wfn.org | ELCA's Darlis Swan on "Reception" of Ecumenical Dialogues

[FRANKI@elca.org]

Global Perspective of Lutheran-Roman Catholic Joint Declaration

CHICAGO, USA/GENEVA, 30 March 2001 (LWI) - When Rev. Dr. Darlis J. Swan,
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), talks of the reception of the
Lutheran-Roman Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification,
she emphasizes the bilateral nature of this process.

Swan, associate director of the ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, is
currently on partial secondment to the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
Office for Ecumenical Affairs. She began working as ELCA Liaison Ecumenical
Officer to the LWF on 1 January, 2001. In this capacity, she will assist the
LWF with the reception of the Joint Declaration, which was signed by the
Vatican and LWF on 31 October 1999.

In February, Dr. Swan participated in the regular joint staff meeting of the
LWF and the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity that
took place at the LWF Geneva secretariat.

According to the ELCA, the reception process is the means by which
ecumenical documents such as the Joint Declaration are accommodated into the
faith and life of the church. While it involves interpretation and
education, official action is necessary for reception to occur. After
decisions are made, reception continues through the implementation of
actions taken by the churches.

In addition to her contributions to the reception process within the LWF,
Swan hopes to bring to the ELCA the global perspective of the Joint
Declaration, which was approved by that church in 1997. At national level,
the ELCA has entered into full communion with three Reformed churches-the
Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church
of Christ-in 1997, and with the Moravian Church in America in 1999.  A
similar relationship with the Episcopal Church in the United States began in
2001.

Swan enjoys global ecumenical work. A graduate from the Lutheran Theological
Seminary, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, (1980) she admits that ecumenism was not
among  her career plans when she enrolled for a doctorate in religious
studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington in 1980. She
gradually became interested in this area and eventually specialized in the
reception of bilateral dialogues.

Ordained in 1997, Swan has written study guides on the reception of ELCA
bilateral dialogues. She particularly is concerned that emphasis be
continuously placed on the crucial role of "grassroots" in this process.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 131 member
churches in 72 countries representing over 60.2 million of the nearly 64
million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches
in areas of common interest such as ecumenical relations, theology,
humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various
aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material presented does
not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units.
Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material
may be freely reproduced with acknowledgement.]

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