Category: News

The Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission is seeking applications and member suggestions for new Methodist members for a new dialogue round beginning in 2022. The Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission is the official theological dialogue body between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church. The commission has a long and accomplished history of fostering greater understanding internationally as Methodists and Catholics seek unity in Christ through faith, mission, and sacraments.

The 16-member commission has 8 Methodist members and 8 Catholic members. The commission meets in-person each year, usually in October, for a week-long meeting that is marked by joint prayer, conversation and dialogue, and friendship. The commission selects a theme each cycle as the focus of their work and, historically, produces a comprehensive theological report which bears the fruit of dialogue. The next dialogue round will last approximately five years. The first meeting of the next round is tentatively scheduled for 2-9 October 2022 in Rome, Italy.

Persons interested in serving as a Methodist commission member should be:

• Fluent in English as English is the official language of the commission
• Conversant in Wesleyan theology
• Willing to travel internationally and attend all meetings
• Able to write papers or theological texts
• A member-in-good standing of a World Methodist Council member church

The commission is seeking a diverse pool of nominees who engender the diversity of the World Methodist Council. The commission is especially seeking applications and suggestions of women, persons from the Wesleyan Holiness movement, and persons from the Global South.

Commission nominees will be approved by the Ecumenical Relationships Committee of the World Methodist Council and affirmed by the WMC Steering Committee.

The selection committee is seeking suggestions and/or applications. To offer suggestions and/or applications to be a member of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission, please send suggestions or applications (a letter of interest and CV) to the Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, at director@meorome.org by 11 February 2022.

Please contact Rev. Laferty if you have any questions.

The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, spoke to Andy Dye in the Methodist Church Britain’s Global Relationships Office in a short interview on 22 November 2021. Rev. Laferty is a mission partner of the Methodist Church in Britain.

How would you summarize your work as a Mission Partner?

My work is to promote dialogue between Methodists and other Christians, to provide education on how to engage ecumenically and to share the work that Methodists are doing ecumenically, particularly with Catholics.  Also to provide hospitality for Methodists passing through Rome.

Why is the Methodist Ecumenical Office in Rome important for Methodists in Britain and Ireland?

In a place where Methodists are a minority, the work of dialogue and understanding is critical.  It is a way of trying to mirror the experience of Methodists here. In scripture, the prayer of Jesus is, ‘May they be one….so that the world may believe’ – its part of our mission imperative.  It is also a way to deal with the difficult issues that have divided Christians for so long.

While you have been a Mission Partner in Rome, what has been your greatest challenge?

Eating too much pasta!  But seriously, the office is still a newcomer in Rome.  We are the new kid on the block, we started in 2014, so in Rome a lot of the work is convincing people that Methodists have something interesting to bring to conversations and gifts to contribute in ecumenism. On a personal level adjusting to culture and ways of going about things is very different from my previous work in Austria.

What impact do you feel you have made?

Continuing to build on the core relationships and strengthen them.  Covid has even helped us, to give us time to focus on these core relationships and use technology in useful ways.  We have been developing other programs, including webinars that everyone can access and understand the work more widely.

How do you think that God is guiding you in your work?

I have started a Thursday prayer group with an Anglican colleague.  I am good at work items, less good at prayer and I have sensed a calling back to prayer with colleagues is important.  Calling us back in to prayer with one another. Its significant that the week of prayer for Christian unity is the highlight of the ecumenical calendar.

What has surprised you most of all?

It is so hot!  It’s important to prepare for the three changes of shirt days, especially in meetings that might include people like the pope!  The goodwill toward me and toward the office is also surprising, I was expecting people to keep me away from things, but actually, in the main, from cardinals to those interested in social issues, people are open to hearing a Methodist point of view. 

From 23-24 November 2021, the joint theological dialogue commission between Methodist Church in Britain and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland met at Oscott College in Birmingham, England, UK, to discuss the hierarchy of truths and Wesley’s writings on central doctrines and opinions as well as Catholic synodality and Methodist conferencing. MEOR director the Rev. Matthew A. Laferty is a member of the commission and attended the meeting. MEOR co-chair the Revd Michaela Youngson is also a commission member and preached during Tuesday’s Catholic Mass.

The highest Synodal Assembly of The United Methodist Church in Poland has released a statement appealing to Christians and other people of good will to provide help for those in need on the Polish Belarusian Border, stating that as Christians and Polish citizens, “we cannot remain silent when we see how a part of our country has become a place of humanitarian crisis affecting men, women and children, and among them also the sick and traumatized.”

They call on “members and sympathizers as well as all people of good will to engage in initiatives to support the victims of the humanitarian crisis on the Polish borders and to pray for those whose duty it is to ensure security and peace in our homeland.”

The European Methodist Council issued a statement on 19 November 2021 saying,

As members of the European Methodist Council, we offer our full support to the United Methodist Church in Poland for the release of this statement and for their call to prayer and action. Additionally, we support our church members in the countries bordering Belarus – Poland, Latvia and Lithuania – as they seek to help those who have been impacted by this crisis. We invite Methodist, Wesleyan and United Churches in Europe to join with our member churches in Poland, Latvia and Lithuania in prayer. We ask the governments in the countries bordering Belarus to give access to the Red Cross to provide support for victims. We appeal to the European Union to make every effort to solve this situation.

The European Methodist Council

Read the full statement from The United Methodist Church in Poland in English or in Polish.

The Reverend Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, attended a Sung Eucharist service at All Saints’ Anglican Church in Rome on Remembrance Sunday, 14 November 2021. In additional to ecumenical guests, several members of the diplomatic community were also in attendance. Members of the Armed Forces and their families and those who have lost their lives as a result of conflict or terrorism are remembered.

All Saints’ Anglican Church in Rome is a chaplaincy of the Diocese of Europe of the Church of England.

Pictured: Fr. Robert McCulloch of the Missionary Society of St. Columban, Archbishop Ian Ernest of the Anglican Centre in Rome, Fr. Robert Warren of All Saints’ Anglican Church in Rome, Rev. Laferty, and Fr. Bob Hayes of Domus Australia