Dialogue

Members of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission in chapel at the University of Central America in San Salvador, El Salvador in October 2025

The international Methodist-Catholic dialogue is a formal, international theological conversation aimed at fostering unity, mutual understanding, and reconciliation between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church. Changes in the Catholic Church’s teaching on ecumenism at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) permitted the Catholic Church to officially engage in dialogue with Churches from the Reformation, including the Methodist churches. Pope Paul VI in 1966 invited the World Methodist Council – the international family of Methodist and Wesley churches – to formal dialogue. The World Methodist Council, meeting in London in 1966, accepted the invitation with the joint dialogue commission with the Catholic Church first meeting in 1967.

The dialogue can be characterized as moving Catholics and Methodists from polemics to partnership to pilgrimage toward Christ.

Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission

A permanent joint commission – called the Joint Commission for Dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church or informally the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission (MERCIC) – was constituted to engage in dialogue on behalf of their Communions. The commission is comprised of 16 members – 8 Methodist and 8 Catholic – who are senior church leaders or scholars in a wide range of fields, including systematic theology, church history, canon law, and practical theology. The commission works in a five-year cycle, meeting annually in-person for the first four years and online in the final year. At the beginning of each new phase, a topic is selected and developed during the succeeding 5 years, leading to a comprehensive report. Each report seeks to identify convergences, divergences, and areas where more time is needed for prayer and accompaniment. Eleven reports have been published by the joint commission on topics like the Eucharist, authority, ecclesiology, and apostolicity, in addition to two synthesis documents.

The current theme for the 12th round of dialogue (2022-2027) is unity, diversity, and mission.

The Commission is made up of:

Methodist Members

Rev. Prof. Edgardo A. Colón–Emeric (Co-Chair), United States of America
Rev. Matthew A. Laferty (Co-Secretary), Methodist Ecumenical Office, Rome
Dr. Jung Choi, Korea/United States of America
Rev. Prof. Blanches de Paula, Brazil
Prof. Geordan Hammond, United Kingdom/United States of America
Rev. Prof. Glen O’Brien, Australia
Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri, Malaysia
Prof. Lilian Cheelo Siwila, Zambia/South Africa
Bishop Lizzette Gabriel Montalvo, Puerto Rico (2022 meeting)

Catholic Members

Archbishop Shane Mackinlay (Co-Chair), Australia
Rev. Martin Browne OSB (Co-Secretary), Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Rome
Prof. Catherine E. Clifford, Canada
Rev. Prof. Gerard Kelly, Australia
Sr. Prof. Mary Sylvia Nwachukwu DDL, Nigeria
Rev. Prof. Daniel Franklin Pilario CM, Philippines
Rev. Prof. Jorge Scampini OP, Argentina
Dr. Clare Watkins, United Kingdom
Rev. Anthony Currer, United Kingdom (2022 and 2025 meetings)