No one should think this dialogue is going to be easy or will solve these two questions, or other questions, in the short term," said one Vatican official.

But although they are downplaying immediate expectations, Vatican sources pointed to several reasons for cautious optimism.

For one thing, there is a new pope -- a fact that, at least in a psychological sense, represents a new page for dialogue. While Pope John Paul II spoke often and movingly about the need to reunite the Western and Eastern churches, his insistence on visiting traditionally Orthodox countries, with or without an invitation from the Orthodox, sometimes provoked misgivings.

Vatican insiders say Pope Benedict is unlikely to make those kinds of trips. Nor is the pope pressing for a visit to Moscow, as his predecessor did. These sources also said Pope Benedict has taken a more detailed interest in the content of dialogue than his predecessor, who was weakened by illness in his later years.

Another plus is that many of the Orthodox dialogue experts know Pope Benedict, have read his works and trust him as a theologian. For Orthodox leaders who, for historical reasons, viewed Pope John Paul's Polish background as an obstacle, the German pope carries no such handicap.

Vatican officials say there's another reason the Belgrade meeting could go well: Participants will not have to start from scratch. They already have a draft text that addresses papal primacy and Eastern Catholic churches; it was worked out by experts from both sides in 1990, but never discussed by the full commission.

Finally, some experts on the Catholic side believe that Orthodox thinking on papal primacy may be changing slowly.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican's chief ecumenist and the head of its delegation to Belgrade, hosted an important Catholic-Orthodox symposium in 2003 on the role of the pope. Cardinal Kasper told participants that the climate of discussion on this topic had changed considerably, with greater openness to a papal "ministry of unity" in today's fragmented world.

At the same symposium, Metropolitan John of Pergamon from the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, Turkey, made careful arguments in favor of a "universal primacy" and said the Orthodox churches could accept it as long as it did not undermine the ecclesiological integrity of any local church.

Metropolitan John is the Orthodox co-chairman of the international theological dialogue commission, and Vatican officials will be closely following what he says in Belgrade.

One critical issue identified by the metropolitan at the 2003 symposium was whether the universal church has ecclesiological priority over the local church. That's a complex question, and it's been percolating inside the Vatican for years.

Both Orthodox and Catholics agree that sensitivity over papal primacy is largely conditioned by history. But it is not forgotten history.

One small example surfaced earlier this year, when Pope Benedict unceremoniously dropped the longstanding title "patriarch of the West." The Vatican said the title was historically obsolete and theologically imprecise and that its renunciation should benefit ecumenical dialogue.

But some Orthodox leaders saw it differently, saying the change in effect emphasized the assertion of a more universal authority by the pope.

The issue has already popped up in some local Catholic-Orthodox dialogues, and Vatican officials will not be surprised to hear it raised in Belgrade.

No one at the Vatican expects the Catholic delegation to come home from Belgrade waving a major agreement with the Orthodox. For many, if the dialogue is still going when the meeting ends, it will be marked a success.

http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=20963

lets pray that their ecumenical meeting produces good fruit. it will be interesting on what could be decided upon Pope Benedict XVI dropping the title "Patriarch of the West" atleast we can expect more clarity.

Indeed, let's pray to our Lord for success at this dialogue. May His Holy Spirit touch the hearts of all the representatives with love and the understanding that we must have a common witness in this increasing non-Christian world.

May Our Lady of Perpetual Help (my avatar and an icon that miraculously bridged, and continues to bridge, East with West) petition for unity before Her son.

In Christ,
Alice

Most Holy Theotokos pray for this dialouge - that is be a pleasing fragrence to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

May they all be one as Jesus and the Father are one.

It is an exciting time to be Catholic or Orthodox! Thank you for the article. I will also keep the intention in my prayers.

I think Alice is exactly right in stating, "we must have a common witness in this increasing non-Christian world." When the Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Methodists in southern India combined as the Church of South India, they did so because they realized that there divisions created an inpediment to proclaiming the Gospel to the indigenous, non-Christian population. Re-unification of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches will not come easily, if it comes at all. Nevertheless, because we know from the Gospel of John that Christ prayed to the Father that we might all be one, and because of the urgency of the command that we teach the Gospel to all nations, let us be in prayer for our leaders. I have often prayed that all who call Jesus Christ "Lord" would be visibly united in the "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church." What I mean in saying "visibly united" is that all Protestants would be reconciled to either one of the Catholic or Orthodox Churches, and that full communion between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches be restored. While this may never happen on this side of the eschaton, as my teacher Geoffrey Wainwright, a highly respected and well known theologian and champion of ecumenism, has taught me, this does not mean that we are not still required by the Gospel to continue to pray for the unity of the Churches. Let us all pray that the Holy Spirit fill us with humility, patience, and above all love.
In Christ,
Ryan

Dear Ryan,

AMEN, dear brother in Christ, AMEN!

Alice

I am sure we will have a lot to talk about after the sessions have ended, but I think that the best we can hope for is that the two sides are polite to each other and still talking from beginning to end.

I don't think that we should expect any big developments. The two main topics for discussion are explosive.

Michael

I agree with my beloved brother and friend, Michael.

What we can hope will come from this is a beginning, a renewed effort to walk together, as twin infants might toddle toward their parent from different directions, aware of one another, bonded but yet competitive, vaguely aware of what they might achieve were they to act in concert but unsure that they are ready to do so.

Prayers that the meeting goes well, that those in attendance are guided in dialogue that is inspired by the Holy Spirit and that they end with the renewed desire and resolve to continue in civil, charitable, and God-blessed discussions that will see our Churches unite on some future day.

Many years,

Neil

May God the Holy Spirit guide our leaders to move toward unity. we need it desperately in this day with all of the evil in the world going on. may the truth be served, through the prayers of the most holy Theotokos and all the saints, pray for us ! amen !

"I think Alice is exactly right in stating, "we must have a common witness in this increasing non-Christian world." When the Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Methodists in southern India combined as the Church of South India, they did so because they realized that there divisions created an inpediment to proclaiming the Gospel to the indigenous, non-Christian population."

However, what is significant about the above example is that all the churches share a common family origin in Protestantism.
That is why the Mar Thoma or Christians of St. Thomas and the Syrian Orthodox Church in Kerela did not join.

I think it was the friction caused by the Eastern Catholic churches in post-communist Eastern Europe, demanding that their churches be returned to them, that caused the dialogue to stop. (It was all real estate you know ).

That sudden friction hopefully has now ended, and passions have cooled so that the jurisdictional situations will not be a stumbling block to unity, and theological issues can be discussed.

I know that many people in Greece want inter-communion, and that is something the Orthodox Church cannot ignore. Also, as talks continue, albeit slowly, more and more people will be accepting of unity. I have seen that before. At the time of Balamand, the people craved for unity, but once the authorities of the Church stopped talks, the desire ceased among the people. (Funny how the Orthodox can be so critical of authority, and yet follow authority so readily). :rolleyes:

So let's pray that nothing will happen to call the talks off. Both Catholics and Orthodox realize that the world situation, and by that I mean secular Europe and the Muslim world, is too volatile to be ignored.

Zenovia

In no way did I suggest that the Mar Thoma or Christians of St. Thomas and the Syrian Orthodox Church in Kerla should have joined the Church of South India. Just as the Anglicans, Methodist, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians shared a common Protestant heritage, the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches share a common heritage from the first ten centuries AD. Our realization that it is God's will that we all be one and the fact that our divisions do impeded the teaching of the Gospel to non-Christians should give us a great sense of urgency about the need to work towards a restoration of full communion.

In peace,
Ryan

Thanks for the clarification.
Sorry if I misunderstood your post.