synod – Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome

Public Conversation on “Ecumenical Relations on the Journey of Synodality” by Abp. Shane Mackinlay on 25 June 2026

June 2, 2026June 19, 2026meorome

The Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome and the Caravita Community invite you to a public conversation with Archbishop Shane Mackinlay of Brisbane on Thursday, 25 June 2026 at 7:00 PM/19:00.

The event will be held in a conversation-style format as Archbishop Shane shares on the topic “Ecumenical Relations on the Journey of Synodality,” sharing about the role of Christian unity in the Catholic Church’s ongoing process of more synodal church.

The event will be one hour and will be held in English.

The event will be held on Thursday, 25 June 2026 at 19:00 (Rome) at the Via Venti Settembre Methodist Church, located at Via Venti Settembre 122, 00187 Rome.

Via Venti Settembre Methodist Church

About Archbishop Shane Mackinlay

Archbishop Shane Mackinlay was born in Melbourne in 1965 and attended the local government school until his family moved to Ballarat in 1975. In Ballarat, he was a student at St Francis Xavier Primary School and St Patrick’s College, where he was dux in 1982. He has two siblings and is the uncle of five nieces and nephews.

He studied for the priesthood at Corpus Christi College, Clayton, completing theology studies at Catholic Theological College and a degree in physics at Monash University. As a deacon, he served in the parish of Warrnambool, before being ordained as priest for the Ballarat Diocese in 1991, and serving in the parishes of Hamilton, Colac and Ballarat Cathedral. He then undertook graduate studies in philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, where he completed a Master’s degree and a doctorate. His doctoral thesis was published by Fordham University Press.

Archbishop Mackinlay was administrator of the Casterton parish for six months and parish priest of the Sebastopol parish for four years. He was parish priest of the Bungaree parish from 2005 until his appointment as bishop; from 2009, he also provided weekend sacramental ministry for the neighbouring parish of Gordon.

For several years, he taught philosophy at Australian Catholic University, Ballarat. Most of his teaching has taken place at Catholic Theological College, Melbourne, where he was appointed Master in 2011. The following year, he was appointed Associate Professor by the University of Divinity.

He was secretary to the Bishop of Ballarat from 1998 to 2001 and was the Chairperson of the Bishop’s Advisory Council of the Ballarat Diocese from its establishment in 2009. He was a member of the College of Consultors of the Ballarat Diocese on two occasions and also served as chair of the two funds that provide support to the active and retired priests of the diocese. From 2012 to 2014 he was the spokesperson for the Catholic Church during the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organisations

Pope Francis appointed Bishop Mackinlay as the eighth Bishop of Sandhurst on 23 July 2019. Since then, he has been elected as Vice-President of the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia and as one of the Australian members of the Synod for a Synodal Church. In 2019, he was asked to join the Methodist–Roman Catholic International Commission, and in 2022 was appointed as its Co-Chair.

Archbishop Shane Mackinlay of the Sandhurst Diocese succeeded Archbishop Mark Coleridge and was installed as Archbishop on September 11, 2025, thus commencing his episcopal ministry in the Archdiocese of Brisbane.

MEOR Director Participates in Italian Methodist Gathering – May 2026

June 1, 2026June 19, 2026meorome

The Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome and representative of the World Methodist Council to the Holy See, attended the annual Italian Methodist consultation, held from 29-31 May 2026 at the Methodist retreat center Ecumene in Velletri outside Rome.

Each year, clergy and laity from Methodist churches in Italy gathering May for a time of worship, fellowship, and discussion. The Evangelical Methodist Churches in Italy united with the Waldensian Evangelical Church in 1975 and now have one synod, one set of church order, and a shared identity. In the union, the Methodists were a minority and were permitted to maintain their own international and ecumenical relations as well as their own patrimony. The annual consultation does not have decision-making authority but recommends decisions to the Permanent Committee of the Evangelical Methodist Churches in Italy and the Synod of the Methodist-Waldensian Church.

The 2026 consultation received reports from the Permanent Committee of the Evangelical Methodist Churches in Italy with a particular focus on their international Methodist relations, reflected on migration in Europe and the gift of multiculturalism to the Italian Methodist churches, heard historical reflections on the development of Methodism in Italy, and commemorated the legacy of U.S. pastor and civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rev. Laferty who is a member of the Synod of the Methodist-Waldensian Church in Italy commented, “the annual Methodist Consultation remains a critical instrument of the Methodist-Waldensian union by preserving and promoting Methodist identity in Italy. I am grateful for the opportunity to attend this auspicious gathering and to reconnect with Methodist pastors and lay persons from across Italy.”

VIDEO – “Experiences of the Fraternal Delegates at the Synod on Synodality” from Webinar on 20 January 2025

January 21, 2025January 21, 2025meorome

Five fraternal delegates to the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church, called the Synod on Synodality, share their experiences during a webinar on 20 January 2025.

The speakers were: H.Em. Metropolitan Job (Getcha) of Pisidia from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Rev. Prof. Jong Chun Park from the World Methodist Council, Dr. Elizabeth Newman from the Baptist World Alliance, Rev. Dr. Opoku Onyinah from the Pentecostal World Fellowship, and Rev. Dr. Hanns Lessing from the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

Prof. Catherine Clifford from St. Paul’s University in Ottawa, Canada, and a Synod delegate from North America, moderated the webinar.

The webinar was sponsored by the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, Legation of the Armenian Church to the Holy See, Anglican Centre in Rome, and Reformed Churches Ecumenical Office in Rome to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Rev. Prof. Jong Chun Park Shares Videos About Experiences of the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality

October 30, 2024November 2, 2024meorome

The Reverend Prof. Jong Chun Park spent October 2024 in Rome at the invitation of Pope Francis as a fraternal delegate (or non-Catholic delegate) representing the World Methodist Council to the Catholic Church’s 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Prof. Park, immediate past president of the World Methodist Council, participated in all aspects and deliberations of the Synod except voting. Prof. Park is a theologian from Korea, former seminary president, and pastor in the Korean Methodist Church.

During his four-week residency in October 2024, Prof. Park made four short videos about the work of the Synod and his experiences thereof.

In his first video, Prof. Park speaks from the Hall of Paul VI in the Vatican as the Synod opened on Wednesday, 4 October 2024.

Prof. Jong Chun Park in this second video shares briefly about how the Synod’s work is structured and the topics explored in first two weeks of the Synod on Synodality.

In his third video, Prof. Park speaks about ‘Places’ – the theme of the third week of the Synod on Synodality – and the role of primacy in the synodal process.

The Rev. Prof. Jong Chun Park talks about the final document of the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church in his final video from Rome. The Synod approved the final document on Saturday, 26 October 2024, and it was immediately ratified by Pope Francis. In this 5 minute video, Prof. Park lays out the structure of the final document and gives brief commentary on the various sections.

All of Prof. Park’s videos are available on the MEOR channel on YouTube.

Director Laferty, Prof. Park Participate in Ecumenical Prayer Vigil in Historic Square in the Vatican During Synod on Synodality

October 15, 2024October 28, 2024meorome

ROME (MEOR) – On 11 October 2024, the Rev. Matthew A. Laferty, director of the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, and the Rev. Prof. Jong Chun Park, immediate past president of the World Methodist Council, participated in an ecumenical prayer vigil in the Square of the Roman Protomartyrs in the Vatican. The square commemorates where the Apostle Peter was executed. The prayer vigil was held on the 62nd anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council for delegates and experts to the 16th Ordindary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, called the Synod on Synodality. The service was led the fraternal delegates to the Synod along with permanent representatives of Christian world communions in Rome and local Roman ecumenical leaders. Prof. Park is the fraternal delegate to the Synod and Rev. Laferty represents the World Methodist Council in Rome.

Pope Francis preached, saying

the unity of Christians is essential to their witness: unity is for the sake of mission….the unity of Christians is essential to their witness: unity is for the sake of mission. “That they may all be one… so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). This was the conviction of the Council Fathers when they declared that our division “scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature” (Unitatis Reintegratio, 1). The ecumenical movement evolved from the desire to bear common witness: to witness alongside one another, not standing apart from or, worse yet, at odds with one another. In this place, the Roman protomartyrs remind us that today too, in many parts of the world, Christians of different traditions are laying down their lives together for their faith in Jesus Christ, embodying an ecumenism of blood. Their witness speaks more powerfully than any words, because unity is born of the Cross of the Lord.

Rev. Laferty and Prof. Park assisted in leading prayers.

Rev. Laferty (left) processing into the Square of Roman Protomartyrs with Pope Francis and other ecumenical leaders. Photo by Vatican Media.
Rev. Prof. Jong Chun Park leads prayers during the ecumenical prayer vigil. Photo by Vatican Media.
Rev. Laferty (right) and Rev. Paul Tche of the Disciples of Christ (left) leading prayers as Pope Francis looks on. Photo by Vatican Media.