wfn.org | Disciples leaders take part in unique ecumenical event

["Office of Communications"<wshuffit@oc.disciples.org>]

Date: January 28, 2000
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
E-mail: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

00b-1

	INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- Members of the Christian Church (Disciples of 
Christ) have long lived by the credo, "unity is our polar star." Two 
Disciples leaders, however, participated in a recent ceremony that gave 
new expression to the cause of Christian unity.

	General Minister and President Richard L. Hamm and the Rev. Robert Welsh, 
president of the Council on Christian Unity were guests of Pope John Paul 
II for a Jan. 18 celebration in Rome involving more than 50 other world 
church leaders. Besides the church leaders, a capacity crowd of 12,000 
persons also was on hand for the worship celebration.  

	The ecumenical gathering was invited to take part in opening the "Holy 
Door" to St. Paul's Outside the Walls. St. Paul's Basilica is one of four 
Roman Catholic cathedrals in which the Holy Door is traditionally opened 
on New Year's Day every 50 years.

	For this year's "jubilee" observance, however, the pope had something 
different in mind, according to Welsh. The Catholic leader saw an 
opportunity to acknowledge the growing relationships within the world 
religious community. 

	That led to a plan to stagger ceremonies at each of the cathedrals. The 
final event at St. Paul's, site of the oldest Holy Door, was timed to 
coincide with the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  

	Welsh refers to the service at St. Paul's as a "history-making" event 
that included representatives from 22 church traditions and the World 
Council of Churches. Among them were the Anglican Consultative Council, 
the Lutheran World Federation, 17 Orthodox bodies,  Pentecostals, the 
World Methodist Council and the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council 
-- represented by Hamm and Welsh. Never before had so many Christian 
communities participated in a Vatican event, according to church 
officials. 
	
	For Disciples leader, the Rev. Richard L.  Hamm, the event signaled a 
change in the ecumenical movement over the past 25 years. "At first people 
thought of institutional mergers; now there is a shift to a partnership 
model, a more relational approach," he said in a news account. People are 
concentrating efforts on improving relationships, "then seeing where that 
goes." 
	
	
	Welsh said that the event began outside of St. Paul's with a brief time 
of readings and prayers.  Pope John Paul II, the Archbishop of Canterbury 
and the Orthodox representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of 
Constantinople then pushed open the massive bronze door. The three then 
kneeled and offered a silent prayer in the doorway before leading the 
procession into the cathedral. 

	A formal worship service followed in which representatives from every 
church tradition present took part. Hamm served as one of the readers. 

	"We ask Christ's forgiveness for all which in the history of the church 
compromised his plan of unity," said the pope during the service. "We know 
we are still divided brothers and sisters, but we have placed ourselves 
with decisive conviction on the path which leads to the full unity of the 
Body of Christ."

	Worship climaxed with the pope's invitation for the gathering to "pass 
the peace." While the large crowd mutually shared the ancient greeting 
ritual, the church leaders themselves also exchanged greetings with their 
host -- Pope John Paul II -- to applause from the congregation.

	The significance of that moment was not lost for the Disciples' 
ecumenical officer.  "People are looking in hope for those signs of 
reconciliation," Welsh said.  That moment "was a sign of our oneness in 
Christ." 

	Disciples and the Roman Catholic Church have been engaged in an 
international "bilateral" dialogue for many years. Disciples of Christ 
representation at the unity celebration, however, further helped to 
recognize the denomination's place in the wider interfaith community and 
in the global church.

                                	-- end --