Category: News

The World Methodist Council (WMC) joined religious leaders, civil society organizations, and governments in condemning the coordinated attack on worshippers at St. Francis Catholic Church. According to the latest reports, as many as 50 may be dead, including children, and scores are wounded.

Bishop Ivan Abrahams, general secretary of the World Methodist Council, said: “Gunning down innocent people celebrating the Feast of Pentecost is a cowardly and sacrilegious deed.” He further expressed condolences to the bereaved families and called for prayers for those wounded in the attack.

The WMC notes the increased number of attacks and kidnappings by armed groups, especially in the northeast of Nigeria, where more than 40,000 have been killed and more than a million people displaced.

We urge the Nigerian authorities to act decisively in apprehending the perpetrators to see that justice is done through the courts

The Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome was pleased to host a group of Methodist seminarians from the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education in Birmingham, UK, from 30 May to 1 June 2022. The Queen’s Foundation is a theological training college of the Methodist Church Britain and the Church of England.

The group was comprised of 6 students and 1 tutor. Of the 6 students, 5 students are training for presbyterial ministry in the Methodist Churhc in Britain and 1 student in the Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches in Italy.

During their visit, the group met with officials from the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy, the Centro Pro Unione, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Sant’Egidio Community, and the Venerable English College in Rome. Additionally, the group met H.E. Mr Chris Trott, the British ambassador to the Holy See, and Rev. Mirella Manocchio, president of the Methodist Churches in Italy.

The group also participated in the General Audience with Pope Francis on 1 June as well as toured the Basilica of St. Paul’s-Outside-the-Walls which holds the tomb of Apostle Paul.

Cover photo: The group with Prof. Teresa Francesca Rossi, deputy director of Centro Pro Unione. Photo by Matthew Laferty.

On Friday, 20 May 2022, the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome organized a tour of the Grand Mosque in Rome which is the largest mosque in Europe. The mosque can accommodate 2,500 worshippers and has a vibrant multicultural community. The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, led a delegation from Churches Together in Rome, an ecumenical association of Protestant and Catholic foreign language communities in Rome, on the tour. Thank you Imam Nader for the warm welcome and extensive tour.

The Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome cordially invites you to a symposium entitled

Newman’s Significance Today

on St. John Henry Newman

and a book launch of

Newman in the Story of Philosophy

by Rev. Prof. Daniel PRATT MORRIS-CHAPMAN
Minister of the Ponte Sant’Angelo Methodist Church in Rome
Visiting Professor at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome
Research Fellow of Wesley House Cambridge (UK)
Chairperson of Churches Together in Rome

Thursday, 16 June 2022 at 15:30 (Rome time)

Aula Newman
Pontifical Urban University
Via Urbano VIII 16, 00165 Rome

There will be lectures by the following

• Prof. Fred AQUINO on “Newman and Contemporary Epistemology”
• Prof. Luca TUNINETTI on “John Henry Newman and the Quest of Certainty in Modern Epistemology”
• Prof. Gerald WHELAN SJ on “Newman and Lonergan”
• Archbishop Ian ERNEST on “Newman and the Anglican Tradition”
• Prof. Daniel PRATT MORRIS-CHAPMAN on “Newman and the Methodist Tradition”

The event will be in-person in accordance with current Covid regulations.

The event will be live-streamed via Zoom. Click here to register to watch the event online via Zoom.

Questions? Email us at events [at] meorome.org

The Rev. Dr. JC Park, president of the World Methodist Council, issued the following statement on 18 May 2022

On behalf of the World Methodist Council, I wholeheartedly endorse the WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Sauca’s Statement on COVID-19 crisis in the DPRK.

The WMC also endorses the WCC’s call for a centralized and coordinated approach to the
international response, through the UN, and for any obstacles presented to this response by
the current sanctions against the DPRK to be lifted as a matter of fundamental ethical and
humanitarian responsibility.

The WMC strongly calls for a peacemaking summit between President Biden and President
Yun on May 20, 2022. Korea in particular and East Asia in general need real peace, not a
new Cold War and even a ‘hot peace’ which wages war in the name of peace. The WMC
reaffirms its commitment to the Roundtable for the Peace on the Korean Peninsula and will
continue to work together in solidarity with Ecumenical Forum for Peace, Reunification and
Development Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula.

The WMC strongly calls for a peacemaking summit between President Biden and President
Yun on May 20, 2022. Korea in particular and East Asia in general need real peace, not a
new Cold War and even a ‘hot peace’ which wages war in the name of peace. The WMC
reaffirms its commitment to the Roundtable for the Peace on the Korean Peninsula and will
continue to work together in solidarity with Ecumenical Forum for Peace, Reunification and
Development Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula.