Catholic-Orthodox Lecture
Date: October 17, 2023
Speaker: George Demacopoulos

Lecture Description: In November of 2004, just a few months before he died, Pope John Paul II sat beside Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew for an ecumenical prayer service at St. Peter's Basilica that included the official return of the relics of St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom to the Church of Constantinople. The exchange gave new breath to the Orthodox/Catholic dialogue that was, at that time, stalled on a number of fronts. In the nearly twenty years since that exchange, there have been many positive ecumenical developments. But as the world has changed, new challenges for each tradition have made the cause of unity appear all the more difficult. Drawing on his more than twenty years of research and teaching, Dr. George Demacopoulos will survey the current state of the Orthodox/Catholic dialogue and explain why he remains hopeful for the cause of Christian unity.