Meetings of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation and the Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops

The 96th meeting of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation and the 27th meeting of the Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops took place at the Saint Methodios Faith and Heritage Center in Contoocook, New Hampshire, from May 28 to 31, 2019. The Consultation was co-chaired by Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, and Metropolitan Methodios of Boston. The Joint Committee was co-chaired by Metropolitan Methodios and Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston.

During the meeting, the members of the Consultation reviewed once more their draft agreed statement entitled, “The Vocation and Mission of the People of God.”  There was also an in-dept discussion of the 2018 document produced by the St Irenaeus Catholic-Orthodox Joint Working Group, “Serving Communion: Re-Thinking the Relationship Between Primacy and Synodality.” The Consultation and Joint Committee each devoted considerable time to reflections on the meaning of synodality in our churches. In addition, the implications of the breakdown of relations between the Patriarchates of Constantinople and Moscow were discussed.    

The two groups also studied at length a proposal to draft an expanded and updated version of the Joint Committee’s 1990 document, “A Pastoral Statement on Orthodox/Roman Catholic Marriages,” often referred to simply as the “Johnstown Statement.” This proposal will be studied in more detail at the next meeting of the Consultation, scheduled to take place near Baltimore in late October.