Aide: (Catholic) Church Plays Key Role in Dialogue in Cuba
July 12, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · 1 Comment
VATICAN CITY, JULY 11, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The announcement of the upcoming release of political dissidents in Cuba, an event in which the Church played a vital role, is a significant step for the Caribbean nation, says a Vatican spokesman. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, said this in the most [...]
How about a good Catholic story?
May 26, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · 4 Comments
This post isn’t intended to cheer-lead the Catholic Church, but to show the kind of ministry we Orthodox could also be doing. We do some very good things (FOCUS, IOCC, etc.) but imagine what a clearer focusing of goals and resources could accomplish. Watch the interview and get inspired. Here the Catholics are a good [...]
A Holy Alliance between Rome and Moscow Is Born
May 24, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · 4 Comments
Again, almost incomprehensible just a few short years ago. Highlight: “The common objective: the “new evangelization” of Europe. A delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church visits the Vatican, which publishes an anthology of the patriarch’s writings. A meeting between Kirill and Benedict XVI keeps getting closer.” by Sandro Magister Chiesa Espresso ROME, May 24, 2010 [...]
Vatican Hosts Russian Concert
May 24, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · Leave a Comment
Pope John-Paul II, long before the fall of Communism said that the spiritual renewal of Western Europe would come from Russia. These were prophetic words as it turns out, but at the time many culture watchers thought they were the idealistic ramblings of a dreamer. Who would have thought just a few short decades ago [...]
Metropolitan Hilarion to visit Italy
April 19, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · 58 Comments
Moscow clearly has taken the lead in world Orthodoxy. +++++++++++++++++ Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, will visit Italy from May 14th to 20th, 2010, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. The programme of his stay will include a visit [...]
As We Move Towards Unity
April 14, 2010 by Fr. Gregory Jensen · 11 Comments
The Crumbling of America and the American Orthodox Church The real institutional danger facing Orthodoxy in American arises less from malfeasance and more from reasonably well-intentioned individuals making decisions without a sense of their own limits and the frailty of the Church as a social institution. On Holy Saturday, Peggy Noonan published an interesting and [...]
Dialogue on Katyn Massacre between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches
April 11, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · 1 Comment
This is a compelling interview, although the promise towards reconciliation it offered may be delayed, or worse, cut short, with the terrible airplane crash of Polish dignitaries near Moscow yesterday. They were flying to Russia to commemorate the Katyn Massacre (called “tragedy” below), and, if the interview below is accurate, look for some common ground [...]
Russia brings music to Constantinople on “The Three Romes” tour
March 27, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · 5 Comments
They also performed at Agia Irene (St. Irene) Church Museum. (From the Russian National Orchestra website.) ++++++++++ Orthodox and Catholic churches unite with music TV-Novosti Russian spiritual music was ringing out in Istanbul last night as part of a major international project aimed at uniting the main centers of Christian culture. The project is the [...]
Cardinal Levada: Union with the Catholic Church is the goal of ecumenism
March 9, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · 7 Comments
A summary of a recent speech from a Catholic Cardinal who argues that all ecumenical activity should lead to a reconciliation of all Churches with Rome. Read the full text of the speech. Orthodoxy is only mentioned in terms of the “Eastern Catholic” practices. +++++++++++++++++++++++ In a lengthy address delivered in Canada on March 6, [...]
Patriarch of Constantinople´s New Encyclical Defends Catholic-Orthodox Dialogue
February 22, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · Leave a Comment
The Catholic take on +Bartholomew’s Sunday of Orthodoxy encyclical. Caveat: I am a columnist for Catholic Online. ISTANBUL, Turkey, (CNA Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople´s newest encyclical encourages dialogue between the Orthodox Church and other Christian churches and laments those who are “unacceptably fanatical” in challenging such dialogue. He specifically condemned the false rumors spread about [...]
Patriarch Kirill & Pope Benedict: A Tale of Two Leaders for a new Missionary Age
February 11, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · 33 Comments
I’ve been asked to become an Orthodox columnist on Catholic.org and accepted. Below is my first essay. Regular readers will notice ideas we discussed on the AOI Observer. +++++++++++++++++ Catholic Online (www.catholic.org) NAPLES, FL. (Catholic Online) – Over four decades ago Pope John Paul II said that the restoration of the Russian Orthodox Church was [...]
Church has right to bring Gospel values to public debate, pope says
February 3, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · Leave a Comment
Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholic teaching and the truths of the Gospel have a right to be heard in public debate, especially in a country where so many people claim to be Christian, Pope Benedict XVI told the bishops of England and Wales. However, the church must recognize dissent within its own [...]
“The Pope Is the First Among the Patriarchs.” Just How Remains to Be Seen
January 25, 2010 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · Leave a Comment
ROME, January 25, 2010 – This evening, with vespers in the basilica of Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls, Benedict XVI is closing the week of prayer for Christian unity. There are some who say that ecumenism has entered a phase of retreat and chill. But as soon as one that looks to the East, the [...]
Der Speigel interviews Abp. Hilarion (Alfeyev)
December 30, 2009 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · Leave a Comment
Ed. The secularized west meets the Orthodox east. From the Russian Orthodox Church Department of External Church Relations website. +++++++++++++++++++ Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations, answered questions from Der Spiegel magazine. Below is the text of the talk His Eminence Hilarion had with the magazine’s correspondents. [...]
WOF Survey Trends In US Religion — Who are the “Nones”?
May 5, 2009 by Fr. Johannes Jacobse · Leave a Comment
Roman Catholic priest Fr. Robert Barron offers a sociological analysis on the emergence of the “Nones” — the people who eschew atheism but avoid churches. HT: Frank Johnson










