GENEVA (CNS): Differences in moral teaching, especially regarding sexuality, are straining the unity of Christian communities and challenging efforts to overcome divisions among Christians, said a Catholic cardinal and an Armenian Orthodox Catholicos.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Armenian Catholicos Aram I of Cilicia, who is moderator of the central committee of the World Council of Churches, spoke at a November 17 celebration in Geneva, Switzerland on the 40th anniversary of the joint working group of the council and the Catholic Church.
The catholicos said the 40 years marked “a journey of confidence building” as Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants learned more about one another and about the faith they hold in common.
The Catholicos said that in the first 40 years of its existence the joint working group focused on areas where it was clear co-operation was possible.
Cardinal Kasper agreed that changes should be made to the joint working group, especially in response to the fact that “the ecumenical movement is today clearly in a transitional period” when Christians recognise each other’s faith and are forming unions, but also face the danger of ignoring serious doctrinal differences out of impatience for unity.
While theological discussions continue, Cardinal Kasper said, Christians must engage in more “practical ecumenism” by praying together, serving the poor and speaking out together on social, political and moral issues that affect human life, dignity, peaceful co-existence and the preservation of creation.
