From Stand Firm:
By Matt Kennedy
Friday, July 25, 2008 • 7:22 am
The Archbishop of Canterbury is preparing to give a press conference. I will cover it live right here....stay tuned and keep hitting refresh.
There are more people in the press room this afternoon than I've seen since I've been here. Everyone seems abuzz with excitement. It's two minutes out and the ABC has yet to arrive.
Here he comes.
He’s flanked by Canon Kearon and Paul Feheley.
AB Aspinal steps to the podium. He's giving a run down of events for the day.
I've heard the concern this morning about getting a sense for what is happening in the conference. The ABC will reflect on the first hearing session tat happened a few days ago. but what is happening in the conference is only now beginning to emerge. People are gelling or not gelling and beginning to engage with each other and the material. Today you may get a sense for how things are heading.
Introduces the topic for today: ecumenism.
Today we have with us Archbishop Paul Sayah the MAronite Archbishop of Haifa
++Sayah: I am the maronite AB of Haifa and the Holy Land. I am originally from Lebanon. I am a member of the delegation of the holy see. Today I will be speaking in my own name and I will be happy to answer any questions about Jerusalem if you are inclined
I am honored and grateful to be here. Myself and also the ecumenical guests in general were very grateful for the hospitality and inclusion. WE came as observers and as soon as we arrived we were told no you are participates. This is the ecumenical spirit that we treasure. The level of relationships between the AC and the RCC…of course since 1966 there has been a process of dialog which started with a visit from Ramsey to the Pope and they affirmed that members of both bodies share common sentiments and they decided to inaugurate a series of dialogs based on the scriptures and our common traditions with the hope that such dialog may lead to visible unity in truth and love for which we all work and the lord prayed before he died. This lead to ARCIC which has done a lot of good work. Those discussions have not been without difficulty. What we shared made it possible to keep goring and going forward
As we went along we felt that this work should not be wasted and we wanted to see how to use it. In 2000 Carey and Cassidy met and they decided to test the ARCUM. We are trying to use the fruits of those dialogs and see how to use them for the ecumenical movement. We are not just talking to talk, we want the unity of the church. That commission was mandated to see how the fruits of dialog could be used. This means that we were and are willing to act together not just speak together. This is the attitude that will keep the dialog going despite our differences
We hope that both bodies will address the issues, ethical especially that emerge nowadays. When I was invited to this conference I was excited. I started praying more. I enlisted all of our ministers, priests and nuns to pray. I feel prayer is something really vital. So we are very eager to see this conference succeed and it is very important that I as a member of the Catholic eastern church join in prayer in solidarity with the AC on this occasion because I believe the unity will ultimately come as a gift from above a gift that our lord does not want to happen without our commitment.
ABC: I’ll try to be brief
1. ON the Narrative of the conference. As you have gathered on weds we had the fist open hearing wrt the WCG, That was crafted as an opportunity for everyone to make observations and lay out feelings and thoughts in order for reflection. In addition to the daily rhythm there is a deeper groundswell in other areas. Over the weekend there will be further work by those who are reflecting on the indaba process. Monday we will feed some of that back in
We’ve begun to grapple with the group work., yesterdays’ London event was a watershed. Next week we shall be looking at a lot of sensitive issues. As you have heard the indaba groups have worked systematically with varying degrees of comfort and success.
Generally more than 4 out of 5 of the groups are working as they should. Some have said there is too much detail in the groups and we have said that he groups are free to adjust
2. Yesterday’s event in London…everyone felt part of a remarkable occasion. We said something cellar and straightforward and heard something straightforward back.
3. Briefly just a word on ecumenical business. WE will be looking at the ARCUM document. WE have looked at the Anglican Orthodox discussion in which everyone disagreed with everyone. In the conversations I have had with a wide variety of people, your issues, are everyone’s issues. That is whit we are grateful to participate. It is not as if the AC alone has problems like this, you are dealing with them acutely and we need to be a part of that.
Q: The WCG published a document this morning about a fifth IU. Do you have any thoughts about that and can you tell us any more about it.
A: IT is a flag raised to see who salutes it. There is a strong feeling that there needs to be another structure to sort out the issues that are arising. I am enthusiastic about the idea myself but we’ll see how it flies
Q You said your issues are everyone issues. Paul how long before WO and SSB’s are issues in your church?
AB Sayah: They are there but these issues are dealt with in different ways in different churches. I do not know whether they will be burning issues or not. WE discuss them calmly and we are you know developing also mechanisms and ways for dealing with those problems that may be very different than the AC has.
Q This morning your statement on climate change was aired
A: I hope so
Q: You received a delegation of young people from a prelambeth conference, what was the important thing they broth to you
A: they challenge the bishops to make promises in the next year…to have a meeting with the people in the youth network and whether there should be youth representation in the bishops council. In the past few years we have had an annual youth day in which 100 youth have been invited
Q: integrity: How is the WCG process eve going on? The AC is not a church. And the Lambeth Conference has no authority. How are you going to create a Covenant and impose it on a communion hat is not a church
A: that is not what I said in my address. I am looking for consent not coercion but unless we have something we will be flying apart. We cannot just coexist there have to be protocols and convention by which we understand each other and cooperate. Can we find a consensual way to deal with this because no one has the authority to impose
The AC is not a Church. That is a moot point WE are not a federation nor are we the RC we are between that where we belong.
Q: One of your predecessors said: “Outward unity is only recovered so fast as inward life,” could you say something in relation to that and Cardinal Dias remarks about Alzheimer’s?
A I think what he was reminding us is that our past is not an embarrassment it is a resource. That came up this morning. Tradition is the charismatic memory of the church. Traditions are somewhat les important. The reminder was a timely one. The past is not something we can do without
Q: I would like to ask ++Sayah, you come from the Maronite rite. There are groups in the AC that would like to join the RCC. What is the position of the Vatican on this?
A: First you have asked about he Maronite church. We are the only marinate church that does not have an orthodox counterpart. IF you are asking about Anglicans applying to come to us the main principles is this., we are partners in dialog. We respect each other greatly. We respect everyone who inquires. This is an issue of conscience not one that you can take lightly. We deal with these with respect for the person and the community the person is leaving
DV: why was a deposed Ugandan bishops allowed to be present here and participate in the conference and the organization of it, how did this happen
A: I was not aware of this in advance.
Aspinall steps in and interrupts: that question has already been answered
Ruth: What do you hope the mood will be in the next few days and what do you hope will be in an ideal world
A: it is worth working and staying together, that this week will make people see that the unity and cooperation is not a small thing and its loss is not to be taken lightly.
Aspnalll thank you
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