Bishop Alvarez: Roman Catholic Church Hinders Ecumenism

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2008/7/25/bishop-alvarez-roman-catholic-church-hinders-ecumenism

[The Living Church] 28 Jul 2008--The Roman Catholic Church is regressing in its ecumenical overtures to the Anglican Communion under Pope Benedict XVI, said Bishop David Alvarez of Puerto Rico at a July 25 Lambeth Conference media briefing. The theme of the bishops’ small group discussions was “Serving Together: The Bishop and Other Churches.”

The Roman Catholic Church is one of 36 ecumenical guests at Lambeth, and official messages from the Holy See during the conference have been consistent in urging the Anglican Church to heal its internal divisions and honor apostolic tradition. At times this message has been formal, such as in the letter written by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, and published in the July 19 ecumenical service booklet. Other times the message has been sharp, such as when Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, spoke derisively during a plenary group on July 22 about some churches falling into “spiritual Alzheimer’s” and “ecclesial Parkinson’s.”

The message Friday during an afternoon self-select group session was a gentle one delivered by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster. He said the search for unity was worth the effort, but that “new tensions only slow the progress.”

But Bishop Alvarez said that what had been “a very good process even under Pope John Paul II” has changed under the new pope.

“They are the ones who are the obstacles,” Bishop Alvarez said, contending that Pope Benedict was placing too much emphasis on issues such as the ordination of women and homosexuals, which were not issues decided during the Church’s first seven ecumenical councils. “My concern is that they open themselves to dialogue instead of just saying this is wrong.”