Cardinal O’Malley Urges Catholic and Orthodox Christians to Pray Together for Unity

Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, retired Archbishop of Boston, encouraged Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians to pray together for reunification at a joint conference focused on healing the nearly 1,000-year schism between the churches. “Come together and pray for unity,” he said at the event, hosted by the Orientale Lumen Foundation at the retreat house for the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, July 13-15.

Speakers included Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox bishops, and a few dozen laity and clergy focused on ecumenism attended. Along with Cardinal O’Malley, speakers included Archbishop Flavio Pace, secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and Metropolitan Tikhon Mollard, primate of the Orthodox Church in America.

Cardinal O’Malley named “praying together” as one of the most important concrete steps toward integrating Catholic and Orthodox communities (Psalm 133:1). Shortly before his speech, Catholic and Orthodox clergy, including Cardinal O’Malley, Archbishop Pace, and Metropolitan Mollard, prayed daily vespers together in the form used in Eastern churches. The cardinal said unity will ultimately be a gift granted by Christ, coming about “how he wills (it),” and said he considers joint prayer crucial because the Holy Spirit will “illuminate the way” toward East-West communion.

In his address, Cardinal O’Malley voiced concern about the disunity of Christianity, which he said “weakens our ability (as Christians) to proclaim the Gospel with coherence and authority.” He recalled his early work in the 1970s with the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, which was deeply involved in missionary work in Papua New Guinea. Although he was not a missionary there himself, he described conversations with colleagues working with people who were accepting Christianity in large numbers. He said that when new converts learned about the various Christian denominations, many felt “sad and embarrassed,” and that while many Christians view disunity as “normative,” the people of Papua New Guinea correctly recognized it as “scandalous.”

Cardinal O’Malley said Catholics should see Orthodoxy as the “greatest possibility of success” in this task, and noted that the two share “so many saints and devotions” and are more similar to Catholics in theology than any other Christian community. He expressed joy that many Orthodox churches send representatives to meetings held by the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and that the Catholic Church sent representatives to the Orthodox Council of Crete in 2016. He nonetheless encouraged a stronger bond, urging the bodies to “consider the possibility of joint pastoral letters or statements” on shared concerns such as world hunger, euthanasia and abortion. He also said they should establish joint committees to organize common prayer, study sessions and works of mercy.

Describing his vision of unity, Cardinal O’Malley said it would be “communion without absorption,” and that there is a difference between “unity and uniformity.” He said the Eastern Catholic Churches offer a model, calling them “bridges for reconciliation and laboratories for synodal communion.” He acknowledged that Rome’s relationship with the Eastern Catholics was not always perfect, noting historical attempts at forced Latinization, and said there is an opportunity to work more closely with them in ecumenical efforts, with “greater respect for their uniqueness.”

Metropolitan Mollard, speaking from the Orthodox position, echoed the cardinal’s desire for unity and his sense of pain over continued separation. “It affects the faithful in the parishes and how they live their lives,” the metropolitan said, adding that the divide may “encourage us all to not just reach out and educate but really inspire in people that faith in Christ and love for the church can drive” the path toward unity.

Cardinal O’Malley told EWTN News that ecumenism requires “different groups that would be Catholic and Orthodox, working together,” and that church leaders should be “letting people know the progress that has been made in the dialogue.”

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