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UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS
OFFICE OF MEDIA RELATIONS

Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic Consultation Holds 2005 Meeting

WASHINGTON (June 20, 2005)¯Relations between Oriental Orthodox and
their Eastern Catholic counterparts in the United States, and the
positions of the churches regarding proselytism, were topics discussed
at the 2005 meeting of the United States Oriental Orthodox-Roman
Catholic Consultation.

Co-chaired by Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany and Very
Rev. Chorbishop John Meno of the Syriac (Syrian) Orthodox Church of
Antioch, the meeting was held at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary in New
Rochelle, NY, June 9.

The meeting was somewhat abbreviated due to the absence of one of the
presenters, His Eminence Metropolitan Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim of the
Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of the Eastern United States, who was
called away on urgent business. On the Catholic side, Fr John Long,
SJ, offered an overview of the Catholic Church’s understanding of
proselytism, with special emphasis on relations with the Coptic
Orthodox Church, in the period immediately following the Second
Vatican Council. Fr. Ronald Roberson, CSP, then explained the
development of this policy after the end of communism in Eastern and
Central Europe, especially as described in the 1992 Vatican document,
“General Principles and Practical Norms for Coordinating the
Evangelizing Activity and Ecumenical Commitment of the Catholic Church
in Russia and in the other Countries of the Commonwealth of
Independent States.”

The members of the dialogue also had an opportunity to review major
developments in their churches during the past year. The situations of
the Syriac Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, and Coptic Orthodox Churches
were considered, as well as the death of Pope John Paul II and the
election of Pope Benedict XVI, the visit of the Syriac Patriarch to
India, and the seventh meeting of the heads of the Oriental Orthodox
Churches in the Middle East. Fr. Roberson reported on the second
meeting of the International dialogue between the Catholic Church and
the Oriental Orthodox Churches which took place in Rome last January.

The participants were particularly grateful to Fr Daniel Findikyan,
the Rector of St. Nersess Seminary for the gracious hospitality they
experienced during the meeting. They also warmly welcomed two guests
at this session, Most Reverend Gregory J. Mansour, the Bishop of the
Maronite Eparchy of St. Maron of Brooklyn, and Most Reverend Manuel
Batakian, Apostolic Exarch for Armenian Catholics in the United States
and Canada.

The 2006 session of the dialogue is due to take place on May 30-31,
2006, at the Cardinal Spellman Retreat Center in Bronx, New
York. Metropolitan Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim will give his paper on
relations between the Oriental Orthodox and their Eastern Catholic
counterparts in the United States, and the way in which the various
churches deal pastorally with divorce and remarriage will also be
examined.

The United States Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic Consultation was
established in 1978, and is sponsored jointly by the Bishops’
Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Standing
Conference of Oriental Orthodox Churches in America. The Standing
Conference includes representatives from the Armenian, Coptic,
Ethiopian, Syriac, and Malankara Syrian Orthodox churches. In 1995 the
Consultation published “Oriental Orthodox-Roman Catholic Interchurch
Marriages and Other Pastoral Relationships,” which includes pastoral
guidelines for marriages involving the faithful of the two communions
as well as ample documentation about the development of the ecumenical
relationship between the two communions in recent decades. In 1999 it
issued “Guidelines Concerning the Pastoral Care of Oriental Orthodox
Students in Catholic Schools.”