Foundation Events

The thirtieth Orientale Lumen Conference gathered Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, and Roman Catholic theologians, hierarchs, and scholars at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C. After three decades of dialogue, the conference takes stock of a moment of genuine theological convergence — the agreed statements of Ravenna, Chieti, and Alexandria on primacy and synodality — and asks what comes next.

The central question is no longer whether consensus is possible, but how that convergence is to be received and embodied in the life of the Church: how the primacy of the Bishop of Rome is to be understood within a synodal ecclesiology, how that ministry can serve unity without diminishing the authority of patriarchs and synods, and what safeguards allow unity to respect legitimate diversity. A particular focus falls on the challenge of reception — carrying agreements beyond dialogue commissions into liturgy, pastoral life, and governance — and on how the renewed Catholic emphasis on synodality might guide the next phase of ecumenical engagement.

The conference continues the ecumenical vision that defined the life’s work of James Likoudis, whose Foundation joins as a co-sponsor.

The Foundation's Book Club brings together experienced and amateur scholars to read and discuss the works of James Likoudis, beginning with one of his most important contributions to ecumenical dialogue, The Divine Primacy of the Bishop of Rome and Modern Eastern Orthodoxy. Alongside the reading, the Foundation is developing a companion seminar series featuring leading scholars on papal primacy and Catholic–Orthodox relations.