National Workshop on Christian Unity Set for Tulsa
Episcopal News Service. March 20, 1978 [78073]
Tulsa, Okla. -- The fifteenth annual National Workshop on Christian Unity will meet in Tulsa, Okla., April 10-13, to consider the theme "Visible Unity: Celebration and Struggle." The event will celebrate the ecumenical advances of the past 15 years, especially in the U.S.A., and at the same time address the unfinished business of seeking unity in diversity.
Father Thaddeus Horgan of the Graymoor Ecumenical Institute, Garrison, N.Y., is chairperson for the 1978 workshop. He describes it as an annual ecumenical event. "This is so," he said, "because the workshop is not a business centered meeting. It has no parent organization, but occurs each year only because the participants are seriously committed to the cause of Christian and human unity."
The workshop annually draws together a cross section of church leaders, laity, pastors, theologians and ecumenical leaders, both local and national, to exchange ideas and programs as well as to pray and plan for the progress of the ecumenical movement in the U.S.A.
This year's workshop includes both general seminars and denominational programs for American Baptists, Disciples of Christ, United Methodists, Episcopalians, United Presbyterians, Southern Baptists, Roman Catholics and members of the United Church of Christ. Planning for each year's workshop is done by a national committee of representatives from 13 churches. The Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry, an interfaith agency, is the host for 1978.
The Rev. Bruce Theunissen, director of TMM, said that this workshop is intended to celebrate what has happened for Christian unity over the past 15 years, but with the realization that there is still a struggle to bring people together as the one people of God.
Fr. Horgan also noted that the objective of the ecumenical movement is for unity in diversity. "God created diversity to enrich unity. There are cultural, social and traditional differences among peoples. Difference here does not imply separation, but rather creatively diverse ways to express the same faith."
The program reflects the workshop theme: Celebration and Struggle. "Celebration" will take the form of worship at the First Baptist Church. Dr. Claude Broach, Director of the Ecumenical Institute at Wake Forest University and at Belmont Abbey, N.C., will preach. The closing service will be held at Holy Family Roman Catholic Cathedral with the Rev. William J. Wiseman, a United Presbyterian, as preacher. The Rev. Richard Rousseau, SJ, dean of the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., and originator of the National Workshop, will speak at a banquet celebrating the workshop's 15th anniversary. Fr. Rousseau was the first Roman Catholic to serve on the staff of the National Council of Churches in the U.S.A.
"Struggle" will be addressed in the keynote speech by Mrs. Cynthia Wedel of Alexandria, Va., an Episcopalian and now a President of the World Council of Churches and a past President of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., the first woman to hold that post. An interdenominational panel of reactors will then assess how far ecumenism has come, and has yet to go.
A featured event at the workshop will be "A Cultural Learning Experience: Native Americans," a presentation of the religious values by the Rev. Jim West, staff person for Staff Project of the Joint Strategy and Action Committee, and also on the staff of the National Council of Churches and the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization.
A series of seminars will be presented three times in order to point up current ecumenical concerns. Dr. Jorge Lara-Braud, a Presbyterian lay theologian who heads the National Council of Churches' Commission on Faith and Order, will lead a session on potentially divisive issues like sexism, institutionalism and racism as well as potential new supports to Christian Unity.
The Rev. Margrethe Brown and her husband, the Rev. William E. Brown of the Genesee Valley Presbytery, N.Y., will explore the "potential for a new mutuality among men and women in the Church." "Evangelizing the Unchurched" is the subject of another session to be led by Baptist Dr. L.L. Morriss and Roman Catholic Fr. Harry Winter, both of Texas. " Christians and Jews in Dialogue," a discussion of the background and present status of interfaith relations, will be chaired by Rabbi Walter Jacob of Rodef Shalom Temple, Pittsburgh, Pa.
The Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry will be featured in a presentation called "Models of Local Ecumenism." Dr. Arleon Kelley, Associate Director of the National Council of Churches' Commission on Regional and Local Ecumenism, will contrast TMM with similar agencies elsewhere in the U.S.A.
Along with these seminars, denominational programs developed by the ecumenical officers of particular churches will also be offered. Denominational programs are open to all participants whatever their affiliation.
The Christian Church (Disciples), the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. together will sponsor a program on "The Ecumenical Covenant : Its Meaning and Challenge to the Churches Today." Dr. Lewis Mudge, Dean of McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Ill., and chairperson of the Theological Commission of the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) will be the main speaker. Dr. John Brandon, Associate General Secretary of COCU from Princeton, N.J., will also speak on the future of that church consultation.
The Episcopal Church program will center on "The Spiritual Life and an Ecumenical Ministry" which will be addressed by Bishop William Carl Frey of Colorado. An extensive program for the Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical Officers (EDEQ) , is planned.
The Roman Catholic program was planned by the National Association of Diocesan Ecumenical Officers (NADEO), and features the Rev. Herbert J. Ryan, SJ, of LoyolaMarymount University in Los Angeles who will speak to the workshop theme from a Roman Catholic perspective. Other issues on this program are discussion on "The Bilateral Conversations: What do we do with them?" led by the Rev. John Hotchkin of the U.S. Bishops Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, Washington, D.C.; "Education for Church Unity" by the Rev. Daniel Danielson, Director of Clergy Education, Diocese of Oakland, Calif.; and "Can We Dialogue on Moral Issues Ecumenically?" with Prof. Donald McCarthy of Mt. St. Mary Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Southern Baptists are presenting a panel discussion led by Dr. Glenn Igleheart, Director of the Interfaith Witness of the Southern Baptist Convention's Home Mission Board, on the Unification Church, its history, beliefs, approaches to youth and why it is important to be known.
The United Methodists and American Baptists will consider Dr. Lesslie Newbigin's paper, "What is a Local Church Truly United?" as well as resources for working together in Jewish-Christian relations. The Revs. Jeanne Audrey Powers and Robert L. Turnipseed of the Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church, New York City, will coordinate these presentations.
An estimated 300 persons -- clergy, laity, church leaders, theologians as well as ecumenical officers -- are expected to attend the Tulsa workshop.
For further information on the workshop, contact the Rev. Bruce Theunissen, 125 West 3rd Street, Tulsa, Okla. 74103, telephone 918/582-3147.