Posted on 09/13/2003 8:28:15 PM PDT by sinkspur
While the pluralists were meeting in Birmingham, an inter-religious dialogue much more closely tethered to the official centers of authority in the world’s great religions was unfolding in Aachen, Germany, under the aegis of the Community of Sant’Egidio.
Some 10,000 people took part in more than 30 panels over three days, and thousands more followed the event on the Sant’Egidio web site: www.santegidio.org. The official theme was “Between War and Peace: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue.”
Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff, the Catholic bishop of Aachen, set the tone on the opening day by declaring, “God is not Catholic, nor Orthodox, nor Protestant; neither is God Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist; God is God for all.”
Pope John Paul II sent a message, urging the representatives of the great world religions to intensify their dialogue for peace, recognizing that “differences do not compel us to conflict but to respect, to loyal collaboration and to the construction of peace.”
The Israeli/Palestinian problem drew a couple of creative ideas, one set to become reality, the other still in the “maybe” phase.
Fr. Elias Chacour, director of the Prophet Elias College in Israel announced that his institution on Oct. 21 will open the first mixed Israeli-Palestinian university in the world. Instruction will be in English, Hebrew and Arabic, and courses will be offered in computer science, chemistry and communications.
Rabbi David Rosen proposed that Sant’Egidio organize a conference among Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders in the Holy Land to try to reach a joint accord on the status of Jerusalem, given that disputes over the city are at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
On the subject of the alleged harmony of Eastern religions, a Tendai Buddhist leader from Japan, Kojun Handa, decribed how hard it was to organize an inter-religious summit on the holy mountain of Hiei, near Kyoto, in the spirit of the 1986 prayer for peace hosted by John Paul II in Assisi. Handa works on dialogue between Japanese and Chinese Buddhists, long complicated by Chinese bitterness over the brutal Japanese invasion in the 1930s. Handa said he hoped Chinese Buddhists may be able to attend futute Sant’Egidio meetings.
Perhaps the greatest drama in Aachen was generated by Metropolitan Kyrill of Smolensk and Kalilinigrad, the number two figure in the Russian Orthodox hierarchy. Given the “big chill” in Catholic/Russian Orthoidox relations in recent years, Kyrill’s mere presence would have made news.
Kyrill went considerably further in his remarks.
“This is a season in which dialogue, beyond the incomprehensions of the past, is possible,” he said during a panel with Cardinals Walter Kasper and Roger Etchegaray, along with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch Ignatius IV Hazim and Catholic Bishop Vincenzo Paglia of Terni.
“People say that the Orthodox are closed to dialogue, but if that were true, I wouldn’t be here,” he said.
Kyrill spoke more positively about the idea of a meeting between John Paul II and the Patriarch of Moscow, Alexy II, than at any time in recent memory, though he continued to insist that first the pope must put a stop to Catholic missionary work in Russia.
“Between the Vatican and Moscow there is no divergence in the system of values. But in real life the opposite sometimes happens. The principal painful point is missionary activity. None of the Russian Orthodox priests in the West have received instructions for converting the German people or the Italian people to Orthodoxy,” Kyrill said. “We know that no Catholic priest who works in Russia has received such instructions from Rome. But today the mission of the Catholic priests in Russia is a reality.
“There are other painful points that have to be healed, for passing to another level in the relationship. It would be a beautiful symbol if this new page in relations could be turned over together, by the Pope and the Patriarch, meeting one another in Moscow, or in Rome, or in another place.”
This much is certain: Heinrich Mussinghoff is not Catholic.
If God isn't Christian, then why did He send His son, the Christ (Messiah), to die for our sins? This guy is a heretic who now wants the approval of the world.
Jesus said there is no way unto the Father but by me.
Ummm, that would be the Antiochian Orthodox Patriarch. There ain't nothin' Greek about him.
This is one of the most ridiculous statements I've seen in a while. God cannot be placed into a genus, because God is transcendant. Therefore, while God founded the Christian religion, He Himself is not "Christian".
Back in the good old days, this guy would have been burned at the stake, right mom?
Of course He is. To be a Christian is to believe in the Messiah, which He does. Your logic leads to the acceptance of Islam, which is error.
God "knows" Himself. He does not have "faith" in Himself.
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