In Search of "Clarifications"

by Christopher A. Ferrara

       As the Practicing Christian oversees the systematic expulsion of Catholic clergy from Russia, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow - a Catholic diocese in but not of Moscow! - is still in search of "clarifications." As reported by Zenit (October 7, 2002), Kondrusiewicz says that "In the quest for dialogue among Christian confessions in Russia, the terms that cause division must be clarified. …"According to Zenit, Kondrusiewicz told the SIR press agency that "Polish-born Bishop Jerzy Mazur and some Catholic priests were expelled from Russia ‘for no reason at all’. In the present context, ‘it is urgent to clarify and reach an agreement on the theological principles of respective positions in regard to the concepts of mission, proselytism and canonical territory. Along this line, the ecumenical movement itself must develop in a spirit of charity, truth and justice, keeping in mind the concrete situation in which it must act.’"

        Blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH. Doesn’t the man get it? The expulsion of Bishop Mazur and the priests from Russia was not "for no reason at all"; it was motivated by implacable hostility toward the one true Church. No amount of "ecumenical dialogue" is going to change the fundamental fact that Russia is in need of the miraculous religious conversion prophesied by Our Lady of Fatima. What the Catholic Church needs in Russia is a miracle, not a "clarification" from the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

        But Kondrusiewicz is undaunted by reality. No, ecumenism must go on - even if no one has any idea what ecumenism really is or what exactly it is supposed to produce in the way of "Christian unity." Thus, Kondrusiewicz declares that "despite the present difficulties in our relations with the Orthodox Church, the day will come when we will glorify God together and we will help to build a new civilization of love, based on the principles of the Gospel, reciprocal respect and charity." Reciprocal respect? Implicit in that very phrase is the notion that the Russian Orthodox Church will never cease to exist apart from the Roman Catholic Church, and that somehow, in a fabled "civilization of love," the two distinct religions will live together in a "unity" that would be something other than unity in the Catholic Church in submission to the Vicar of Christ.

        Such is the confusion that cripples the Church militant in this time of unparalleled ecclesial crisis. It is precisely this confusion that will be dispelled if, and when, the imperatives of the Fatima Message are finally heeded.