Aid to the Church in Need: Russia: Standing together to combat relativism

Russia: Standing together to combat relativism

Posted by Press Release on 24/11/2008, 8:23 am
Message modified by board administrator 24/11/2008, 5:22 pm

ACN News, Monday, 24th November 2008

RUSSIA

Standing together to combat relativism

By John Newton

A MEETING between the leaders of a Catholic charity and a leading Russian Orthodox prelate has been hailed as an important step forward in ecumenical co-operation aimed at stemming the tide of secularism.
The senior representatives of Aid to the Church in Need met in Moscow with Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad to express the need for joint action to oppose the creeping spread of relativism.
Concerns about developments in modern culture were a key theme of the meeting between Metropolitan Kirill, who is chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department of external church relations, and the ACN delegation led by international president Father Joaquín Alliende and secretary general Pierre-Marie Morel.

(Metropolitan Kirill, head of the external affairs office of the Moscow patriarchate, receiving a gift of a crucifix from the ACN delegation)

During the discussions, which also involved ACN vice president Dr Pieter van der Velden, and Peter Humeniuk, head of the charity’s Russian projects, there was wide agreement on the need for a common position defending Christian ethics and the Christian world view, against a decline in moral values and growing moral relativism.
Mr Humeniuk, who was presented with a medal for outstanding work by Metropolitan Kirill, said afterwards: “When we speak of co-operation over secularism, relativism, hedonism, bio-ethics, dignity of life, traditional family values and so on, we talk about a kind of bridge between the two churches.”
He went on to describe how this is achieved by strengthening the relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church in accordance with the charity’s priorities for Russia, which are the formation of priests and seminarians, and contact with Orthodox academies.
During the meeting with Metropolitan Kirill, Fr Alliende expressed delight at the growing trust between ACN and the Russian Orthodox Church.
He also underlined the charity’s commitment to continue supporting the Russian Orthodox – as well as the Catholic Church in Russia – and developing east-west relations.

(ACN-President Father Joaquin Alliende, with an orthodox priest and Archbishop Evgeniy, head of the committee for education of the Russian-Orthodox Church and rector of the seminary and theological academy at Sergiev Posad, Pieter van der Velden, ACN’s first vice-president, Pierre-Marie Morel, secretary general of ACN and Peter Humeniuk , head of Russian section with ACN)

Last May, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said that ACN’s work was central to promoting relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.
Both Catholic and Russian Orthodox leaders have expressed concerns about relativism in recent years with Patriarch Alexy II calling on the need to tackle “negative anti-Christian tendencies” in Europe.
Shortly before his election to the Holy See, Pope Benedict XVI spoke out against the “dictatorship of relativism, which does not recognise anything as definitive and has as its highest value one’s own ego and one’s own desires”.
In an ACN-funded initiative last April, the Pope appeared on Russian state television and underlined the importance of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches working more closely.
Last year, ACN gave over $4 million to support Church communities in Russia, prioritising help for the Catholic Church but also some giving help to the Russian Orthodox Church as well as ecumenical projects.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Sydney office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org