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Disciples/Roman Catholic Dialogue Report Highlights Faith and Evangelization INDIANAPOLIS, June 20, 2002 -- The International Commission for Dialogue between the Disciples of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church, meeting at the Monastery of Bose (outside Magnano, Italy) on May 17-23, 2002, produced an official report summarizing its work over the past decade on the theme, "Receiving and Handing on the Faith: the Mission and Responsibility of the Church." This agreed statement will now be presented to authorizing bodies of the Commission: the Pontificial Council for Promoting Christian Unity for the Roman Catholic Church and the Disciples Ecumenical Consultative Council for the Disciples. In releasing the document, the co-chairs of Commission, the Most Rev. Daniel Buechlein, Archbishop of Indianapolis, and the Rev. Dr. Paul A. Crow, Jr., retired president of the Council on Christian Unity of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), noted several important agreements in the text that lead us to continue into a fourth phase of dialogue. The Agreed Statement begins with the common affirmation that "the Church is essentially a missionary community, a community of those sent into the world to proclaim the offer of God's gifts to all persons." It addresses the topics of the Word of God, proclaimed and received; holding to the faith, in the formation of the Canon, the Councils, and discerning the Gospel in every age; receiving the faith: conscience and teaching authority; and handing on the faith as the mission of the whole church. The conclusion of the agreed text, while focusing upon technical understandings of teaching authority in the church and the role of scripture, confessions and individual conscience, identified that both communions understand the tasks of teaching and handing on the faith as essential to the evangelization of the world. Dr. Crow stated that, "In this dialogue, Disciples have been able to articulate in a new way our catholicity as we have been challenged to expand our historical memory as a church." Dr. Margaret O'Gara, a member of the Roman Catholic team to the dialogue, identified "one of the most important insights from this phrase of our dialogue (1994-2003) has been in coming to understand the relation between the tradition and structures of the church to the individual in the task of evangelization and mission." The Commission participated in the daily prayers and worship of the Bose Community. Bible studies on the Gospel of John were offered by the Rev. Dr. Eugene Boring, professor at Brite Seminary in Ft. Worth (TX) and Msgr. John Meier, professor at the University of Notre Dame (IN). The proposed theme for the next phase of dialogue was on the theme, "The presence of Christ in the Church, with special reference to the Eucharist." Greetings were sent to the dialogue commission from the Bishop of Biella, the Most Rev. Gabrieli Mana, for the work of the Commission and offering prayers for a fruitful session. On the last day of the meeting, the Commission traveled to Rome to present the Agreed Statement to the Most Rev. Marc Ouellet, Secretary for the Pontificial Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The Commission was hosted in Rome by the Vatican, and shared in a joint celebration of the 25 years of this dialogue and the service of Dr. Crow as co-chair for the Disciples team. Msgr. John Mutiso-Mbinda, on the staff of the PCPCU, and the Rev. Dr. Robert K. Welsh, president of the CCU, serve as co-secretaries to the Commission. -- end -- Media contact: Melinda Mains Council on Christian Unity 02-60 |