NEWS AND VIEWS: Ukrainian issues at the "Europe of Dialogue" convention in Gniezno (10/16/05)

NEWS AND VIEWS

Ukrainian issues at the "Europe of Dialogue" convention in Gniezno

by José Casanova

The Sixth Gniezno Convention, dedicated to the theme "Europe of Dialogue: Being a Christian in a Pluralistic Europe," took place in Gniezno on September 16-18. The interfaith dialogue between Jews, Christians, and Muslims; the ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches; the dialogue between the European Union and the Christian Churches; the future of religion and the dialogue between Christian and secular people in Europe; the dialogue between nations, particularly Polish-German reconciliation and the place of post-Communist East and Central Europe in a United Europe were among the prominent themes of the plenary panels of the convention.

The morning session on September 17 was dedicated to the dialogue between the Christian Churches, with the participation of Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity; Bishop Wolfgang Huber, president of the Council of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church in Germany; and Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria and a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European institutions.

In his presentation "Can Europe Breathe with One Lung?" Bishop Hilarion stated that the ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches was developing positively. He said he was optimistic that the few serious theological issues dividing the two churches could be solved in the not too distant future.

However, Bishop Hilarion repeatedly emphasized that "Uniatism" was the main stumbling block in the dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church. But, without waiting for the resolution of those differences he proposed "a strategic alliance" (from which he explicitly excluded the liberal Protestant Churches) against liberalism, relativism, secularism and atheism on moral and social issues on which both Churches, according to him, were in full agreement.

In the panel discussion, Bishop Hilarion once again attacked "Uniatism" and lamented the violent behavior of the Uniate faithful in Halychyna after the fall of communism when he said they forcefully and illegally appropriated Orthodox church properties. Even more vehemently he criticized the recent "inexplicable" move of Uniate "headquarters" from Lviv to Kyiv, arguing that the purpose of such a provocation could only be an expansionist plan of aggressive proselytizing of Uniatism beyond its "habitat."

In the final panel on Sunday afternoon, "Central Europe in the United Europe," the prospects of Ukraine joining the European Union in the future became one of the most debated issues. Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko, who had been scheduled originally to participate in the panel, was replaced by Myroslav Marynovych, vice-president of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, once it became known that President Yushchenko would be in the United States. The Polish representatives on the panel, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, former prime minister, and Wladislaw Bartozewski, former minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Poland, spoke emphatically, with full support of the large Polish audience, of the need for Ukraine to join the European Union.

The German representatives, former Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the chairman of the EPP-ED Group in the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, were more cautious, however, and spoke of the need to first complete the ongoing phase of integration of the EU's new 10 members.

José Casanova is professor of sociology at The New School for Social Research in New York. He took part in the Gniezno convention on the panel "A Post-Christian Continent or a New Springtime of the Church? What is the Future of Religion in Europe?"

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