성모 마리아가 교회일치의 걸림돌이 된다는 이야기는 일부 개신교에 국한된 말입니다.  저는 우리가 성모 마리아에 관한 몇 가지 교리를 양보한다고 해서 그들과 일치를 이룰 수 있을거라 생각하지 않습니다.  그리고 교리는 우리가 임의로 양보할 수 있는 성격의 것이 아니죠. 

오히려 성모 마리아는 교회 일치의 걸림돌이 아니라 특히 모슬렘 형제들과 동방교회 형제들과의 대화에 있어 강력한 역할을 발휘할 수 있을거라 믿습니다.

모슬렘들은 예수님의 신성과 삼위일체 교리를 신성모독으로 간주합니다.   혹시 모슬렘들과 대화할 기회가 있으신 분들은 조심하세요.  무척 화를 냅니다.  일부 극단적인 사람들은 해를 입히려 달려들지도 모릅니다.  그런 모슬렘들도 성모신심을 갖고 있습니다.  풀톤 쉰 대주교님께서도 말씀하셨듯이 순례하는 파티마 성모상에 대한 공경을 모슬렘 사원 앞에서 할 수 있도록 허용할 정도니까요. 

성모 마리아를 알아보는 모슬렘들은 언젠가 성모 마리아를 통하여 예수님을 알아 볼 수 있을거라 믿습니다.  베들레헴에서 태중의 아드님 예수님을 모시고 있던 성모님을 받아들였던 사람들은 잘 인식하지 못했겠지만 예수님도 함께 받아들고 있었고, 출산할 곳을 찾고 있던 성모 마리아를 거부했던 사람들은 예수님마저 거부하고 있었던 것과 마찬가지로 말입니다.

동방 교회 형제들은 동방 정교회 공통 전례서에 “오 하느님의 어머니시여, 우리를 구하소서”라는 기도문이 나올 정도로 성모신심이 강합니다. 서방에 거의 알려지지 않은 사실이지만 동방 정교회 바르톨로메오 총대주교는 1998년 사순 회칙에서 구원에 있어 하느님 어머니의 역할에 대하여 발표하기도 하셨습니다. 

이렇듯 성모 마리아가 교회 일치에 걸림돌이라는 생각은 잘못된 인식입니다.  주로 서방 부자 나라들에 국한되어 있고 세속화된 문화에 젖어 있는 개신교와의 일치만에만 유독 집중하는 것은 너무 편향된 노력인 것 같습니다.  시각을 널리하여 아름다운 성모 신심의 전통을 갖고 있고 주로 가난한 나라들에 널리 퍼져 있으며 전세계 종교 인구의 상당 부분을 차지하고 있는 모슬렘 형제들과 동방 교회 형제들과의 일치에 더 많은 노력을 기울여야 할 때라 생각합니다.   개신교 형제들과의 일치 노력보다 훨씬 더 많은 결실이 있을 거라 믿습니다.

풀톤 쉰 대주교님께서 쓰신 "마리아와 모슬렘들"이라는 글을 소개해 드립니다.  풀톤 쉰 대주교님 시복 시성 운동이 요즘 한창 일어나고 있다는 말씀도 덧붙여 드립니다. 

주님과 성모님 안에서 기쁘고 행복한 나날 되시길 빕니다.^^ 

Moslemism takes the doctrine of the unity of God, His Majesty, and His Creative Power, and uses it as a basis for the repudiation of Christ, the Son of God.

Misunderstanding the notion of the Trinity, Mohammed made Christ a prophet only.  The Catholic Church throughout Northern Africa was virtually destroyed by Moslem power and at the present time (circa 1950), the Moslems are beginning to rise again.

If Moslemism is a heresy, as Hilaire Belloc believes it to be, it is the only heresy that has never declined, either in numbers, or in the devotion of its followers.  The missionary effort of the Church toward this group has been, at least on the surface, a failure, for the Moslems are so far almost unconvertible. The reason is that for a follower of Mohammed to become a Christian is much like a Christian becoming a Jew. The Moslems believe that they have the final and definitive revelation of God to the world and that Christ was only a prophet announcing Mohammed, the last of God’s real prophets.

Today (1950), the hatred of the Moslem countries against the West is becoming hatred against Christianity itself. Although the statesmen have not yet taken it into account, there is still grave danger that the temporal power of Islam may return and, with it, the menace that it may shake off a West which has ceased to be Christian, and affirm itself as a great anti-Christian world Power.

It is our firm belief that the fears some entertain concerning the Moslems are not to be realized, but that Moslemism, instead, will eventually be converted to Christianity – and in a way that even some of our missionaries never suspect. 

It is our belief that this will happen not through the direct teaching of Christianity, but through a summoning of the Moslems to a veneration of the Mother of God. 

This is the line of argument:

The Koran, which is the bible of the Moslems, has many passages concerning the Blessed Virgin. First, the Koran believes in her Immaculate Conception and in her Virgin Birth. The third chapter of the Koran places the history of Mary’s family in a genealogy that goes back through Abraham, Noah, and Adam. When one compares the Koran’s description of the birth of Mary with the apocryphal Gospel of the birth of Mary, one is tempted to believe that Mohammed very much depended upon the latter. 

Both books describe the old age and the definite sterility of Anne, the mother of Mary. When, however, Anne conceives, the mother of Mary is made to say in the Koran: "O Lord, I vow and I consecrate to you what is already within me. Accept it from me."

When Mary is born, her mother, Anne, says: "And I consecrate her with all of her posterity under thy protection, O Lord against Satan!"

The Koran has also verses on the Annunciation, Visitation, and nativity. Angels are pictured as accompanying the Blessed Mother and saying, "O Mary, God has chosen you and purified you, and elected you above all the women of the earth."

In the nineteenth chapter of the Koran, there are forty-one verses on Jesus and Mary. There is such a strong defense of the virginity of Mary here that the Koran, in the fourth book, attributes the condemnation of the Jews to their monstrous calumny against the Virgin Mary.

Mary, then, is for the Moslems the true ‘Sayyida, or Lady. The only possible serious rival to her in their creed would be Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed himself. However, after the death of Fatima, Mohammed wrote: "Thou shalt be the most blessed of all the women in Paradise, after Mary."  In a variant of the text, Fatima is made to say, "I surpass all the women, except Mary."

This brings us to our second point, namely, why the Blessed Mother, in this twentieth century (1950), should have revealed herself in the insignificant little village of Fatima, so that to all future generations she would be known as "Our Lady of Fatima."

Nothing ever happens out of heaven except with a finesse of all details. I believe that the Blessed Virgin chose to be known as "Our Lady of Fatima" as a pledge and a sign of hope to the Moslem people, and as an assurance that they, who show her so much respect, will one day accept her Divine Son, too.