VATICAN REPRESENTATIVE TO SPEAK IN CHICAGO
ABOUT SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL DECREE ON ECUMENISM 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 30 – Archbishop Quigley Seminary Auditorium
CHICAGO (September 28, 2004) – His Eminence, Walter Cardinal Kasper, President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will speak in Chicago about the 40 th anniversary of the issuance of Unitatis Redintegratio, the Decree on Ecumenism issued by the Catholic Church during the Second Vatican Council, at 7 p.m. this Thursday evening, September 30, at Archbishop Quigley Seminary Auditorium, Rush and Pearson streets.
The Secretariat (later Pontifical Council) for Promoting Christian Unity was established by the Catholic Church in 1960 to engage in ecumenical work on behalf of the Catholic Church internationally with the goal of restoring unity among Christians.
Unitatis Redintegratio was proclaimed by His Holiness, Pope John XXIII, on November 21, 1964, within the framework of the Second Vatican Council. The Decree’s introduction proclaims that “the restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council” and notes that division among believers in Jesus Christ “openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.”
Cardinal Kasper’s talk will be offered as part of the 2004 Ecumenical Seminar sponsored by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. Cardinal Kasper, 71, was appointed President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in March of 2001. A native of Germany and a priest for 47 years, Cardinal Kasper served for ten years (1989-1999) as the Archbishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart in Germany. He was elevated to the rank of Cardinal in February of 2001.
