[Apologetics] Is Catholic-Orthodox Unity in Sight?

[Art Kelly]

Bret, 
 
Can you imagine the Eastern Orthodox allowing the Pope to appoint their bishops?  
 
Remember, the Catholic Church is mad at China over this very issue.  The Chruch is not about to say, hey, it's OK for the Eastern Orthodox churches (if they were in communion with Rome) to appoint their own bishops but not for the Patriotic Catholic Church in China.
 
Apart from the Papacy, there are a number of other significant theological differences between Catholics and Eastern Orthodoxers: Purgatory, the Eucharist (they don't believe in transubstantiation per se and haven't defined exactly what they believe), the Immaculate Conception, the origin of the Holy Spirit, and divorce and remarriage, to name just a few.
 
I don't know if these issues have already been solved and we haven't heard about it or if there is some way they can be solved.
 
But with God, all things are possible.  (Gospel of St. Matthew 19:26)
 
Art
--- On Thu, 9/17/09, Bret Bellamy <bbellamy at mindspring.com> wrote:


From: Bret Bellamy <bbellamy at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: [Apologetics] Is Catholic-Orthodox Unity in Sight?
To: "Art Kelly" <arthurkelly at yahoo.com>, "Apologetics Group" <apologetics at gathman.org>, "Jim Murphy" <jmurf80 at bellsouth.net>
Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009, 9:05 AM



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Hmmmm.  I've heard a number of rumors and "teasers" about this over the years.  I'm not sure it'll happen quite yet.  There are still issues between the two faith communities, and I think many Eastern Orthodox will oppose any type of union short of Catholics saying the Pope is first among equals, that on a number of things the Catholic Church went off the rails, that Catholics were wrong and Orthodox were right, etc.  The Orthodox members I recall from some 10 years ago on Dave Armstrong's old forum were pretty vehement that any "unity" would pretty much involve Catholics saying "we were all wrong and you were all right", and scraping and bowing to the Orthodox with much mea culpaing all over the place.  Besides a lot of Orthodox groups would consider any Orthodox-Catholic unity as a total sellout and condemn those that did particpate as no longer Orthodox but heterodox.  Some of the extreme Orthodox groups make anti-Catholic fundamentalists look
 positively friendly.

Don't think this will happen yet.  Shame, because if what I've seen of the Byzantine Catholic Rite is any indication, the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy is one of the most beautiful forms of worship.

My two cents,

Bret



-----Original Message----- 
From: Art Kelly 
Sent: Sep 16, 2009 8:16 PM 
To: Apologetics Group , Jim Murphy 
Subject: [Apologetics] Is Catholic-Orthodox Unity in Sight? 






Is Catholic-Orthodox Unity in Sight? http://www.ncregister.com/daily/catholic-orthodox_unity_in_sight/#When:15:10:59Z


Art



      
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