Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome

The oversight committee of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome—the MEOR Forum—met online on Monday, 25 October 2021 to review the work of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome in 2020-2021 and discuss plans and finances for the coming year. The meeting was planned to take place in-person in Rome, but COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions made it impossible for all the Forum members to attend an in-person gathering.

During the director’s report, MEOR director the Reverend Matthew A. Laferty shared about the challenges and the opportunities of the COVID-19 pandemic on MEOR’s programs. He noted that the pandemic created opportunities to deepen relationships with local partners through more frequent contact due to reduced travel and less crowded schedules. The pandemic forced the director and the Forum to reimagine MEOR’s work by adding online programming like webinars.  Director Laferty also presented a work plan for 2021-2022 which focuses on developing stronger relationships with partners in Rome through relational ecumenism, increased usage of digital spaces for MEOR’s programs, and designing new seminars for 2023 when more international travel is likely to resume.

In other news, the MEOR Forum

• Welcomed the Revd Michaela Youngson, assistant conference secretary and connexional ecumenical officer of the Methodist Church in Britain, who succeeded the Revd Ruth Gee as a new Forum member.
• Formally removed TheWesley hospitality group from the MEOR partnership due to the closure and sale of their Rome operations.
• Re-elected Bishop Ivan Abrahams, general secretary of the World Methodist Council, and elected the Revd Michaela Youngson as the Forum co-chairs.
• Reviewed the 2021-2022 budget of approximately €145,000 and discussed MEOR’s long-term financial sustainability.
• Authorized a plan which will eventually lead to the formation of a new legal non-profit corporation in Italy to better facilitate MEOR’s business and financial transactions.
• Postponed discussion of proposals for more relational governance to the Forum’s next meeting in the spring.

The Forum plans to meet in the spring with an in-person gathering in Rome.

The Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome is the presence of the World Methodist Council in Rome to promote ecumenical dialogue, joint action for peace and justice, payer and reflection, and hospitality. MEOR is a unique partnership of the World Methodist Council with the European Methodist Council, the Methodist Church in Britain, the Methodist Churches in Italy, and The United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, was one of three fraternal delegates (i.e., delegates from non-Catholic churches) to participate in the opening of the Synod of Bishops on 9-10 October in the Vatican City State. In this historic moment, Pope Francis is leading an intentional, worldwide effort to reshape the Roman Catholic Church into a listening church which is discerning the Holy Spirit’s leading for the future.

According to prepartory documents:

‘Synod’ is an ancient and venerable word in the Tradition of the Church, whose meaning draws on the deepest themes of Revelation […] It indicates the path along which the People of God walk together. Equally, it refers to the Lord Jesus, who presents Himself as ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (Jn 14,6), and to the fact that Christians, His followers, were originally called ‘followers of the Way’ (cf. Acts 9,2; 19,9.23; 22,4; 24,14.22).

First and foremost, synodality denotes the particular style that qualifies the life and mission of the Church, expressing her nature as the People of God journeying together and gathering in assembly, summoned by the Lord Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel. Synodality ought to be expressed in the Church’s ordinary way of living and working.

Vademecum for the Synod on Synodality, §1.2

The opening of the synod launches a two-year process to cultivate a synodal church that “walks forward in communion to pursue a common mission through the participation of each and every one of her members. The objective of this Synodal Process is not to provide a temporary or one-time experience of synodality, but rather to provide an opportunity for the entire People of God to discern together how to move forward on the path towards being a more synodal Church in the long-term” (§1.3).

During the small group meetings, Rev. Laferty was able to share about Methodist theologies of the Holy Spirit, priesthood of all believers, Christian conferencing, and the role of laity.

Pope Francis in his homily for the Mass opening the synodal process called the Catholic church to encounter, listen, and discern. He said, “Celebrating a Synod means walking on the same road, walking together.  Let us look at Jesus.  First, he encounters the rich man on the road; he then listens to his questions, and finally he helps him discern what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Encounter, listen and discern.” He went on to say, “The Spirit asks us to listen to the questions, concerns and hopes of every Church, people and nation.  And to listen to the world, to the challenges and changes that it sets before us.  Let us not soundproof our hearts; let us not remain barricaded in our certainties.  So often our certainties can make us closed.  Let us listen to one another.” In further reflection, he said, “[the word of God] summons us to discernment and it brings light to that process.  It guides the Synod, preventing it from becoming a Church convention, a study group or a political gathering, a parliament, but rather a grace-filled event, a process of healing guided by the Spirit.”

Go to www.synod.va to learn about the synodal process.

Photo credit: Matthew Laferty, 9 October 2021

On the sidelines of the Sant’Egidio peace conference, MEOR director Rev. Matthew A. Laferty (left) and Revd Leao Neto (second from right), Interreligious Relations chair of the World Methodist Council, met the president of the Focoloare Movement Ms. Margaret Karram (second from left) and her colleague Focolarina Sandra Ferreira (right).

Several Methodists attended the Sant’Egidio international interreligious peace conference in Rome that focused this year on human fraternity and ecology. Pictured left to right: Fr. Rolando Curzi from the Sant’Egidio Community, Revd Mirella Manocchio from the Methodist Churches in Italy, Revd Leao Neto from the World Methodist Council, and Rev. Matthew A. Laferty from the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome.

Speakers for the conference included Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Moderna founder Noubar Afeyan, former chief rabbi David Rosen, and UAE minister of tolerance and coexistence Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan.

The closing ceremony was held at the Coloseum in Rome with speeches from German chancellor Angela Merkel and Pope Francis.

Due to the continuing challenging times from the COVID-19 Pandemic, the 22^nd World Methodist Conference is further postponed. At the two-day virtual meeting of the World Methodist Council Steering Committee in August 2021, the Steering Committee unanimously agreed that the global WMC family could not safely gather in Gothenburg, Sweden, in August 2022 for the Conference.

WMC President J.C. Park announced that a new date for the Conference will be set in spring 2022. Conference Program Chair the Rev. Dr. Martyn Atkins and members of the host committee including Bishop Christian Alstead, Uniting Church President Lasse Svensson, and others were consulted abou the postponement. Everyone agreed that a more meaningful Conference could be held at a later date.

On the Move will continue to be the theme, and the issues of migration, justice, and hospitality are evident to be more pertinent now than when the theme was initially chosen.

More information on the Conference will be published as available in WMC First Friday Letter, on the Council and Conference websites, and Twitter.

Photo: Gothenburg, Sweden, photo in public domain.