Rather than the sometimes complex issues of ecumenical dialogue between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, it was the much-loved former auxiliary bishop of Perth, Robert Healy, who was the focus of a special event marking a a decade of east-west Christian friendship.
Fond memories of Bishop Healy, the first Catholic patron of the Catholic Archdiocesan Taskforce for Catholic-Orthodox Bridge-building, came to the fore at St John’s pro-Cathedral, on Victoria Street, Perth, when Orthodox and Catholic members of the taskforce came together for its 10th anniversary on 19 November.
Since being formed in 2001, CATCOB, a little known organisation with a small membership, has pulled off some major coups, including facilitating exchange visits between students in Orthodox seminaries in Athens and their counterparts at St Charles Seminary in Guildford.
The visits were remarkable because such things have been almost unheard of globally in previous years. The first took two years to organise and is now a fully functioning programme valued by both Churches at the highest levels.
Taskforce convenor Philip Shields welcomed Orthodox and Catholic clergy and laity to the tiny pro-cathedral, noting the primary aim of the group over the past 10 years had been to facilitate greater interaction between Catholic and Orthodox believers.
It was, he said, an extraordinary body within the archdiocese that depended on prayer and courageous risk-taking rewarded with new friendships between Catholic and Orthodox and a falling away of the fear of “getting too close”.
Orthodox delegate Susana Dimitrakos said Bishop Healy, who died in 2002, was a father to the fledgling group and showed special warmth to the Orthodox Churches.
He had been honoured as a newly ordained bishop by being invited to sit on the episcopal throne at the first ecumenical service in an Orthodox Church in the late 1970s.