Local Ecumenism Explored at Consultation
Episcopal News Service. November 17, 1981 [81298]
Worley Rodehaver, Communications Staff, Diocese of Southern Ohio
ERLANGER, Ky. -- "There is one Body and one Spirit." That sentence in the Epistle to the Ephesians (Eph. 4:4) affirms that the church is one.
About 50 individuals -- Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Disciples, United Methodists, Presbyterians and other ecumenical and denominational leaders -- met at Marydale Retreat Center here Nov. 8-11 for a National Consultation on Ecumenism in the Local Church.
Participants affirmed their oneness in body and spirit as they worked and worshipped and prayed together to develop a strategy to assist local Episcopal congregations presently sharing their spiritual, worship and community lives together with other Christians as well as those who, for a number of reasons, have not been able to do so.
Consultation members agreed there has been a breakdown in efforts to include local congregations in the unity endeavor.
Working together morning to night, the group designed a plan which they will submit to local dioceses through the General Convention's Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations and the Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Officers' organization.
The effort resulted in an 18-page document. That document, yet to be edited in its final form, starts with the conclusion, already stated, that God wants the Church to be one.
It states that "The mission of the Church in the world is impaired by the separation of its members into denominations."
The document continues, "God calls the churches in each local place to recognize and celebrate their commonality in the catholic and apostolic faith and to engage in mission together."
The document writers said that a common mind in Christ "takes form between and among the divided churches as consensus in essentials is created among believers."
They called attention to consensus building already under way among and between Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, United Methodists, Disciples and others all the way through each divided church's life from individuals to local congregations, through local councils of churches, to diocesan/regional commissions, to state councils of churches, to national and international consultations.
Examples of those are ongoing unity talks between the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholics (ARC) and the Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogue.
The consultation members urged that unity consensus building continue at all levels and the paper lays out how they believe that can or might occur, primarily on the local level.
Once consultation papers are published, diocesan and ecumenical leaders and local congregations will find a series of questions covering three distinct but interrelated components of the mission of the Church: Proclamation of the Gospel, Worship, and Service.
The questions were developed and are suggested for reflection and action by the local church (defined by the consultation as the diocese and its congregations), against the background of the essential "Unity of the Body of Christ and in light of the Lund Principle as affirmed by the 1976 General Convention...".
That principle, stated simply, is that "the Episcopal Church at every level of its life be urged to act together and in concert with other churches of Jesus Christ in all matters except those in which deep differences of conviction or church order compel us to act separately.
Those differences stood out in stark reality when Roman Catholic representatives to the consultation -- sharing in all other aspects of life together in community -- were unable to receive communion during daily Eucharists.
Sample questions from this section of the paper include the following:
From the area of Proclamation and directed toward congregations comes the question, "Are there local issues of human need or social justice about which clergy should speak together as a group, or at the same time from their own pulpits?"
From the area of Worship and directed toward dioceses comes the question, "Is the liturgical Commission informed about guidelines for eucharistic sharing?"
And from the area of Service, directed toward dioceses, "Are institutional ministries and chaplaincies ecumenical?"
From there the paper moves on to discuss the improvement of communications all along the line -- two way communications -- so that local congregations know what the national church is doing and so the national church knows what the local congregations are doing in areas of Christian unity.
The communications segment of the paper suggests that each diocese make sure it has an ecumenical officer and that an associate be appointed to work in the vital areas of communications.
It urges that as a first step, dioceses or clusters of dioceses call together respective parishes and missions "for the purpose of listening to the people from the parishes (and missions) to discover their ecumenical agendas, identifying problems and opportunities and determining what information is needed."
Several follow-up steps are suggested in the paper, but are meant to be suggestions and not directives, since each diocese is different and will have to develop its own strategies and plans to foster local ecumenism and communication about it.
In conclusion, the section on communications suggests that a national ecumenical associate be employed to aid primarily in communications network development.
The paper's conclusion, which comes next, reminds its reader that "Theological statements and ecumenical structures do not in themselves create Christian unity."
It continues, "The Foundation for manifest unity must be rooted in the local church.... We believe that an improved communications network within this church and between churches is essential to this process."
The writers said what occurs "will only occur and shape the future of the Christian church if there is first a vision. Members of our church and every church will work on this necessary ecumenical agenda to the extent that they can recognize it as a call and summons from Christ itself, 'that they may be one, Father, as you and I are one, that the world may believe....' As Christian people recognize that divisions impede the life of Christ in his Church and that harmony, cooperation and shared life enhance his mission and ministry, they will develop an ecumenical mind-set. They will share a vision, and it is this: There is but one Christian Church to do Christ's work in the world today."
The mood of the consultation at Marydale was set during the opening evening when representatives spent the evening hearing from and talking to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. John M. Allin.
Allin, at the beginning of the evening, said that he was grateful to be there and was there to reflect and share, not instruct. Convenor for plenary sessions of the consultation was the Rt. Rev. David B. Reed, Bishop of Kentucky and chairman of the Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations.
Reed was also celebrant for the second day's eucharist. Celebrant for the first Eucharist was the Rt. Rev. Addison Hosea, Bishop of Lexington, in whose diocese the consultation took place.
Three sections of participants developed the paper. Chairing those committees were Phebe Hoff, Richmond, Va., a diocesan ecumenical officer and member of the Standing Commission; the Rev. Charles Long, Cincinnati, editor and publisher of Forward Movement publications; and the Rt. Rev. John H. Burt, Bishop of Ohio, and former chairman of the Standing Commission.
The Rev. John Backus, SCER, Everett, WA
The Rev. Joseph R. Bolger, EDEO, Auburn, ME
The Rev. John Bonner, EDEO, Chattanooga, TN
The Rev. Alex Brunett, Roman Catholic, Detroit, MI
The Rev. Canon Junius Carter, Executive Council, Pittsburgh, PA
Bishop William Clark of Delaware, NCCC Governing Board
Charles M. Crump, SCER, Memphis, TN
The Rev. Robert Ervin, EDEO, Dover, NH
The Rev. Charlton Gamble, EDEO, Cincinnati, OH
The Rev. D.E. Heil, Ft. Thomas, KY
Phebe Hoff, chairman, SCER, EDEO, Richmond, VA
Jean Jackson, SCER, Lake Oswego. OR
Carol Ochoa, SCER, Cali, Colombia
Bishop David B. Reed of Kentucky, chairman of SCER
The Rev. Thomas Tiller, EDEO, Jackson, MS
The Rev. Louis Weil, Nashotah, WI
Isabel Calkins, EDEO, Rochester, NY
Patti Drapes, EDEO, Montana
Alice Emery, Episcopal Church Center, New York, NY
The Rev. Don Gross, Norfolk, VA
Monsignor Donald Hellmann, Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington
The Rev. John Kitagawa, Hartford, CT
The Rev. William Lawson, president of EDEO, Lynn, MA
The Rev. Charles Long, chairman, Cincinnati, OH
The Rev. James Nash, Methodist, Boston, MA
The Rev. Clark Powers, New York, NY
Worley Rodehaver, Cincinnati, OH
The Rev. Ralph Stanwise, EDEO, Nashotah, WI
The Rev. David Tatchell, WCC, Geneva, Switzerland
Bishop Charles Vache of Southern Virginia, SCER
The Rev. Robert Welsh, Disciples of Christ, Indianapolis, IN
Bette Winchester, EDEO, Tennessee
The Rev. John Paul Boyer, SCER, Cincinnati, OH
Bishop John H. Burt of Ohio, chairman
The Rev. James Carroll, SCER, San Diego, CA
The Rev. Warren Crews, EDEO, Little Rock, AR
William E. Dornemann, SCER, Michigan
The Rev. John J. Gerhart, Lexington, KY
Betty Gray, Episcopal Church Center, New York, NY
The Rev. Harold Hultgren, EDEO, Alhambra, CA
The Rev. Al Laubenthal, Roman Catholic, Clevelamd, OH
The Rev. Henry Male, EDEO, Clarks Summit, PA
James Morse, EDEO, Michigan
The Rev. William A. Norgren, Episcopal Church Center, New York, NY
Bishop Donald Parsons of Quincy, Executive Council, SCER
The Rev. William Rusch, Lutheran Church in America, New York, NY
Bishop William Weinhauer of Western North Carolina, SCER
The Rev. Lew Wilkins, Presbyterian Church in the U.S., Atlanta, GA
The Rev. .. Robert Wright, SCER, New York, NY