AGREED STATEMENT ON PROSELYTISM

Sophia Center, Kottayam, 10 October 2003

1. The Catholic Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church are engaged in a fraternal dialogue, aiming at the restoration of Eucharistic Communion between them.

2. This dialogue is based upon and presupposes a spirit of true charity, rooted in total fidelity to the one Lord Jesus Christ and in mutual respect for each ones’ ecclesial traditions and institutions.

3. This spirit of true charity and respect excludes all forms of proselytism, in the sense of acts by which persons seek to disturb each others’ communities by recruiting new members from each other through methods which are opposed to the spirit of Christian love or because of attitudes which are contrary to what should characterise the cordial relationships between Churches.

4. The members of the Joint International Commission for Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church strongly disapprove the publication of articles and public pronouncements which are not in tune with the ecumenical spirit of our dialogue or with the present teaching of both the Catholic Church and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church on their relation as sister churches.

5. Frequent contacts at all levels of Church life should help avoid words, articles, homilies, instructions and attitudes, which might inflict wounds on each others’ Churches, on their leaders and on their faithful.

                                    H.G. Mar Joseph Powathil                                            H.G. Philipose Mar Eusebius
                                            Co-chairman                                                                Co-chairman
                                          Catholic Church                                               Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

Information Service 114 (2003/IV) 196