Bishop Noonan at St. George
In the 38 years that Father John Hamatie has presided over St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church, he has never had a Catholic bishop step inside his downtown Orlando church. In all his years as a Catholic priest, Orlando Bishop John Noonan has never been inside an Orthodox church.
Tuesday, Hamatie and Noonan came together, along with leaders from Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal, and nondenominational churches for a Christian Unity prayer service at St. George. The Orlando Catholic Diocese has been inviting Christian faith leaders to a unity service since 2008, but this was the first time it took place in a church outside the denomination.
“This happens in other communities. It hasn’t happened in Orlando before,” Hamatie said. “To me, them all coming to St. George’s is like all of us have come home.”
Hamatie and Noonan, whose churches are just blocks apart, shared hymns, blessings, prayers — and a sense of humor. Hamatie quipped that the crowd of 300 people was more than he usually sees on a Sunday. Noonan responded to Hamatie’s theory that barbarians invading Eurpose were responsible for the original split between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox church.
“My ancestors were probably some of those barbarians that cause all this division and all these problems,” Noonan said. “Please forgive me.”