wfn.org | Disciples delegation to visit the Vatican

[DISCNEWS.parti@ecunet.org]

Date: August 7, 1997
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
Email: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the web: http//www.disciples.org

97b-44

     INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- An interfaith dialogue
between the Disciples of Christ and the Roman
Catholic Church is about to take another step. 

     In September, a delegation of Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ) lay and clergy
leaders will make a church-to-church visit at the
Vatican, according to the Rev. Paul A. Crow Jr.,
president of the Disciples Council on Christian
Unity. This is the first trip of its kind and a
very historic occasion for the denomination, he
said.  

     Groundwork for the fall visit was laid during
Crow's recent journey to Rome after the 20th
meeting of the Disciples of Christ/Roman Catholic
dialogue in Venice. He and Indianapolis Catholic
Archbishop Daniel Buechlein co-chair the bilateral
dialogue group.

     Disciples slated to take part include General
Minister and President Richard L. Hamm; past
Moderator D. Duane Cummins, Bethany. W. Va.; CCU
board members Harold Horn, Fullerton, Calif., the
Revs. Suzanne J. Webb, Carbondale, Ill., and other
key leaders. Crow will lead the delegation.

     The 20th dialogue at Venice centered on
"Canon and the Authority of Scripture." "We found
significant agreement between Disciples and Roman
Catholic theologians that we have the same canon,"
(sacred books) Crow said. While Old Testament
texts used by Roman Catholics also include several
other books, known as the Apocrypha, "clearly this
is not a church-dividing issue," he added.  

     Other Disciples members with active roles in
the dialogue included the Rev. Eugene Boring, Fort
Worth, Texas,  and the Rev. Bevis Byfield,
Kingston, Jamaica. Boring, a Brite Divinity School
faculty member, presented one of the main
discussion papers. Byfield of the Disciples of
Christ in Jamaica was among the two Bible
lecturers.

     Crow also announced that Tamara Kanatzar,
Centralia, Mo., was chosen as the Disciples'
representative for the graduate semester at the
Ecumenical Institute, Bossey, Switzerland.
Kanatzar is currently a senior at Phillips
Theological Seminary, Enid, Okla. 

     "No other experience equips future leaders
for service in the whole church of Christ as does
the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey. Students there
experience the Orthodox Church of Europe,
Protestant churches of the Middle East, churches
of Africa, Asia and Latin America, and discover a
sense of the unity of the church."

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DISCNEWS - inbox for Disciples News Service, Office of Communication, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), PO Box 1986 Indianapolis, IN 46206, tele. (317) 635-3100, (DISCNEWS@ecunet.org) Wilma Shuffitt, News and Information Assistant; (CWILLIS@oc.disciples.org) Cliff Willis, Director of News and Information; (CMILLER@oc.disciples.org) Executive Director