wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 213-United Methodists name new ecumenical leader

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

>United Methodists name new ecumenical leader

>May. 19, 2008

NOTE: A photograph is available at http://umns.umc.org.

>By Wendy Whiteside*

NEW YORK (UMNS)-The Rev. Stephen J. Sidorak Jr., executive director of
the state council of churches in Connecticut, has been elected to lead
the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious
Concerns.

Sidorak, 58, was elected May 14 by the commission's directors and will
assume the position of general secretary July 1 at the New York-based
commission. He succeeds Bishop Albert F. "Fritz" Mutti, who was named
interim general secretary last December following the departure of the
Rev. Larry Pickens.

"I consider this the honor of a lifetime," said Sidorak, an ordained
elder in the United Methodist Rocky Mountain Annual (regional)
Conference. "It feels like coming home to my own church. It is a high
privilege for me to accept this position."

The Commission on Christian Unity is the church's ecumenical agency.
Working in cooperation with the United Methodist Council of Bishops, the
commission seeks unity within the Christian community and fosters
dialogue and understanding with other faith traditions.

The Rev. Marianne Niesen, chairperson of the commission's personnel
committee, said the board believes Sidorak "will be a visionary leader
and, with his wealth of experience, will move GCCUIC into the future. We
are excited to have him join us."

Sidorak has served with the Christian Conference of Connecticut since
1987 and has 30 years of ecumenical leadership experience in
Connecticut, Colorado and Utah.

He holds a B.A. from Baldwin Wallace College, M.Div. and S.T.M. degrees
from Yale Divinity School and a D.Min. from San Francisco Theological
Seminary.

Sidorak said he "revels in diversity and delights in inclusiveness." 
  
"I believe in a truly ecumenical church in a wonderfully interreligious
world," he said. "John Wesley called us to live out of a 'catholic
spirit.' We must recapture that very spirit in all of its poignant
simplicity, theological sophistication and practical application."

His priorities for the commission's work include relations through the
World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches. He also
ranks the "building up of relations with the Pan-Methodist Commission"
as another priority, as well as working with the World Methodist
Council.

*Whiteside is a staff executive with the United Methodist Commission on
Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

>********************

United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org

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