Methodists Worldwide Represented at Important Vatican Synod

Methodists Worldwide Represented at Important Vatican Synod

meorome

ROME (MEOR) – The Catholic Church has convened an important synod in the Vatican on 4 October with Catholic bishops, priests, and lay people from around the world. Pope Francis invited 16 delegates from Protestant and Orthodox churches to attend and participate in in the Synod on Synodality. The Reverend Prof. Jong Chun Park, immediate past president of the World Methodist Council, is representing Methodists at the 4 week-long meeting.

In October 2021, Pope Francis initiated a multi-year process of listening and consultation across the Catholic Church, instructing every diocese worldwide to engage Catholic parishes, other churches, different religions, and people living on the margins in listening and discernment. The synodal journey emphasizes communion, participation, and mission.

The process culminated in the Synod on Synodality, a two-part international meeting of laity, clergy, and bishops meeting in Rome in October 2023 and October 2024. Pope Francis attends many of the sessions as he will confirm the outcomes of the Synod.

Prof. Park shares about the work of the Synod following the inaugural session of the second plenary on 4 October:

Prof. Park made an intervention, or plenary speech, in the Synod proceedings on 11 October. In his speech, Prof. Park contextualizes his listening to the Holy Spirit within Korea’s Confucius and Buddhist heritage. Prof. Park said, “the Holy Spirit urges me to listen to Confucius for the sake of Christ in order to be a more faithful person as I witness Christian faith.” He went on to say that listening to the teachings of Buddha enables him to be a more merciful person as he shares Christian love. Finally, Prof. Park noted that the 19th century Korean sage Suwun “illuminates my darkened soul….to be a more hopeful person as I witness Christian hope….Soo-on is the one who gave [the Korean people] a hope which echoes a vision of the hopeful St. Paul’s new creation.”

Following his plenary speech, Prof. Park spoke about the Synod, its methodology, and work during the second week:

The proceedings of the Synod are confidential. A concluding report with recommendations will be drafted in the week of 20 October by a commission appointed by the Synod. This commission includes Bishop Shane Mackinlay and Prof. Catherine Clifford who are both members of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission.

Read more about the Synod on Synodality on its website.

The Synod will be closed on 27 October with Catholic Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. After the Synod, a new phase of work will be initated for the reception of the Synod’s work.

Photo above: Prof. Jong Chun Park (left) with Pope Francis (right) on 11 October inside the Hall of Paul VI inside the Vatican. Photo by Vatican Media.

Church of North India Bishops, Executive Leaders Meet Pope Francis – October 2024

Church of North India Bishops, Executive Leaders Meet Pope Francis – October 2024

meorome

A delegation of bishops and senior church executive leaders from the Church in North India met Pope Francis in private audience on Wednesday, 9 October 2024. The delegation was led by senior bishop the Rt. Rev. Paritosh Canning, bishop of Calcutta, deputy moderator the Rt. Rev. Manoj Charan, bishop of Bhopal. and CNI general secertary the Rev. Dr. D.J. Ajith Kumar. In the delegation there were 19 active and 2 retired bishops, nearly the entire NCI college of bishops, along with 12 senior church executive responsible for programmatic, legal, financial, administrative, and communications departments of the Church of North India. Additionally, Mr. Joshua Rathnam, vice president of the World Methodist Council, was a member of the delegation.

During the audience, Pope Francis greeted individually each member of the delegation, thanked the delegation for their visit and for their witness to Christian unity in the multi-religious nation of India, and asked the delegation to pray from him. The Pope led the group in the Lord’s Prayer. The delegation presented stoles with the CNI logo to Pope Francis.

The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, accompanied the delegation and introduced them to Pope Francis. H.E. Monsignor Flavio Pace, secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, also accompanied the group.

The meeting was arranged by the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome.

The Church of North India is a united Protestant Church established through a church union in 1970. The union included the Methodist Church (British and Australian Conferences), the United Church of Northern India (Congregationalist and Presbyterian), the Council of Baptist Churches in Northern India, the Church of the Brethren in India, the Disciples of Christ, and the Anglican Church. The Church of North India is a member church of the World Methodist Council.

Photos by Vatican Media.

Lead United Methodist Bishop in Nigeria and Spouse Meet Pope Francis

Lead United Methodist Bishop in Nigeria and Spouse Meet Pope Francis

meorome

Bishop John Schol, lead bishop ad interim of The United Methodist Church in Nigeria, along with Mrs. Beverly Schol met Pope Francis following the General Audience on 9 October 2024. They were accompanied by Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, who introduced them to Pope Francis.

  • Bishop John Schol (right) meeting Pope Francis (left) in St. Peter’s Square as Rev. Matthew Laferty (middle) introduces him. Photo by Vatican Media.
  • Bishop John Schol (right) and Mrs. Beverly Schol (second right) meeting Pope Francis (left) in St. Peter’s Square as Rev. Matthew Laferty (middle) looks on. Photo by Vatican Media.
NEWS – Communique from Plenary Meeting of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission in Seoul, Korea, September 2024

NEWS – Communique from Plenary Meeting of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission in Seoul, Korea, September 2024

meorome

The Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission, formally called the Joint International Commission for Dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church, held a plenary meeting from 22-27 September 2024 in Pocheon, Korea, at the Kwanglim Seminar House, approximately 30 kilometers northeast of the Seoul city center. The commission was established in 1967 as a bilateral theological dialogue between the World Methodist Council and the Catholic Church with the goal of full communion in faith, sacramental life, and mission.

The Commission expresses its deep appreciation and thanks to Bishop Chungsuk Kim and the Kwanglim Methodist Church for hosting the Commission. The Commission also thanks Rev. Soonjung Kwun for organizing the Commission’s local arrangements and the many pastors and lay people from Kwanglim Church who accompanied and cared for the Commission during their meeting. Additionally, the Commission expresses its gratitude to Commission member Dr. Jung Choi for assisting in the Commission’s preparations and program.

The Commission began its meeting on 22 September 2024 with Sunday worship at Kwanglim Methodist Church in Seoul. Kwanglim Church is the largest congregation in the Korean Methodist Church with over 90,000 members. Bishop Chungsuk Kim, senior pastor of the Kwanglim Methodist Church and bishop of the Seoul South Annual Conference of the Korean Methodist Church, hosted the Commission for luncheon following worship. The Commission also visited Jeoldusan Martyrs’ Shrine where Catholic Mass was celebrated.

The Commission dedicated the majority of its meeting to its continuing deliberations on the theme of mission and unity. The Commission focused on missional ecclesiology, unity in diversity, and local experiences of mission and unity.

Over the next year, working groups of the Commission will draft chapters on the common Christian faith, hermeneutics for unity, growth in mutual recognition, diversity of experiences of communion, and proposals for Catholics and Methodists growing together.

The Commission also reviewed revisions to its synthesis document – Together To Holiness – which harvested the fruits of the first 40 years of international Methodist-Catholic dialogue to include materials published by the Commission since 2006. The Commission intends to publish a revised synthesis document which articulates the Christian faith shared by Catholic and Methodists in 2025 to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed.

The Commission received Bishop Hee-Soo Jung of Ohio (The United Methodist Church), Dr. Kyungrim Lee, and Mrs. Yoonju Choi on Thursday, 26 September 2024 at the Kwanglim Seminar House. On a pastoral visit to Korea, Bishop Jung, a Korean immigrant to the United States, spoke powerfully about the need for reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula. Dr. Lee and Mrs. Choi shared about their organization ‘SEUM’, a child welfare organization in Seoul to minister to children of incarcerated persons.

On Friday, 27 September, the Commission met with national Methodist and Catholic leaders in Seoul. The Commission visited the headquarters of the Korean Methodist Church and was met by Rev. Yongyoon Lee (chief of staff of the Office of the Council of Bishops), Rev. Dong Hwa Tae (general secretary of the General Board of Missions), and other headquarters staff who shared about the KMC structure, mission, and Christian witness in contemporary Korean society. Following a lunch hosted by the Korean Methodist Church, the Commission visited Chungdong First Methodist Church in Seoul, the first Methodist congregation in Korea, where the Commission learned about the early history of the Methodist Church in Korea and the missionary experience of Rev. Henry Appenzeller. The Rev. Prof. Jong Chun Park, immediate past president of the World Methodist Council, accompanied the Commission on their visit to Chungdong Church and met the Commission following the tour. The Commission then toured the Cathedral Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, the cathedral church of the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul. The Archdiocese of Seoul hosted a dinner for the Commission, attended by Archbishop Giovanni Gaspari (Apostolic Nuncio in Korea and Mongolia), Bishop Matthias Iong Hoon Ri (president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea and president of the CBCK’s Committee for Promoting Christian Unity and Interreligious Dialogue), and Bishop Paul Kyung Sang Lee (auxiliary bishop of Seoul).

Three Commission members were unable to attend the meeting due to family and work commitments.

The Commission’s next plenary meeting will be held in San Salvador, El Salvador, 19-25 October 2025.

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
Rev. Prof. Glen O’Brien, Australia
Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri, Malaysia
Prof. Lilian Cheelo Siwila, Zambia/South Africa

Catholic Members
Bishop 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

Videos from Methodist-Catholic International Dialogue Meeting in Korea

Videos from Methodist-Catholic International Dialogue Meeting in Korea

meorome

Members of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission, the official theological dialogue commission between the World Methodist Council and the Roman Catholic Church, produced short videos about the commission’s work and its meeting agenda at the commission’s last meeting in Pocheon, Korea, from 22-27 September 2024.

The Rev. Dr. Edgardo Colón-Emeric, Methodist co-chair of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission (MERCIC), spoke about his hopes for MERCIC’s work as the Commission begans its deliberations on 23 September 2024

Bishop Shane Mackinlay, Catholic co-chair of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission (MERCIC), spoke about how the Catholic Church’s Synod on Synodality and the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed shaped the Commission’s work.

Sister Prof. Mary Sylvia Nwachukwu DDL speaks about her experience of the Methodist-Catholic international dialogue and the importance of the dialogue’s meeting in Korea.

Fr. Gerard Kelly shares about the importance of the Methodist-Catholic international dialogue’s project to re-synthesize and harvest the dialogue’s 11 reports into a single published text similar to the dialogue’s 2010 document “Together To Holiness”.

Prof. Dr. Catherine Clifford links her participation in Methodist-Catholic international dialogue and Methodist theology of conferencing, connectionalism, and lay participation as important insights for the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops

The Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri talks about unity as primary to our Christian vocation and the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission’s work in living this vocation.

The Rev. Prof. Glen O’Brien speaks about the Methodist-Catholic international dialogue moving Catholics and Methodists toward greater unity in Christ.

The Rev. Prof. Danny Pilario CM speaks about his learnings of mission and an ‘ecumenism of blood’ from the Korean Catholic and Methodist churches.

Dr. Jung Choi speaks about Methodist-Catholic dialogue as a journey in unity in Christ.

The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty offers the final video from this year’s meeting in Seoul, Korea, of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission. He describes the urgency of Christian unity in a divided world.