A new round of Methodist-Catholic dialogue

The Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the World Methodist Council have announced in a communiqué their intention to begin a new round of dialogue in October of this year. The dialogue will focus on the inter-related themes of mission and unity. As Church fulfils the Lord’s commission to take the good news of the Gospel “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1: 8) it moves into new contexts and cultures and encounters new questions. As demonstrated by the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) and the Council of Nicea, whose 1700^th anniversary will be marked in 2025, synodal processes are therefore necessary in order for the church to come to a common mind in responding to these questions.

Both this Dicastery and the World Methodist Council have appointed new co-Chairs to the Dialogue Commission and renewed the membership. The Right Revd Shane Mackinlay, Bishop of Sandhurst, Australia is the new Catholic co-Chair, and the Revd Professor Edgardo Colon-Emeric, Dean of Duke Divinity School, is the new Methodist co-Chair. There are two new Catholic members of the Commission (Sister MarySylvia Nwachukwu DDL of Godfrey Okoye University Enugu, Nigeria, and Father Daniel Pilario CM of the Saint Vincent School of Theology at Adamson University, Quezon City, Philippines) and four new Methodist members (Bishop Lizzette Gabriel Montalvo, Dr Jung Choi, the Revd Dr Glen O’Brien, and D. Geordan Hammond).

The first meeting of the new round will be in Rome from 2 to 8 October.

(Photo | New Co-Chairs : Right Revd Shane Mackinlay, Bishop of Sandhurst, Australia [L], and Revd Professor Edgardo Colon-Emeric, Dean of Duke Divinity School [R]).

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