wfn.org | Methodist, Catholic Talks Continue

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3341 notes).

Note 3338 by UMNS on Dec. 16, 1996 at 16:34 Eastern (5026 characters).

SEARCH: Roman Catholic, United Methodist, theology, dialogue
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Linda Bloom                            626(10B-71){3338}
          New York (212) 870-3803                    Dec. 16, 1996

United Methodists, Catholics
to bring dialogue to parish level

                 by United Methodist News Service

     At the national and international levels, United Methodists
and Roman Catholics have been talking together for more than 25
years.
     Now, a new joint dialogue team is working on a process to
help make those discussions and understandings accessible to local
parishes.
     Retired United Methodist Bishop William Boyd Grove -- the
denomination's ecumenical officer and dialogue co-chairman with
Catholic Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash. --  calls it "a
dialogue of love at the local level."
     "Whatever we can do to continue to encourage the deepening of
relationships ... would certainly be very worthwhile," Skylstad
told United Methodist News Service.
     Catholics and United Methodists, of course, have long
interacted in their communities, often participating together in
various social projects or interfaith services, such as
Thanksgiving Eve worship.     
     The dialogue team hopes to create a process to extend such
interaction, according to Brother Jeffrey Gros, FSC, a staff
representative from the National Council of Catholic Bishops.
     "What we really want to do is provide a context for people to
come together and let their own experience come out," he
explained. Those who have collaborated for years, would "get a
chance to reflect on that collaboration," he added.
     The United Methodists and Roman Catholics currently are
conducting their fifth round of national dialogue. The topics and
years of conclusion of previous dialogues were Shared Convictions
about Education, 1970; Holiness and Spirituality of the Ordained
Ministry, 1976; Eucharistic Celebration: Converging Theology-
Divergent Practice, 1981 and Holy Living, Holy Dying, 1991.
     The present dialogue began in September, 1995, and is using
Pope John Paul II's encyclical on ecumenism, "Ut Unam Sint" (That
All May Be One) as background material. According to Skylstad, the
document, released in 1995, "is really a powerful and challenging
encyclical for Catholics and the whole ecumenical movement."
     Sister Mary Aquin O'Neill -- a team member and longtime
educator now serving as director of Mt. St Agnes Theological
Center for Women in Baltimore -- has participated in dialogues
between the Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists previously.
     She believes that theology can be discussed on the local
level, but "in a different mode. It's less abstract, it's not
drawn primarily from documents." By using life experiences of
living communities of faith, "we come to understand what theology
is very differently," she added.
     The Rev. Diedra Kriewald, a United Methodist team member from
Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, agreed that what the
team is doing is theology, but not "according to the academy."
     Discussions at the parish level can draw attention to
similarities between Catholics and United Methodists, such as the
fact that "we really are very close in the liturgy," despite some
different theological underpinnings, Kriewald said. 
     And, taking a cue from longtime Catholic practices, "we're
becoming much more interested in Methodism in stories of heros of
the faith, which are really the saints," she added.
     A starting point for local dialogue, according to Ruth
Daugherty, a United Methodist team member from Lancaster, Pa., is
the recognition of a common baptism. Participants could talk about
what baptism means and share individual understandings and
experiences.
     Such discussions are occurring between the dialogue teams as
well. "We are spending a lot of time getting to know each other on
a very human, interpersonal level," O'Neill explained. "The level
of honesty has been extraordinary -- about the struggles, the
weaknesses, the failings ... as well as the things we can rejoice
in."
     "The relationships among the people on the teams have
developed beyond anything I would have expected," Grove added. "We
have really bonded with each other."
     One of the failings, according to the Rev. Bruce Robbins, a
team member and chief executive of the United Methodist Commission
on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, has been the
inability to share communion because of Roman Catholic
restrictions.
     For the teams to have separate communions during their
meetings was "violating the spirit" of the dialogue, he said.
During the next dialogue meeting -- Feb. 27-March 1 in Washington
-- the teams will observe together a reaffirmation of baptism and
Wesley love feast instead.
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