wfn.org | Ecumenists' Gathering Strikes Hopeful Note

[PCUSA_NEWS@ecunet.org]

May 30, 1996 
 
 
96207       Ecumenists' Gathering Strikes Hopeful Note 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
RICHMOND, Va.--Buoyed by a number of high-level dialogues currently going 
on among a number of denominations, 400 ecumenical leaders from across the 
country gathered here May 6-9 for the 1996 National Workshop on Christian 
Unity (NWCU). 
 
     The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was represented on the planning 
committee for the workshop by the Rev. Lewis Lancaster of Louisville, 
chair, and the Rev. Kathy Reeves, associate for ecumenical programming and 
education in the Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations program area of the 
Worldwide Ministries Division.  Approximately 20 Presbyterians attended the 
workshop. 
 
     Reflecting on the various ecumenical conversations under way among 
many major American churches, Michael Root, director and research professor 
for ecumenical research in Strasbourg, France, said the number and level of 
talks "represents a striking convergence in U.S. ecumenism."  He said 
ecumenical developments in the U.S. are "the best contemporary chance at 
ecumenical progress." 
 
     One keynote speaker, Presiding Bishop Philip R. Cousin of the African 
Methodist Episcopal Church, challenged workshop participants to open their 
church doors to greater inclusiveness.  He urged religious leaders "to 
struggle against our tendency to want our  shop' to remain our  shop' and 
to think of our churches as our house, not God's." 
 
     Mary Tanner, who heads the Council for Christian Unity of the Church 
of England and is moderator of the World Council of Churches' Faith and 
Order working group, said ecumenical progress "provides an opportunity for 
the renewal of the whole church." 
 
     Participants addressed a variety of topics in seminars, including "All 
God's Children Got Shoes: African Americans and the Ecumenical Movement"; 
"The Peace Churches: Their Gift to the Ecumenical Enterprise"; "Does the 
Church Have a Place for Me?" exploring how churches can reach out 
effectively to people who find difficulty fitting into mainstream churches; 
and "Hate-Violence: An Ecumenical Response," which dealt with responses by 
the religious community to the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building 
in Oklahoma City and to the resurgence of hate groups in places like 
Montana and church arsons in the Southeast. 

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