NEWS 

Church gives ground to Muslims

Metropolitan Of Siatista Passed Away

Committee for the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox and the RCatholic Churches Meets in Rome


REPORTS 

The War Against Christmas

Lines drawn in battle over Christmas

'Tasteless' Christmas attacked



NEWS 

Church gives ground to Muslims

Τhe Holy Synod of the Church of Greece issued a statement saying that it would support the building of a Muslim cemetery and a mosque in Attica.

As a result, the Church will give up land it owns in the area of Schistos, western Athens, for the building of a Muslim cemetery, the Holy Synod said. The decision was made out of respect for “the needs of the muslim people in Athens, since this is what our Church teaches us; to show our love and help to all people — without discrimination — who are God’s creatures.”

The Church of Greece also said it was in favor of the creation of a mosque in Athens. The only official Muslim cemeteries and mosques in Greece are in the northeast of the country in Thrace. Plans to build a mosque in Paeania, east of Athens, were approved in 2000 but the project has stalled since.

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Metropolitan of Siatista Passed Away

Antonios, Metropilitan of Siatista (Northern Greece), passed away on Friday, December 16. He was an ascetic figure, rested on the values of the Orthodox tradition, with tireless efforts for the faithfull flock. May his memory be eternal!

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Coordinating Committee for the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox and the RCatholic Churches Meets in Rome

From 13 to 15 December 2005 the Coordinating Committee of the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches gathered in Rome to resume the discussions that had been interrupted in 2000 because of the disagreement on the issue of uniatism.

The Coordinating Committee is co-chaired by the co-presidents of the Joint Commission Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Metropolitan John of Pergamon (Patriarchate of Constantinople).

The Catholic members of the Committee are Archbishop of Korfu, Zante and Kefalonia Ioannis Spiteris, Bishop of Nanterre Gérard Daucourt, titular Archbishop of Abitine Brian Farrell, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Mons. Piero Coda, Rev. Prof. Dimitri Salachas, Rev. Dr Paul McPartlan, Rev. Fr Frans Bouwen, Rev. Dr Theresia Hainthaler, Mons. Eleutherio F. Fortino (co-secretary of the Commission).

The Orthodox members of the Committee include Metropolitan Makarios of Kenia (Patriarchate of Alexandria), Metropolitan Pavlos of Aleppo, Veroias and Alessa (Patriarchate of Antioch), Prof. Dr George Galitis (Patriarchate of Jerusalem), Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria (Patriarchate of Moscow), Bishop Ignatie of Branchevo (Patriarchate of Serbia), Bishop Petronius of Salaj (Patriarchate of Romania), Archbishop Basileios of Trimythous (Orthodox Church of Cyprus), Bishop Athanasios of Achaia (Church of Greece), Metropolitan Ambrosius of Helsinki (Autonomous Church of Finland), Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima (Patriarchate of Constantinople, co-secretary of the Commission).

On 15 December the members of the Coordinating Committee were received in private audience by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

At beginning of his address, the Pope expressed his happiness at the resumption of dialogue following years of "serious internal and external difficulties." The Holy Father pointed out that the renewed dialogue will consider two aspects: "On the one hand, eliminating the remaining differences, and on the other, upholding the fundamental desire to do everything possible to re-establish full communion, which is so essential for the community of the disciples of Christ, as the preparatory document of your work makes clear."

"We must seek out God's will," the Pope went on, "though it may not correspond to our simple human projects. We must achieve full unity of the Church and reconciliation among Christians, even at the cost of submitting our own will to the will of the Lord." Benedict XVI stressed that, in order to advance along the path of unity, we must "ask the Lord's help ... because unity is above all a gift of God," and "invite all Christians to joint prayer."

The communiqué of the meeting of the Coordinating Committee stated: 'At the meeting it was agreed that, in continuity with the Commission's previous agreed statements, the overall context of the Commission's work is the theology of koinonia or communion, and that this context needs to be strengthened by further study so as to enable the further discussion of two interconnected matters central to relations between the two Churches, namely the primacy of the Bishop of Rome and the issue of "uniatism"'.

The plenary meeting of the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church is scheduled to take place in Belgrade from 18 to 25 September 2006.

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REPORTS 

The War Against Christmas

For an overwhelmingly Christian country which prides itself on freedom of expression, removing "offensive" Christmas trees and censoring school Santas may seem curious. But as far as American public institutions are concerned, it is not Christmas but the "holiday season".

Any school, public library, university or government building which at this time of year crosses the constitutional boundary between church and state - be it simply through singing Silent Night or erecting a nativity scene on the lawn - risks being the target of a lawsuit.

So, the joy of Christmas is being eroded by a group of politically-correct lobbyists who are turning another great American cause - freedom - on its head with a particularly joyless form of censorship.

A professor, similarly upset by a Christmas tree in the hall of the law school at Indiana University, successfully campaigned for its removal earlier this month.

Professor Florence Wagman Roisman's stated aim was in part to make sure the university remained an inclusive area in which no-one felt offended or left out.

The tree is now gone, replaced by a "winter scene" whose main feature is snow and a sleigh - some of the few unoffending articles that remain. "It's very pretty," an eyewitness told BBC News Online. "I don't think anyone can get upset by this."

Nonetheless, Christian justice groups still perceive that their religion is under threat from left-wingers and secular thinkers who want to wipe Christianity from the American map.

This year they are throwing their support behind a Catholic New York mother, who is suing the city's school authorities over their failure to include a Christian symbol in a seasonal display which included the Jewish menorah and an Islamic crescent.

The authorities are apparently arguing that the Jewish and Islamic symbols are "historical", but a nativity scene is not. A request by BBC News Online for further explanation met no response.

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Lines drawn in battle over Christmas

Earlier this month, the official greetings card sent out by the President of the US stirred up controversy for omitting any reference to Christmas.

"The Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and... they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," fumed William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

Some 80% of Americans describe themselves as Christian, and about 96% celebrate Christmas. But having lost the battle against the so called secularists, millions of them use the phrase "happy holidays" instead of the traditional “Merry Christmas”.

One leading home improvement chain removed references to "holiday trees" from all its stores after being criticised by the American Family Association. The AFA and other groups are urging members to petition dozens of other major retailers that they accuse of stripping Christ from Christmas with phrases like "happy winter".

Meanwhile, at least 1,500 lawyers have volunteered to sue any town that tries to keep nativity scenes out of its holiday displays. Stores that refuse to acknowledge Christmas are being targeted by campaigners

About 8,000 public school teachers stand ready to report any principal who removes Silent Night from the choir programme.

Jennifer Giroux, co-founder of Operation: Just Say "Merry Christmas", said : "We just wanted to encourage Christians to have the courage to say 'merry Christmas' instead of 'happy holidays'. People are tired of being told not to celebrate Christmas, they are tired of the ACLU. This is just parents saying they want to preserve Christ in Christmas."

[based on BBC reports]

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'Tasteless' Christmas attacked

Christian symbols are being denigrated over the Christmas period, according to the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor.

"It seems incredible that Christianity, particularly Christmas, is displayed in a way that is so tasteless," he said. Christianity is "part of the mosaic of religion" in Britain, he added.

He told Radio 4's Today programme that Christians in Europe are "swimming against the stream" of secularism, but claimed that Britain has a different tradition.

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