Ecumenism and the Papal Visit : Christians Urged to ‘Seize Moment’ in Bid for Unity

With the announcement of Protestant and Orthodox participants in an ecumenical meeting with Pope John Paul II in Columbia, S.C., this September, the National Council of Churches has urged that Christians “seize the moment” for renewed efforts toward Christian unity.

A three-page statement welcoming the Pope on his second pastoral visit to the United States on Sept. 10-19 acknowledged that diversity and tensions exist within the American religious community.

But the 33 Christian leaders and 154 Christian organizations endorsing the statement said: “This diversity . . . challenges all Christians to promote reconciliation within and between the churches. . . . However deep our divisions, the church as the mystery of Christ is called to be a sign and instrument of the unity of the whole human community.”

The statement, “Witnessing Together to a Divided and Hurting World,” was issued by Philip R. Cousin, president, and Arie R. Brouwer, general secretary, of the National Council of Churches. Although the Roman Catholic Church is not a member, Catholics participate in many of the council’s ministries.

Pope to Meet 27 Leaders

In a separate announcement this week, the U.S. Catholic Conference said John Paul will meet with 27 U.S. Christian leaders during a closed session in the home of James B. Holderman, president of the University of South Carolina, on the second day of the pontiff’s nine-city tour.

Most of the participants will more typically represent the Orthodox and “mainline” Protestant denominations rather than fundamentalist or conservative evangelical churches. Carl Eifert, a spokesman for the U.S. Catholic Conference, said the conference would not release the names of church leaders who had declined to meet with the Pope.

No television evangelist is on the acceptance list. Southern Baptist evangelist Billy Graham said he “regretfully declined” because of a prior commitment in China. The Rev. Adrian P. Rogers, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said he would not meet with the Pope.

“We love our Catholic friends,” Rogers said in a press statement. (But) “I do not intend to meet with him for reasons which are best not expressed in the public media.” Rogers did not elaborate.

However, the Rev. Harold C. Bennett, president and treasurer of the convention’s Executive Committee, will represent the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

Chief officers of Orthodox, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Christian (Disciples), United Church of Christ and several Baptist denominations will attend, as will leaders of ecumenical organizations and five Roman Catholic cardinals and two bishops. Two women are on the acceptance list, including the leader of the Southern Baptist Woman’s Missionary Union.

Bishop William H. Keeler, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said the one-hour meeting at the campus residence of Holderman, who is a Presbyterian, would include an exchange of papers between the Christian leaders and the Pope, as well as discussion about the possibilities for Christian unity.

The National Council of Churches’ statement shares John Paul’s conviction that Christian divisions are “an intolerable scandal which hinders the proclamation of the Good News in Jesus Christ” and supports the Pope’s “attempts to make ecumenism a pastoral priority in worldwide Roman Catholicism and his desire to be a listener and participant in this ministry of reconciliation.”

“In this country, we pledge and work to make this irrevocable commitment a lived reality in the churches, through our witness and collaboration in missions, spirituality and dialogue,” the statement signers said.

After the private ecumenical meeting, the religious leaders will join the Pope in public worship at the University of South Carolina’s Williams-Brice Stadium.

Those accepting an invitation to the ecumenical meeting are:

Archbishop Iakovos, primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America; the Most Rev. Edmond Lee Browning, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church; the Rev. James R. Crumley Jr., bishop of the Lutheran Church in America; Bishop Earl G. Hunt, president-elect of the Council of Bishops, United Methodist Church; the Rev. Arie R. Brouwer, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the U.S.A.;

The Most Rev. John F. Swantek, prime bishop, Polish National Catholic Church of America; Sylvia Talbot, president of Church Women United; the Rev. James E. Andrews, stated clerk, United Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); the Most Rev. Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, primate, Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America; the Rev. John O. Humbert, general minister and president, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Paul Crowe, ecumenical officer of the Disciples of Christ;

Metropolitan Theodosius, primate and archbishop of Washington and metropolitan of all America and Canada, Orthodox Church in America; Metropolitan Philip Saliba, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of New York and all North America; the Rev. David W. Preus, presiding bishop of the American Lutheran Church; Carolyn Weatherford, executive director of the Woman’s Missionary Union; the Rev. Avery D. Post, president of the United Church of Christ;

The Rev. Robert C. Campbell, general secretary of the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A.; Bishop J. Clinton Hoggard, 4th Episcopal Area, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; the Rev. Gerald F. Moede, general secretary for the Consultation on Church Union; the Rev. Ralph A. Bohlmann, president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; George Hunston Williams, Hollis professor of divinity emeritus, Harvard Divinity School;

Bishop Philip R. Cousin, secretary of the Council of Bishops, African Methodist Episcopal Church; the Rev. Harold C. Bennett, president and treasurer for the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention; the Rev. C. J. Malloy, general secretary of the Progressive National Baptist Convention Inc.; Bishop Herbert W. Chilstrom of the newly formed Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; T. J. Jemison, President of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A. Inc., and the Rev. Thomas Zimmerman of the International Lausanne Federation and former president of the Assemblies of God.