Title: Disciples delegation to visit the Vatican
Date: August 7, 1997
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
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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