The second group of Greek Orthodox seminarians to visit Perth in a seminarian exchange program, the first delegation in three years, have said goodbye to new Catholic friends.
PATIENCE and courage is needed to resolve long-standing tension between the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, St Charles Seminary Rector Mgr Kevin Long said after farewelling a visiting group of Greek Orthodox theology students on September 1.
Milutin Mihajlovic, Panagiotis and Georgios Tsioulos were the second group of Greek Orthodox seminarians to visit Perth after the establishment of links between the Archdiocese and one of Greece’s leading Orthodox seminaries, Rizarios Ecclesiastical School in Athens.
The international relationship developed in Perth under the auspices of the Catholic Archdiocesan Taskforce for the Catholic Orthodox Bridge-building.
Mgr Long said final Catholic-Orthodox reconciliation was clearly a long way off and depended on commitment from all involved.
“The Orthodox-Catholic reconcilation is a long journey that requires us all to have both patience and the courage to step forward to each other and spend time together," he said during the dinner.
The exchange program was a special and important occasion to do this he added, noting that the students had fitted in very well with the seminary’s program and had made many good friends among students.
St Charles seminarian Quy Lam, speaking for fellow students, said the experience had been special and they had enjoyed meeting their Orthodox confreres and sharing their own program of formation.
Panagiotis said that attending classes in Australia had been interesting and he had made many new friends.
He was particularly happy about his present for his ‘name day’ and birthday which were celebrated together – a T-shirt signed by all, including Archbishop Barry Hickey.
Milutin said he would miss his new friends and the chance to share Catholic and Orthodox liturgical music in the weekly choir sessions. Giorgios said that the friendship of the St Charles students and the experience of the exchange had been even better than they expected.
Nik Keskinides said the program had matured and grown; he was delighted the two groups of students had had a chance to meet each other and share backgrounds and opinions.
One of the exchange’s coordinators on the orthodox-side, Susana Dimatrikos, said she was glad this second encounter had taken place after a wait of five years due to the passing of the previous Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in Greece, Archbishop Christodoulos, whom the St Charles delegations had met twice.
The Greek students had a unique opportunity to benefit from the development of the program and she hoped that they would take back good experiences to friends and families in Greece.
At Perth International Airport later that evening were representatives of Catholic Youth Ministry and Greek youth, along with Serbian Orthodox Fr Zoran Ivanic and his wife, representatives of the 35-strong volunteer force and coordinators Susana Dimitrakos and Philip Shields.