Catholic Church represented at Faith and Order meeting in Bossey, Switzerland

Reverend William Henn (Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome), Professors Myriam Wijlens (University of Erfurt, Germany), Krzysztof Mielcarek (Catholic University of Lublin, Poland), and David Kirchhoffer (Australian Catholic University, Brisbane), together with Reverend Andrzej Choromanski (Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity) represented the Catholic Church at the meetings of the study groups of the Faith and Order Commission that took place from 14-16 November 2022 in the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland.

Approaching the end of their mandate, the four study groups (on pilgrimage of justice and peace, on ecclesiology, on moral discernment, and on ecumenical celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the first ecumenical council, Nicaea scheduled for 2025), met separately reviewing what has been achieved theologically, ecumenically, and methodologically in their respective areas of interest since the beginning of their mandate in 2015. During three days of discussions the groups met also in plenary sessions to harvest from their respective work and to reflect together on prospective themes for reflection of the new Commission to be set up in Spring 2023. Time was also allocated to unpack theologically some of the fruits of the WCC 11th Assembly that took part in Karlsruhe, Germany, last September. The current Commission will conclude its work meeting online in April 2023.

Established in 1948, the Faith and Order Commission is a study commission of the World Council of Churches which promotes Christian unity by dealing with divisive questions that relate to “faith” (what churches believe), and “order” (how the ministerial structure of the church is organised). Catholic theologians joined the Commission in 1968 and comprises 10% of its membership. The last study group meetings took place at Bossey in January 2020. The last plenary of the Faith and Order Commission took place online in 2021.