Amidst the wrap-up of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches Thursday, Dr. Dianna Wright took the time to reflect on the gathering in Karlsruhe, Germany, of 352 member churches.
Plans are under way to begin the ninth round of Roman Catholic-Reformed dialogue in the United States. The group of 14, which includes two elected people from each of the four Reformed denominations — the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Christian Reformed Church in North America, the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ, along with six Roman Catholic representatives, will review the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), approved by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church.
Preaching on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount delivered to the disciples, the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II told ecumenical leaders Saturday during closing worship that with no guarantee of tomorrow, “we have only this period in history to get it right, for we will not live forever.”
Ecumenical leaders who are gathered in Louisville through Saturday are exploring how God continues to call the church to be a faithful witness, even during the current troubled times.
The Rev. Dr. Horace T. Allen, Jr., an ecumenical Christian scholar of worship and liturgy, professor and longtime member of The Consultation on Common Texts — described as “an ecumenical consultation of liturgical scholars and denominational representatives from the United States and Canada who produce liturgical texts and curate a three-year lectionary in common use by Christian churches worldwide” — died on Feb. 5.