Episcopal, Roman Catholic Service Held in Central Florida
Diocesan Press Service. June 23, 1975 [75233]
Lydia Dorsett
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Some kind of history was made recently in Central Florida when an Episcopal bishop and a Roman Catholic bishop led the people of two parishes in a celebration of ecumenical fellowship and cooperation.
There has been much talk of ecumenism in high places. St. James' Roman Catholic Church and the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. Luke, both in Orlando, Florida, have brought it all down to the parish level.
There have been many years of good will and spontaneous cooperation between the two parishes whose church buildings stand across the street from one another. There have been joint suppers and meetings. When the Cathedral was being renovated in 1972, the worship services for the Episcopal diocesan convention were held in St. James' Church. During Lent in 1974 the two parishes met together for a series of joint discussions of Anglican/Roman Catholic relations.
Canon-Barry Howe of the Cathedral staff teaches religion at St. James' parochial school where 14 of St. Luke's young people are enrolled. The school's PTA has a Cathedral communicant for its president, and an 8th grade class at St. James' is taught vestment design and construction by Mrs. Margie Drane of St. Luke's.
The bishops were brought into the picture May 13 when 600 communicants from both parishes met to explore the many facets of ecumenical relationships. The evening began with agape at a covered dish supper in the Cathedral's Great Hall, and continued with a program in St. James' Church across the street.
Bishop Thomas J. Grady of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando and the Rt. Rev. William H. Folwell, Episcopal Bishop of Central Florida, led the festivities. Bishop Grady told how Vatican Council II has encouraged high level bilateral theological discussions between the Roman Catholic Church and eight other Christian Churches, how close relationships have developed during Anglican/Roman Catholic consultations (ARC) -- bishops' retreats, clergy consultations, regional meetings of ecumenical officials, and spiritual covenants between parishes.
Bishop Folwell described the ARC unity between churches in the two Florida dioceses -- the joint study programs, worship and community projects, cursillos, church schools, the Winter Haven Episcopal Catholic retirement home, and the pervading fellowship.
For one-half hour following their presentations, the two bishops answered questions from communicants, and then the Very Rev. O'Kelley Whitaker, dean of the Cathedral, spoke to the meeting about his recent trip to the Vatican. Dean Whitaker joined other cathedral deans from the United States and Canada to meet with several cardinals and their staffs for open conversations on such areas as intercommunion, ordination of women, marriage, spirituality, authority and papacy, nature and desirability of change, liturgical renewal, spirituality, and the nature of mission. The Anglican deans and their wives attended an audience with Pope Paul VI who later made the unprecedented gesture of inviting the visitors to celebrate their final Eucharist in Rome in a Vatican church. At the end of a most successful meeting of the two parishes Dean Whitaker presented to Fr. David Page, pastor of St. James' Church, a Holy Year medallion blessed by Pope Paul.