"There cannot be peace in the world without peace between world religions."

-- Walter Cardinal Kasper

Honorary Degree

His Eminence Walter Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will be at Seattle University September 27, 2004 to accept an honorary degree. The Vatican's top ecumenical officer, in Seattle by invitation from the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher, will be awarded the doctorate of humanities in an afternoon ceremony - beginning at 3 p.m. in Campion Ballroom.

Cardinal Kasper has spoken across the world on a wide range of topics including the social context of religion in the United States, the different perspectives of diverse Christian churches, and the need for education to improve Jewish-Christian relations. The Cardinal is known for his message of unity, often saying, “There cannot be peace in the world without peace between the world religions.”

Under the leadership of Cardinal Kasper, the Council for Promoting Christian Unity has as its primary function guiding and serving the ecumenical activities of the Catholic Church and is also responsible for Catholic - Jewish relations. Among its numerous activities have been international theological dialogues with the Lutheran World Federation, the Anglican Communion, the World Methodist Council, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Pentecostals, the Disciples of Christ, evangelicals, the Orthodox churches, the Baptist World Alliance, and various Jewish organizations, including the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultation (IJCIC).

Kasper was chosen in 1979 as one of a dozen Catholic theologians to sit on the World Council of Churches' Faith and Order Commission, one of the most comprehensive theological forums in Christianity. In 1994 he was named co-chairman of the Lutheran-Catholic Commission of Unity and five years later was appointed secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in Rome. On May 3, 2001, Pope John Paul II named Kasper as its president, succeeding the retiring Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy. As president of the council, Kasper is also the president for the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews.

To find out more information about the ceremony to award Cardinal Kasper with a Seattle University honorary degree, please call 206-296-6100. Members of the media, please contact LeAnne Agne at 206-296-6114.

Walter Cardinal Kasper : His Leadership

Cardinal Kasper has a reputation as a gifted scholar and as a man of peace," said the Rev. Donald P. Senior, C.P., president of Catholic Theological Union in 2002. "He believes harmony among the religious traditions and the contribution of their values are essential to world peace, and he is committed to achieving understanding between people of all faiths. He has actively sought the building of bridges between Jews and Christians and specifically between Jews and the Catholic Church, and amid the controversy on the opening of the Vatican archives from the time during the Holocaust, he has taken a constructive and reconciling approach."

According to John Allen, Rome-based correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, Kasper possesses "a legendary ability to see all sides of a problem," a perspective he may have developed working as assistant to two theologically divergent thinkers, conservative Cardinal Leo Scheffczyk and liberal Hans Küng. Allen says Kasper balances values with reality. According to Allen, the congenial Kasper is popularly known as "Kasper, the Friendly Cardinal."

Konrad Reiser, secretary of the World Council of Churches, said, "Cardinal Kasper comes to this central position [as President of the Pontificial Council] of ecumenical leadership in the Roman Catholic Church with broad pastoral experience and sensitivity and after a distinguished career as a theological teacher."

Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, based in Geneva, said he was filled with great satisfaction to know that in the coming years Cardinal Kasper "will continue to be a decisive architect of ecumenism in the Roman Catholic church."

La Republica, a leading newspaper in Rome, stated, "The new president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is the right man to resume dialogue with Protestants affected by the declaration Dominus Iesus."

Cardinal Kasper and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity

The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity: Introduction

The Vatican webpage explaining the history and purposes of the Council.

A post-conciliar dicastery, this Council is the ecumenical arm of the Church, and its members work for the restoration of unity among Christians. It is also responsible for anything touching on relations between the Church and the Jewish religion. Its president is Cardinal Walter Kasper, a former student of both Cardinal Ratzinger and Hans Küng.

The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity : Directory

The Vatican webpage directory of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity with links to essays on the dialogue with Orthodox and Protestant churches.

World Council of Churches:The Faith and Order Commission

An essay introducing the Faith and Order Commission, the reason it was formed, and the questions on its agenda: the problem of divided churches; healing; fundamentals of the faith and order movement today.

The World Council of Churches; The Faith and Order Commission: Boundary Issues

Weblink that identifies and defines the boundaries between churches. Throughout the 20th century, Faith and Order explored a number of issues which the churches had identified as crucial to their own identities, marking them as distinctive from other communities. Such issues included: the nature of grace, the understanding of the sacraments, baptism, eucharist, ministry, the nature of the Church, and issues of intercommunion.

Faith and Order Commission: The World's Most Representative Theological Forum to Meet in Kuala Lumpur [August 2004]

Cardinal Kasper: Addresses, Homilies, Books, Travels

"The ecumenical movement is one of the bright spots of the past century"

-- Bishop Walter Kasper

Weblinks

"A Vision of Christian Unity for the Next Generation"

Address by Cardinal Kasper , May 24, 2003, from the newspaper Tablet.

Homily of Cardinal Walter Kasper

"Message of Unity" at Basilica of St Paul, 25 January 2004

Various Presentations and Contributions by President Cardinal Kasper

"Peace in the World, Dialogue among Christians and with other Religions"

Cardinal Kasper Travels to Jerusalem [May 24, 2004]

Cardinal Kasper in Jesusalem for Talks [May 24, 2004]

Cardinal Kasper in Rumania for Ecumenical Talks [May 10, 2004]

Cardinal Walter Kasper: Visit to Moscow and the Russian Orthodox Church [February 17, 2004]

Kasper Backs "Eucharistic Hospitality"

Kasper Issues Clarification on "Eucharistic Hospitality"

Books by Walter Cardinal Kasper Available @ Lemieux Library

Leadership in the church: How traditional roles can serve the Christian church today by Walter Kasper. (Tr.) Brian McNeil. New York: Crossroads, c2003. BX 1746.K345213 2003 @ Lemieux Library

Theology and Church. New York: Crossroad, 1989. BT75.2 .K3413 1989 @ Lemieux Library

Transcending all understanding: the meaning of Christian faith today by Walter Kasper [E-TEXT] (Tr.) Boniface Ramsey. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989 ALSO AVAILABLE IN PRINT AT LEMIEUX LIBRARY Call Number @ BT1102.K2813 1989

The God of Jesus Christ. New York: Crossroads, 1988 BT102. K33813 1988 @ Lemieux Library

Faith and the Future. New York: Crossroads, 1982. BT102.K33813 1984 @ Lemieux Library

An Introduction to Christian Faith. New York: Paulist, 1980. BT80 .K3713 1976@ Lemieux Library

Jesus the Christ. London: Burns&Oates; New York: Paulist, 1976. BT202.K313 1976@ Lemieux Library

Christians and Jews. [Edited by Hans Kung and Walter Kasper. New York: Seabury Press, 1975. BM535.C578 1975@ Lemieux Library

Polarization in the Church. New York: Herder, 1973. BR123.P62 1973@ Lemieux Library

The Vatican, The Pope and Ecumenism

"Cardinal Kasper's message of the world's need for Jews and Christians to continue to deepen their rapprochement is an important one for all of us"

--Jehuda Reinharz, President; Brandeis University

Weblinks

Ut Unum Stint [That They May Be One] On Commitment to Ecumenism May 25, 1995

Encylical of Pope John Paul II declaring his strong committment to ecumenism.

Nostra Aetate Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christians [1965]

Second Vatican Council, October 28, 1965.Considered a landmark document that ushered in an age of Jewish Catholic dialogue amd broke down religious barriers between Jews and Catholics.

DOMINUS IESUS: Declaration on the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church [2000]

Teasdale, Wayne S. “Interreligious Dialogue Since Vatican II.” Spirituality Today: Summer 1991 (also @ Lemieux Library)

Pope Sends Greetings to Rome's Jewish Community [May 24, 2004]

Christian Europe in Service to Humanity [May 10, 2004]

Pope John Paul II said that the Christian faith "represents the present and future of Europe."

"Ut Unum Sint": a response from Faith and Order to Pope's encyclical [Ecumenical Review, April, 1998]

Books Available @ Lemieux Library

No Religion is an Island: The Nostra Aetate Dialogues. [Edited by Edward W. Bristow] New York: Fordham Univ. Press, 1998 BM535 .N59 1998@ Lemieux Library

Thering, Rose, Jews, Judaism, and Catholic Education: Documentary survey report of Catholic institutions' implementation of 1965 Conciliar statement on the Jews, 1974 Roman Catholic guidelines/suggestions, 1975 U.S. bishops' statement on the Jews: prepared for the twentieth anniversary of the 1965 promulgation of Vatican II document Nostra Aetate. New York: Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, c1986. BM75 .T48 1986@ Lemieux Library

Challenges for InterFaith Dialogue: Russian Orthodox, Jewish, Protestant

In a speech delivered in Rome in October 2001, on the 36th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council's declaration on Judaism and other non-Christian religions, Cardinal Kasper said that the document's hope for a new age of brotherhood and respect is "stronger than the fears and the errors we have committed and will commit. Today, under the weight of sorrowful and horrible events of war, everything seems more difficult. From the city of Jerusalem, dear to the hearts and lips of every person of peace, to many other cities in the United States and around the world, it seems teaching the importance of inter-religious dialogue and respect for other religious traditionssuddenly has been overrun by current events. But this is precisely the moment to start again."

Weblinks

Orthodox Russian and Catholic Dialogue is Going Through Hard Times [January 20, 2004]

Moscow Reacts to the Vatican's Decision to Establish Catholic Dioceses in the Territory of the Russian Federation [January 2004]

Papal Primacy Still a Problem:Orthodox Patriarch [July 2, 2004]

Pope and Patriarch in Joint Declaration [July 1, 2004]

Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec Sees Hope for Christian Unity

Jesuit Journal, Civilta Cattolica, Outlines Limits of InterReligious Dialogue

Jesuit University, Creighton: Website for Interreligious Dialogue In The Context of Jesuit Ministries

Cardinal Kasper Says Russian Orthodox Have Led Dialogue into 'Blind Alley'

Opposing Viewpoints of the Work of the World Council of Churches

Interfaith Historians Commission Comes to An End

Finding bilateral agreement: the rules of the game [Ecumenical Review: July, 2003]