News

Interview With Bishop Agathangelos of Fanarion

ROME, DEC. 17, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The theological dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches "can give witness of Christ," says a Greek Orthodox prelate.

Bishop Agathangelos of Fanarion is director general of the Apostoliki Diaconia, which in the Greek Orthodox Church is in charge of the missions, the formation of seminarians and publishing.

Once again, the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) are pleased to announce that they have each received $15,000.00 grants from the Prokopis Charitable Foundation to underwrite for 2007 the official Theological Consultation between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches in the U.S.

Twice each year, twelve Orthodox theologians and twelve Roman Catholic theologians gather for the North American Orthodox/Catholic Theological Consultation that was initiated in 1965 by SCOBA and the USCCB. Having read many of the papers and statements issued over the years by this oldest ongoing official dialogue between the two Churches, Mr. and Mrs. Emmanuel Prokopis have decided to cover the costs of the Consultation for a third year. Similar grants covered all the costs of the Consultation in 2005 and 2006.

Christ is come! Glorify Him!

The good news is not just an historical event; by uniting his divinity with our humanity, God opened a two-way door that remains open here and now.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Bishop John Kudrick

“The beginning of the gospel (the good news) of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mk 1:1). It has been noted that this first sentence of St. Mark’s Gospel is not a title for the first chapter but for the entirety of the book.

Jesus’ life and death on earth, together with his resurrection, is a beginning of Good News, good news of perpetual beginning (life), rather than a progressive end (death).

The Good News is actually that the world remains in a state of beginning. Even the last book of the Bible ends with Jesus declaring “I am [both] the beginning and the end” (Rv 22:13). “The end” and “the beginning” are one and the same.

The good news is not just an event of history, that a baby was born 2000 years ago. Neither is it just that God considered us worthy of visiting us. Rather the good news is that, by uniting his divinity with our humanity, God opened a two-way door, one that remains open here and now. God continues to enter our life and invites us to begin, to become “partakers of the Divine nature” (2 Pt 1:4).

This good news continues, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as the members of the church unite ourselves with the holy sacrifice and proclaim with our lives salvation in Jesus Christ. This good news is always new and always good.

By the human conception and birth of Jesus Christ, Son of God, God allows us to regain that humanity that Adam and Eve knew in the Garden of Eden. He allows us to be fully human, fully alive. In this way God shows that he is God and calls us to humanity in its fullness.

Our participation is important. Christians know what is meant to be fully alive even if we don’t always live accordingly. We see lives from the perspective of “beginning” and rely on the mercy of God as we grow to full maturity in Christ.

We find the theme of beginning a number of times in Holy Scripture.

Jesus reminds us that “In the beginning of time, humanity was created male and female” (Mt 19:4), complementing each other. This serves as an icon for all right relationships.

St. John describes Jesus’ changing of water into wine as “the beginning of his miracles” (Jn 2:11). These miracles continue to this very day for those who would see them.

St. Paul connects our holiness and fidelity to the truth with “the beginning” (cf. 2 Th 2:13). He also teaches that we must share with the world our knowledge of Jesus Christ, as he refers to him as “the beginning” (cf. Col 1:18-28).

Righteous living, cooperation with God’s (miraculous) actions, remaining holy within the true faith, sharing that faith, are all part of being fully alive – signs of beginning. In this way, we may realize that, in the words of the Broadway musical “Purly,”: “The world ain’t comin’ to an end, my friend. The world’s just comin’ to a start.”

This knowledge is the source of our hope as we note losses and disappointments. This knowledge is the source of hope for our church. This knowledge is the source of hope for the world. We are for beginning, not ending.

This is why we may image Jesus Christ as an infant. This is why we use the word “is” rather than “was” when we proclaim: Christ is born! Glorify him!

Bishop John Kudrick is the Bishop Parma, Ohio. www.parma.org

VATICAN CITY, DEC 15, 2006 (VIS) - Today, Benedict XVI received His Beatitude Antonios Naguib Patriarch of Alexandria for Catholic Copts who is officially visiting the Holy See for the first time since his election in March of this year.

In his French address, the Pope asked the patriarch to give his greetings to all the bishops, priests, and faithful of his patriarchy, as well as to Cardinal Stephanos II Ghattas, Patriarch Emeritus of Alexandria.

VATICAN CITY, DEC 14, 2006 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican, following their private meeting and after each had pronounced a public address, the Pope and His Beatitude Christodoulos, archbishop of Athens and of all Greece, signed a Joint Declaration in the presence of members of the archbishop's Greek delegation and of Catholic representatives.

"We, Benedict XVI, Pope and Bishop of Rome, and Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and of all Greece, in this sacred place of Rome, ... wish to live ever more intensely our mission to bear apostolic witness, to transmit the faith, ... and to announce the Good News of the birth of the Lord. ... It is also our joint responsibility to overcome, in love and truth, the multiple difficulties and painful experiences of the past."