Orthodox-Catholic dialogue to touch upon social doctrine

30-09-2008

Moscow, September 29, Interfax – Joint search for settling social problems will be the main topic of the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue at its new stage.

“The Church pays attention to the social doctrine and tries to help harmonize relations between business and society,” deputy chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Bishop Mark of Yegoryevsk stated at a round table in Moscow.

According to him, the Russian Church started participating in social relations actively in late 1990s while “the Catholic Church was involved in it several decades ago,” and “it was our response to the events in Russia and in the world.”

Presentation of L'Etica del Bene Comune nel Pensiero Sociale della Chiesa (The Ethics of the Common Good in the Social Thought of the Church), by the Vatican’s State Secretary Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone took place in frames of the round table. Bishop Mark believes publishing of this book with preface by Metropolitan Kirill is “a beginning of the new stage when we are not only speaking about theological differences, but witness to our shared Christian values.”

“The theme of common good is not as simple as we’d like to think,” DECR deputy chair Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said. According to him, “a Christian must remember that every man should care not only for earthly, material good, but first of all should seek spiritual values and eternal life.”

He explained that under globalization people of different social systems with different models of ideal society would start influencing politics and economy and “we have to teach them to live together.”

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