Original English text. A translation was published in the Italian edition of L’Osservatore Romano, 23 January 2023.

Like many ecumenical partners, Methodists and Anglicans walked very closely with the Catholic Church throughout many significant events in 2023. This common journeying has taken various forms, including sympathy and prayerful solidarity on the occasion of the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI at the very beginning of the year, to participation in the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in the later part of the year, with many other events and encounters in between.
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At the root of Christian agreements and disagreements about Mary are matters that are at the same time biblical, doctrinal, historical, liturgical, theological, sociological, soteriological, ecclesiological, and so on. What does the Bible say or not say about Mary, and how is this to be interpreted? How much of what is professed about Mary belongs to the Tradition of the Church rather than directly found in Scripture? How much is from historical, cultural, or sentimental expressions developed within specific churches? Does Marian doctrine or devotion enhance or take away anything from the central focus on Christ? What is the relationship between God’s grace present and active in Mary’s life, and her own (and our own) human actions or belief? What is meant by the veneration of Mary (or of the saints) as distinct from worshipping God? When and by whose authority did Marian titles, feasts, and dogmas come to be assigned within the Christian Church? Are all such titles, feasts, and dogmas essential, obligatory, and/or intended to be marked with equal solemnity? How is Mary’s life and faith presented as a model for female Christian discipleship, or as exemplary for Christian life in general?
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The language of walking and pilgrimage has been used for many years regarding the deepening of ecumenical relationships. For example, when Pope Francis received the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, in June 2014, he ended his address by saying, “we must walk together.” Two years later, in the [Common] Declaration issued by the Holy Father and the Archbishop at the Church of Saint Gregory, the two leaders said that fifty years of dialogue enabled their two communions to see themselves as “partners and companions on our pilgrim journey.”
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Mercredi 5 octobre, le Pape François a reçu en audience privée les membres de la Commission mixte internationale méthodiste-catholique (MERCIC). La Commission, inaugurée en 1967 et dont les rencontres se sont succédées depuis sans interruption, se trouve actuellement à Rome à la Casa Maria Immacolata pour la première réunion plénière de son douzième cycle de dialogue. À l’audience avec le Saint-Père, les participants étaient accompagnés du Cardinal Kurt Koch, Préfet du Dicastère pour la promotion de l’unité des chrétiens.
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Pope Francis received members of the Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission (MERCIC) in a private audience on Wednesday 5 October. The Commission, which began work in 1967 and has met since without interruption, is currently meeting in Rome at the Casa Maria Immacolata for the first plenary meeting of its twelfth round of dialogue. The Commission was accompanied to the audience by Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.
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The Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and the World Methodist Council have announced in a communiqué their intention to begin a new round of dialogue in October of this year. The dialogue will focus on the inter-related themes of mission and unity. As the Church fulfils the Lord’s commission to take the good news of the Gospel “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1: 8) it moves into new contexts and cultures and encounters new questions. As demonstrated by the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) and the Council of Nicaea, whose 1,700th anniversary will be marked in 2025, synodal processes are therefore necessary in order for the church to come to a common mind in responding to these questions.
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Despite an amendment to slow down the process, the Church of England’s General Synod has agreed a series of motions to take forward its Covenant with the Methodist Church in Britain to allow interchangeability of ministries and intercommunion between the two Churches.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, told the General Synod: “I for one am profoundly committed to moving forward in this matter, for the sake of the Gospel, for the sake of the Church and for the sake of the world we are sent to serve.”
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Anglican, Roman Catholic and Methodist Churches in Aotearoa New Zealand are forming an ecumenical entity to pursue closer ties and share understandings. They held an inaugural meeting for the National Dialogue for Christian Unity (NDCU) on 25 February in Wellington.

Participants said they hope that the NDCU will lead to formal ecumenical collaboration among churches and other groups in society that want to work together on issues concerning all New Zealanders.

In addition to meeting during the day, participants attended a Service of Celebration at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Wellington.

The formal establishment of the NDCU represents a significant and very hopeful development in ecumenical relationships in Aotearoa New Zealand, said Archbishop Philip Richardson, bishop of Taranaki and archbishop of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. “Friendships between churches have been strong, so to give structure and form to these is cause for rejoicing.”
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Representatives of the Baptist World Alliance and the World Methodist Council met January 30-February 5 at the Beeson Divinity School of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. The meeting was the opening round of conversations in the first international dialogue between Methodists and Baptists. The overall theme of the dialogue is faith working through love. The delegations were welcomed by the Provost and Executive Vice President of the University, Dr. J. Bradley Creed, as well as Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church and Rev. Dr. Mike McLemore, Director of Missions for the Birmingham Baptist Association.

Participants discussed presentations on the history, theology, and contemporary global situation of Methodists and Baptists. The dialogue is co-chaired by Rev. Dr. Tim Macquiban, Superintendent Minister of the Cambridge Methodist Circuit and minister of Wesley Methodist Church in Cambridge, England, and Rev. Dr. Curtis Freeman, Research Professor and Director of the Baptist House of Studies at Duke University Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina. Rev. Dr. Paul Chilcote, Dean of Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio, and Rev. Dr. Fausto Vasconcelos, BWA director of Mission, Evangelism, and Theological Reflection, serve as co-secretaries.
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After several hundred years of separation, members of six Pan-Methodist denominations have committed to ministry together. The United Methodist Church (UMC) is the last of the denominations to adopt the full communion agreement, which was celebrated May 1 during the 2012 UMC General Conference.
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Leaders of the Church of England and the Methodist Church have been urged to work more closely in the future in order to strengthen Christian unity.

A statement issued by the Church of England’s communications office on June 16 said the Joint Implementation Commission (JIC) set up under the Anglican-Methodist Covenant of 2003 to enhance unity is recommending the two churches share their mission and ministry more widely.

A new JIC report, “Moving Forward in Covenant,” is due to be considered by the Methodist Conference and the Church of England’s General Synod, both taking place this summer. The JIC’s role is “to monitor and promote the implementation of the Covenant.”
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Meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, the members of the Anglican-Methodist International Commission for Unity in Mission (AMICUM) could not forget the courage, conviction and determination of those who had fought against the sin of apartheid and had then set about a process of truth and reconciliation. On a visit to Robben Island where the members heard a commentary by a former political prisoner, the Commission was left in no doubt of the need to be honest with each other if the painful divisions that deny the Gospel call to unity are to be overcome.
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Cardinal asks dialogue partners if an ecumenical catechism might work

A Vatican official has floated the idea of a shared “ecumenical catechism” as one of the potential fruits of 40 years of dialogue among Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and members of the Reformed churches.
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US Methodist-Catholic Dialogue Explores Eucharist, Environment

[Washington • USCCB] Care for one’s bodily health is linked to care for the body of the Church and for material creation, Methodist Bishop Timothy Whitaker said in a sermon during the second meeting of Round 7 of the Methodist-Catholic Dialogue at St. Paul’s College in Washington, June 15-17.
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The Anglican-Methodist International Commission for Unity in Mission held its first meeting in the Centro Anglicano de la Diócesis de México in Mexico City, as guests of the Anglican Consultative Council. The Commission was co-chaired by the Right Revd Harold Miller, the Bishop of Down and Dromore (Church of Ireland), for the Anglican Communion, and the Revd Professor Robert Gribben (Uniting Church in Australia), Chairman of the Standing Committee on Ecumenics and Dialogue, on behalf of the World Methodist Council.

continued …
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United Methodist Church Adopts Full Communion Proposal with ELCA

[ELCA News Service • Fort Worth, Texas] — By a vote of 864-19, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC) adopted an implementing resolution April 28 that will establish full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Full communion will be fully realized by both churches should the same proposal be adopted at the next ELCA Churchwide Assembly, which meets Aug. 17-23, 2009, in Minneapolis.

The UMC General Conference, meeting here April 23-May 2, is the Methodist’s chief legislative body and meets every four years. The ELCA Churchwide Assembly is the ELCA’s chief legislative authority, meeting every two years. The ELCA and UMC have been in formal theological dialogue since 1977, which led to beginning a relationship of “Interim Eucharistic Sharing” in 2005. That relationship called for members to pray for and support each other, to study Scripture together and to learn about each other’s traditions in anticipation of achieving full communion.

Full communion means the churches will work for visible unity in Jesus Christ, recognize each other’s ministries, work together on a variety of ministry initiatives, and, under certain circumstances, provide for the interchangeability of ordained clergy.

April 28 was “a banner day” because of the UMC General Conference vote on full communion, said the Rev. William Oden, ecumenical officer, UMC Council of Bishops, at an April 29 news conference. “This has been a long time coming. A lot of careful work has been done,” he said. Oden emphasized that the proposal is a relationship between the two church bodies and not a “church union.”

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, Chicago, said he eagerly awaits the ELCA Churchwide Assembly vote in 2009 and hopes that it, too, will be a strong affirmation of full communion with the UMC. Hanson also preached at an April 29 worship service at the UMC General Conference.

“This is about revival of two church bodies that are deeply committed to re-presenting themselves in a pluralistic, dynamic changing culture for the sake of mission,” Hanson said.

The two church bodies must consider what they can do together as full communion partners that was not possible before, Hanson said. He suggested possible cooperative ministries in campus ministry, global mission, advocacy for justice and peace, to name only a few. He also agreed with Oden’s assertion that full communion cannot be successful if it is considered to be a “top down” action. Full communion should be a relationship in which mission initiatives should “bubble up” in the two churches, Hanson said.

“I always think of full communion as merely a step along the way toward a new, possible future because of the relationship,” Hanson said. “That new, possible future is the for the sake of the world. It’s for the sake of mission. Full communion calls for ecumenical, missional imagination.”

Full communion also gives “formal expression” to what is happening in both churches already, said the Rev. Greg Palmer, president, UMC Council of Bishops. “In one way we’re leading, and in another way, we’re following. We are catching up with people on the ground who are doing things in partnership, in mission and in ministry,” he said.

Christians “must find meaningful, significant and substantive ways of honoring the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in one another and together, living that before the world. We must live before the world what God intends for the world,” Palmer added.

Assuming the full communion proposal is adopted by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in 2009, a coordinating council with representatives of both churches will be appointed, said the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, executive, ELCA Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations, Chicago. That council will coordinate how the two churches will plan for mission together and consider practical matters such as interchangeability of ordained ministers, he said.

The ELCA’s five full communion partners are the Episcopal Church, the Moravian Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ.

While the ELCA has successful cooperative ministries with its full communion partners, it must improve how it receives and implements full communion agreements, McCoid said. “We need to do better with how we are able to be intentional (in) sharing ministry. Grassroots sharing is really very critical, and I’ll just echo that again and again and again. The best way we can do that is by giving people permission and encouragement.”

If adopted by both churches, this will be the UMC’s first full communion agreement outside of the Methodist tradition.

The ELCA is one of 140 churches in the Lutheran World Federation and is the third-largest Lutheran church in the world with 4.8 million members. The United Methodist Church is a worldwide church with nearly 8 million members in the United States.

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Audio of comments made at the April 29 news conference in Fort Worth:

The Rev. William Oden • media.ELCA.org/audionews/080429a.mp3
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson • media.ELCA.org/audionews/080429b.mp3
The Rev. Greg Palmer • media.ELCA.org/audionews/080429c.mp3
The Rev. Donald J. McCoid • media.ELCA.org/audionews/080429d.mp3

Information about the Lutheran-United Methodist Dialogue is on the ELCA Web site.

Information about the UMC General Conference is on the Web.

For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or • www.elca.org/news • ELCA News Blog
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A consultation has been held in London to review the progress of the report of the Anglican – Methodist International Commission “Sharing in the Apostolic Communion”, which was received by the World Methodist Council in 1996 and the Lambeth Conference in 1998. The meeting was chaired by the Revd Professor Robert Gribben, Chair of the Standing Committee for Ecumenics and Dialogues of the World Methodist Council, and Bishop Harold Miller, Bishop of Down and Dromore in the Church of Ireland, nominated by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Secretary General on behalf of the Anglican Communion. Five members were nominated by each church for the purpose of this review. The meeting took place from 30 October to 1 November 2007 at the historic Wesley’s Chapel.
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During the summer months ecumenical news dries up as church leaders, pastors, and theologians head off on their holiday plans. However, this year a very significant event occurred while we were all at the lake. Since 2001, Methodists have expressed appreciation for the Lutheran-Roman Catholic “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification” (JDDJ). Not long after the formal affirmation of the JDDJ, representatives of the Methodist World Council and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches gathered with the two signatories to discuss the possibilities of expanding the consensus to include their constituencies. This summer, on July 23, the World Methodist Conference, a gathering of 76 churches in the Methodist tradition, affirmed the Joint Declaration in a signing ceremony together with Lutheran and Roman Catholic representatives.
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When Pope Benedict met with representatives of the World Methodist Council in December of 2005, he alluded to the Speech of Pope Paul VI, noting that when we look back to the nearly 40 years of patient and persevering dialogue between Methodists and Catholics since the end of the Second Vatican Council, “there is much for which we can today give thanks”.
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A covenant between the Church of England and the Methodist Church of Great Britain was signed on November 1, 2003 at the Methodist Central Hall followed by a Service of Thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey. Dr Williams gave the following address at the signing ceremony.

At his first meeting with leaders of the Jewish community in Rome, Pope John XXIII, it’s said, greeted them with the words, “I am Joseph, your brother”. He was evoking one of the most poignant moments in the Old Testament: Joseph, whose arrogance had provoked the resentment and rejection of his brothers, is carried off into exile and slavery, then rises to great power. He finds that this power is given to him so that he can save the lives of his brothers when they come to him, not knowing him, begging him for help; and at last he reveals who he is: “I am Joseph, your brother”.
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The Anglican-Methodist Covenant in England will be signed at a national celebration on Saturday 1 November 2003, at 11:00am, in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen. Earlier this year the Covenant was strongly endorsed by the Methodist Conference of Great Britain and the General Synod of the Church of England. The service of celebration will begin at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, at 11.00am, in front of an invited assembly from both Churches as well as ecumenical and civic guests. After the historic Covenant is signed at Methodist Central Hall, the ceremony will continue at Westminster Abbey at 11:45am with a short service of thanksgiving and dedication. The Covenant will be signed on behalf of the Church of England by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of York, the Most Reverend Dr David Hope, and the Secretary General of the Archbishops’ Council, Mr William Fittall.
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by United Methodist News Service United Methodists will meet in conversation with representatives of some churches within the Wesleyan Holiness tradition Feb. 18-20 in Dallas. Organized by the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, the meeting will take place on the Perkins School of Theology campus and at Highland Park United Methodist
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