Dubrovnik, (IKA) – For the first time, a meeting of Orthodox and Catholic men and women religious was held on Saturday, January 23, at the Pope John Hall in Dubrovnik. It was a unique opportunity for those in the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church who had chosen similar ways of life to become acquainted with each other and increase their mutual understanding.
Fr. Matijas Farkaš, the guardian of the Dominican monastery in the city of Dubrovnik, spoke about religious life among Catholics and presented a historical review of the origins of the men’s and women’s religious orders. The abbot of the monastery of Žitomislić, Fr. Danilo Pavlović, who had once participated in ecumenical prayers at the Vatican, spoke about the monastic way of life in Orthodox Christianity.
Life in Catholic monasteries and convents was described to the assembled by the Dominican Sister Blaženka Rudić of the convent in Korčula and by Sister Pavla Ćuzulan, the abbess of the monastery of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Trebinje.
Choirs of Catholic and Orthodox religious sang at the meeting. The moderator of the meeting was Fr. Ivica Pervan, the diocesan delegate for ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue.
This meeting was organized during the worldwide Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and in the Year of Consecrated Life in the Diocese of Dubrovnik. It was also a response to the initiative by Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter to All Consecrated People on the Occasion of the Year of Consecrated Life.
The participants of the first such meeting then went to the cathedral in Dubrovnik where they joined together in ecumenical prayer led by Bishop Mate Uzinić of Dubrovnik and listened to the homily delivered by Bishop Grigorije Durić of Zahumlje-Herzegovina.