wfn.org | Disciples/Roman Catholic dialogue explores evangelization

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

Date: May 30, 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-24

	INDIANAPOLIS (DNS)  -- "Evangelization" was the major focus of a May 
18-24 meeting of the 16-member Disciples of Christ-Roman Catholic 
International Dialogue Commission which gathered at the Atlantic School of 
Theology in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  

	The Most Rev. Basil Meeking, emeritus bishop of Christchurch, New 
Zealand, presented a paper for  the Roman Catholic Church which outlined 
basic understandings of "mission," "evangelization," and "witness" in 
relation to the church's teaching and its unity. The Rev. Paul A. Crow, 
Jr., retired ecumenical officer for the Christian Church (Disciples of 
Christ) and co-chairperson of the Commission, prepared the Disciples paper 
on "Mission, Evangelism and Ecclesiology among the Disciples of Christ."

	Four Bible studies were also offered, related to the theme of the 
meeting, that informed the commission's discussion and dialogue. The Rev. 
Eugene Boring, professor of New Testament at Brite Divinity School in Ft. 
Worth, Texas, explored the importance and impact of Psalm 90.  Msgr. John 
Meier, professor at the University of Notre Dame (Ind.), explored basic 
understandings of gospel and evangelism in the New Testament as a whole, 
while giving particular attention to the Gospel of Mark.  

	Discussion throughout the week sought to identify both common 
understandings and differences between Disciples and Roman Catholics 
around the meeting theme, as well as to name issues which challenge both 
traditions as each engages in witness and evangelism in today's world.  

	An "agreed account" of the dialogue affirmed that the Church is "by 
nature a missionary community, a community of those who are sent by God 
into the world to share in the proclamation of the good news of the 
sovereign action of God to redeem the world (Matthew 28:18-20)." 

	In carrying out the task of evangelization, both churches took note of 
the challenge to the relationship between the gospel and today's culture.  
In the agreed account it was acknowledged that the gospel "has to be 
preached to a world in which local and regional cultures are being 
displaced by a media-constructed consumerist world-view that presents the 
acquisition of costly things as the key to a full life."
  
	The meeting was enriched by the visit of the full commission to the 
Wyndholme Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Dartmouth, Nova 
Scotia, to participate in its Sunday morning worship service. While there, 
the Most Rev. Daniel Buechlein, Archbishop of Indianapolis and 
co-chairperson of the commission, delivered the sermon. 

	This meeting was the seventh session in this third phase of international 
dialogue between Disciples of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church 
(1994-2002) that has explored the overall theme:  "The Individual and the 
Church."  It is anticipated that the next two sessions (2001 and 2002) 
will produce an agreed statement bringing together insights and common 
affirmations from work of the previous meetings.

	The Rev. Robert K. Welsh, president of the Council of Christian Unity, 
serves as staff to the dialogue team on behalf of the Disciples of Christ. 
 Msgr. John Mutiso-Mbinda, secretary in the Pontifical Council for 
Promoting Christian Unity in the Vatican, serves as staff from the Roman 
Catholic Church.

                                            -- end --