Author: meorome

The Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission – the official joint commission between the World Methodist Council and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity – concluded its 11th dialogue round on 27 March 2021. The 11^th round of dialogue began in October 2017 with a Papal Audience to celebrate the dialogue’s semicentenary.

The 11^th dialogue round focused on the theme of reconciliation, exploring God’s reconciling work in Christ, reconciliation with one another through faith in Christ, rites and practices of reconciliation, and the church’s ministry of reconciliation in the world.

The commission’s final report – “God in Christ Reconciling” – will be published later this year with a launch event in Rome in late autumn.

The Commission’s members are:

Catholic:
Bishop John Sherrington (Co-Chair), England
Reverend Anthony Currer (Co-Secretary), Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
Dr Catherine E. Clifford, Canada
Reverend Dr James Denis Edwards, Australia (2017-2019)
Reverend Dr Gerard Kelly, Australia (2019-2020)
Bishop Shane Mackinlay, Australia (2019-2020)
Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, India (2017-2018)
Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu, Ghana
Reverend Dr Jorge Scampini O.P., Argentina
Dr Clare Watkins, England

Methodist:
Reverend Dr David M. Chapman (Co-Chair), Great Britain
Reverend Dr Karen B. Westerfield Tucker (Co-Secretary), USA
Reverend Dr Edgardo Colón-Emeric, USA
Reverend Dr Trevor Hoggard, Great Britain
Bishop Chikwendu Igwe, Nigeria
Reverend Dr Priscilla Pope-Levison, USA
Reverend Dr Hermen Shastri, Malaysia
Dr Lilian Cheelo Siwila, South Africa

In a virtual encounter this morning, the Reverend Matthew A. Laferty, the director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome and the Methodist representative to the Holy See, met Sr. Patricia Murray IBVM, the executive secretary of the Unione Internazionale delle Superiore Generali (UISG), along with UISG formation programme officer Claudia Giampietro. During their one hour meeting, they discussed several topics including the work of MEOR and UISG, the Methodist-Catholic dialogue, role of women in the church, and peacebuilding. MEOR and UISG are neighbors, being located across the street from each other.

The Reverend Matthew A. Laferty, the director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office and the Methodist representative to the Holy See, met the Most Reverend Fr. Michael Brehl CsSR, superior general of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, in a virtual encounter today. The congregation is also known as the Redemptorists. They discussed several topics including the work of their institutions, Catholic religious life, Methodist worldwide presence, and similarities between Methodist founder John Wesley and Redemptorist founder St. Alphonsus Liguori.

In a virtual encounter today, the Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, and Bishop Rosemarie Wenner, Geneva Secretary of the World Methodist Council, met Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, vice moderator of the World Council of Churches central committee, to discuss the work of the World Council of Churches, programs from the Geneva and Rome offices, and ways to strengthen the Methodist/Wesleyan engagement in international ecumenism.

The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, MEOR director and Methodist representative to the Holy See, met H.Em. Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Vatican’s Discastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, with other dicastery officials to discuss the work of Methodists and Catholics in the areas of peacebuilding, migration, and creation care. This Vatican department “promotes the integral development of the person in light of the Gospel and in line with the Social Doctrine of the [Catholic] Church” and gives “attention to taking care of the goods of justice, peace and the safeguarding of Creation, as well as issues regarding disarmament, human rights, human mobility, health, charitable works, expressing the concern and attention of the Pope towards a humanity that suffers, among whom are the needy, the ill and the excluded.” Cardinal Turkson served on the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission from 1996-2006.