Now this is good news, and a stated focus of Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate. Beyond the five points needed to overcome prejudices and divisions held by both the Catholic and Orthodox faiths, I really enjoyed the overall challenge posited by Cardinal O’Connor:
Cardinal Kasper laid down five challenges for both Churches: purification of historical memory — admitting sins and seeking forgiveness; overcoming mutual ignorance, prejudices and lack of understanding; the mutual exchange of gifts (such as synodality); strengthening cooperation in order to speak with a single voice to secularised Europe; recognising that the path to full community is a spiritual process.
On Monday, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, urged faith communities to forge a “spiritual humanism of peace”. Speaking on the anniversary of the 11 September terrorist attacks on the United States, the cardinal addressed the fears caused by recent terrorist atrocities in London, saying: “Our task is to challenge the ideology of the crucifier with the faith in the Crucified.”
Wow. Powerful stuff, and just the kind of thing Christians need to hear in the face of both Western secularism and Islamic fundamentalism.