What Catholics need to know
by Paula Marti
Sometimes Catholics get too serious, Lutherans travel light, Episcopals love ambiguity, and the Moravians know how to have fun! These were some of the light -hearted lessons pastoral leaders shared during their annual spring study days which centered on the more challenging side to ecumenism, the fourth seasonal theme of RENEW 2000. The three day conference was led by Margaret O’Gara, theology professor at the Faculty of theology in the University of Saint Michael’s College, Toronto. She is also a member of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic International Commission of Unity, and the author of The Ecumenical Gift Exchange. Her book became the basis of her presentation using the idea of exchanging gifts at Christmas time as a model for ecumenical dialogue. This disarming exchange of dialogue she believes can help uncover the treasures that each church brings to the table of Christian unity.
On the second day of the conference, a distinguished panel of representatives from other church communities joined O’Gara in naming some of the treasures and some of the barriers of each tradition. Executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches, Peg Chemberlin, identified the "ministry of unity" as a gift the Catholic church offers all other Christian denominations. She said that Catholic historic continuity and the "sign of unity" that the papacy represents is appreciated. She cautions that our call to Christian unity could be neglected due to too much ecumenical cooperation that does not allow for clarifying and experiencing the shared pain of separateness.
Panel members included: Reverend David Keller, an Episcopal priest and the director of the Episcopal House of Prayer, Collegeville, MN; Bishop Stanley Olson, bishop of the Southwest Minnesota Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; and Reverend Peg Chemberlin, a minister in the Moravian Church and the executive director, Minnesota Council of Churches.
According to Jane Bernard Hanson, diocesan director of Worship and coordinator of RENEW 2000, the conference was developed to achieve 3 basic goals in the area of ecumenism. 1) Offer parish leaders practical resources that will help develop and sustain dialog and cooperation with neighboring churches of different Christian traditions. 2) Examine the historical events that led to the sad divisions in Christianity and the basic teaching on ecumenism. 3) Develop an appreciation and understanding of ecumenism as Catholics.
Tom Christoffer, diocesan director of Ecumenism, observed that RENEW 2000 has been a great opportunity to begin ecumenical dialogue in our own communities through small faith sharing groups. "I will be using Margaret O’Gara’s model of gift exchange when I speak to parish RENEW groups. One of the examples of gift exchange we will be offering at St. Paul’s, Comfrey is an evening for all the youth of the community to experience the Stations of the Cross. This is not just a ‘Catholic thing.’ We will use it as an opportunity to invite all youth to talk about the story of the stations from their own traditions."
Christoffer is enthusiastic about the way many RENEW groups in parishes are responding to the invitation to explore ecumenical opportunities. He was invited as a speaker for RENEW small groups at St. Michael, Gaylord; St. Joseph, Montevideo; and St. Paul, Comfrey. "This pastoral leader conference has been a great introduction to the many ways we can begin to build Christian unity in our communities."
Nearly 100 participated in an evening session on ecumenism for parish staff at St. Aloysius, Olivia as a part of the three day conference. Margaret O’Gara video tapes of the following sessions are available from the diocesan Media Resource Center (507) 233-5330: Entering Ecumenical Dialogue; Maintaining and Rebuilding the Bonds of Communion in the Church; Renewing the Papacy and Reconceptualizing Infallibility; Facing the Hard Questions of Ecumenical Dialogue; and Panel Discussion.
Paula Marti is the Director of Communications and Editor of the Prairie Catholic for the Diocese of New Ulm.