February 28, 2005

METHODISTS AND CATHOLICS
TO HOLD DIALOGUE ON UNITY

DALLAS (SMU) — Catholics and Methodists will meet March 17-19 at SMU to continue work on reconciling differences as part of a process began over 35 years ago.

SMU’s Perkins School of Theology will host the “Dialogue toward Unity: A Conference on International Roman Catholic/Methodist Relations” as a part of these two denominations’ commitment to reconciling differences among the various Christian traditions so they might some day reach unity.

“Christians generally affirm that the Church is ‘one,’ and the existence of lots of separate denominations causes some problems for that affirmation, unless you're willing simply to claim that yours is the one true church and all these others are simply wrong,” says Charles Wood, the Lehman Professor of Christian Doctrine in Perkins School of Theology. “The mainline Protestant bodies haven't been willing to claim that, and since the Second Vatican Council (in the early 1960s), the Roman Catholic Church has also been reaching out to other Christians not simply as individuals but as genuine ‘ecclesial communities,’ and has stimulated the ecumenical movement in a big way.”

The Rev. Scott Jones, a Methodist bishop and conference co-organizer, said the purpose of the conference is to seek greater understanding and cooperation.

“The United Methodist Church and its predecessors have been committed to the cause of Christian unity since John Wesley's time 250 years ago,” said Jones. “One of the watchwords for the ecumenical movement is that our mission is enhanced by unity. As we approach non-Christians, if we cannot get along with each other, the outsiders will not respect our message.”

Ecumenical discussions take the form of bilateral conversations, where two church bodies work for a sustained period of time at trying to better understand each other, find points of agreement, see where their differences really lie, and explore what might be done to overcome them. Since 1967, Methodists and Catholics have had a standing Joint Commission which meets under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity and the World Methodist Council.

“We agree on the vast majority of things, including our doctrines and our concern for moral issues,” Jones said. “This current phase of the dialogue is looking at our understandings of the church, and we disagree on many things including the nature of the church, the relationship between the sacraments and the church, the number of sacraments, ordained ministry and teaching authority in the church. Our dialogues have identified areas of agreement that were surprising as well as areas of work that remain.”

The March conference will take stock of where this discussion stands and chart a course for furthering unity during the 21st century. Also taking part in the discussions are scholars from other Christian traditions. The presenters include:

• Father James Puglisi, General of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement and Director of the Centro Pro Unione in Rome.
• Professor Geoffrey Wainwright of Duke Divinity School, the Methodist co-chair of the Joint Commission.
• Professor Michael Root of Luther Theological Southern Seminary, a Lutheran theologian active in ecumenical dialogues.
• Dr. Mary Tanner, a former moderator of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches and an active Anglican ecumenist.

“We've asked these Lutheran and Anglican colleagues to give us their own assessment of how the Methodist-Catholic discussion has been going, because we think they will have some fresh insights,” Wood said. “They have both had extensive experience in the ecumenical movement, and have participated in bilateral conversations with Methodists and with Catholics, so we think they can help us understand our own process better.”

For information, visit http://theology.smu.edu or call 1-888-THEOLOGY.

Perkins School of Theology was one of the original schools of Southern Methodist University, which was founded in 1911 by what is now The United Methodist Church. Perkins is one of five university-related United Methodist theological schools in the nation. In addition to its programs at the Dallas campus, Perkins offers extension programs in Houston-Galveston and San Antonio.