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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
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Encourage Members to Respect Parishes and Liturgies
JERUSALEM, FEB. 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic bishops of the Holy Land wrote a letter welcoming the Neocatechumenal Way, giving indications for its work in the area.
"Brothers and sisters of the Way: You are welcome in our dioceses," the bishops wrote in their letter released Sunday. "We thank God for the grace the Lord has given you and for the charism that the Holy Spirit has infused in the Church through your ministry of post-baptismal formation.
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English translation by Igor Radev
Beijing - At the Orthodox parish of the Dormition of Most Holy Mother of God on the grounds of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in PRC in the city of Beijing during the entire first week of Great Lent, Divine Services were celebrated in the Red Fangzi building. On an invitation from the parishioners, priest Alexy Kiselevich from Shanghai arrived.
February 19-22—on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the first week, the evening service was celebrated accompanied with the reading of the Great Canon of Repentance by St Andrew of Crete. The services were attended by the employees of the Russian Embassy in the People's Republic of China as well as by the Orthodox believers living in Beijing.
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Aid to the Church in Need Is Marking 60th Anniversary
MOSCOW, FEB. 22, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II congratulated Aid to the Church in Need and its president, Hans Peter Röthlin, on its 60th anniversary.The Germany-based international Catholic charity reported the letter from the patriarch of Moscow and All Russia today.
The "selfless help for the Church in difficult material situations has gained the charity high respect and recognition in the whole Christian world," the Orthodox patriarch wrote. "I myself remember with joy the personal encounters, in 1992 and 1994, with the founder of the international charity, Father Werenfried van Straaten."
Aid to the Church in Need, which has national offices in 17 countries, is under the authority of the Holy See.
In his letter, Alexy II expresses his gratitude for the "inestimable help" with which Father van Straaten assisted the Russian Orthodox Church "to find a normal life after so many years of persecution under an atheist regime."
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"Problems and Prospects"
ROME, FEB. 24, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is the speech delivered in English by the theologian for the Pontifical Household, Dominican Father Wojciech Giertych, at the conclusion of the international congress on natural law organized by the Pontifical Lateran University.The congress was entitled "The Moral Natural Law: Problems and Prospects," and took place Feb. 12-14.
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New Prospects for the Application of the Natural Moral Law
1) Difficulty with question
I have been asked to speak today about new prospects for the application of the natural moral law. I have some difficulty with this question as it was proposed to me.
What is it that the organizers of today's conference are hoping for? Does the question maybe suggest a hidden deception caused by the widespread rejection of the concept of the natural moral law in the ethical culture of the Western world? Is the invitation to speak on this topic a desperate call to hope that the theory of the natural moral law will once more be universally recognized as valid and useful? Are we really seeing signs of a new renaissance in which the theory of the natural law is being excavated not as a mere archaeological artifact of a past metaphysical period of history, but as a useful tool enabling us to explain and justify the needed foundations of morality, and is it really my task to announce this rediscovery with joy?
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Greek Catholics in Russia Need Separate Church Structure, Ukrainian Bishop AgreesNovosibirsk – A meeting including a bishop and a priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) recently held in Novosibirsk, Russia, concluded that the country’s Greek Catholics need a separate church structure. ugcc.org.ua posted the story on 12 February 2007.
The meeting gathered 18 Catholic priests of the Byzantine rite who minister in Russia. They discussed and resolved issues of pastoral care for their faithful.
This was the fifth meeting of the priests since 20 December 2004, when Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Werth was appointed ordinary for Catholics of the Byzantine rite in Russia.
Bishop Stepan Meniok, representative of the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC and exarch of Donetsk and Kharkiv, Fr. Vasyl Hovera, a UGCC priest who is apostolic visitor for Greek Catholics in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, Fr. Cyril Vasil, vice-rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute and dean of the Faculty of Eastern Canon Law, and Fr. Alexey Dolgov of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church participated.
They discussed the problem of the government’s refusal to register Greek Catholic parishes in the structure of Roman Catholic dioceses. The participants of the meeting see only one solution: to have a separate church structure for Catholics of the Byzantine rite. With time, such a central religious organization could register the Greek Catholic parishes. According to the participants, registration is needed for the normal life and further development of the religious life of Greek Catholics living in Russia.
Source:
http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;14307/
http://www.ugcc.org.ua/ukr/press-releases/article;4794/
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VATICAN CITY, FEB. 12, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is the report issued at the conclusion of the fourth meeting of the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. The meeting took place Jan. 28-Feb. 3 in Rome.
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The fourth meeting of the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches took place in Rome from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, 2007, under the co-chairmanship of His Eminence Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and His Eminence Metropolitan Bishoy of Damiette, secretary-general of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The meeting was originally scheduled to take place in Lebanon at the kind invitation of His Beatitude Patriarch Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir of the Maronite Church. Regrettably, the political situation in that country did not allow the members to meet there at this time. Instead, the meeting was held in Rome at the new offices of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.