The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, and the MEOR staff wish you and your loved ones a very merry Christmas. May God richly bless you in 2022!
“Come, let us with speed to Bethlehem go,
Methodist hymnographer Charles Wesley
The house of that Bread which God doth bestow:
To all He hath given and sent from above
The Banquet of Heaven, the Son of His love.”
Bishop Rosemarie Wenner, Geneva Secretary of the World Methodist Council, reported:
An audience of about 80 people attended a webinar jointly organized by the World Methodist Council and the Salvation Army on 20 November.
Salvation Army General Brian Peddle and the WMC General Secretary Ivan Abrahams both challenged the participants to take up the Wesleyan call to holiness and to witness Christ in the current age Looking back to the dialogue with the Salvation Army which ended 2011, the Methodist co-chair Rev. Paul Chilcote said: “Talking with Salvationists was like a reunion with cousins around the table.” He highlighted that the report which was adopted 2011 is “action oriented”, underlined by the remarks of Lieut. Colonel Karen Shakespeare, who was one of the Salvationists in the dialogue team. She said: “We have learned that entering into partnerships sometimes allows us to more fully and effectively serve with love and compassion, teach the truths of the gospel clearly, and work to bring about God’s mission in a wounded and broken world.”
According to the theme of the dialogue report: “Working Together in Mission: Witness, Education, and Service”, we were introduced to a joint work with migrants at the Mexican/US border. “We put the learnings of the dialogue into action before we knew that there was a dialogue”, Bishop Felipe de Jésus Ruiz Agui- lar from the Methodist Church in Mexico said. Together with the Salvation Army, Methodists distribute food and clothes, offer legal assistance, and accompany those who got stranded at the border. He and Major Gerardo Ortiz were convinced: “We can do more because we work together.” Rev. Glen O’Brien from the Uniting Church in Australia serves as researcher at an institution of the Salvation Army, Eva Burrows College in Melbourne. He reported of several colleges and universities where the WMC member churches and the Salvation Army are cooperating in the field of Theological Education.
An inspiring example of witnessing the faith is “Oasis Recovery Church” in Sheffield, UK. Andy Parkinson and Paul Huggins, both working within the Salvation Army, told us that the cooperation with the Methodist Church and other partners bears fruits: People feel at home at Oasis: “We all need recovery, …not only from substances, but from all areas of our lives including the ef- fects of COVID-19.” Oasis proves: Creating one congregation with members of different churches is possible, if there is a com- mon vision and a commitment to build up the kingdom of God, not just a denomination. The webinar was organized to recall the dialogue and share best practices for working together in God’s mission.
First Friday Letter, the World Methodist Council, December 2021
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:
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.
Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome 