Methodist-Roman Catholic International Commission meets in Rome

The 2023 plenary meeting of the twelfth phase of the Methodist‒Roman Catholic International Commission (MERCIC), took place from 30 October to 03 November. 

With the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea occurring in 2025, the Commission resolved to publish an updated version of Together to Holiness, a synthesis document of the Commission’s work published in 2010, in order to include material from the three MERCIC reports published since then. The Commission also discussed the principles of dialogue and the theme of communion and explored the nature and meaning of unity and diversity within the Church. A communique was published at the end of the meeting. The Commission’s next plenary meeting is scheduled for 21-29 September 2024 in Seoul, South Korea.

The opening prayer service was an Ecumenical Liturgy of Repentance and Reconciliation, which was published by the Commission in God in Christ Reconciling: On the Way to Full Communion in Faith, Sacraments, and Mission in May 2022. Each day began and ended with a common prayer.

The Commission is comprised of sixteen members, eight appointed by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and eight by the World Methodist Council. Because it was impossible to hold the meeting in the originally planned venue in Jerusalem, owing to the current war in the Holy Land, the plenary took place in hybrid form, with some members gathering in Rome and others participating via video link. All of the members of the commission participated.

In addition to their daily meetings, on Monday 30 October the members of the Commission were welcomed at the headquarters of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, where they were received by Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect. 

Methodist Members 

Rev. Prof. Edgardo A. Colón–Emeric (Co-Chair), USA
Rev. Matthew A. Laferty (Co-Secretary), Methodist Ecumenical Office, Rome  
Dr. Jung Choi, Korea/USA Rev. Prof. Blanches de Paula, Brazil
Prof. Geordan Hammond, United Kingdom
Rev. Prof. Glen O’Brien, Australia
Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri, Malaysia
Prof. Lilian Cheelo Siwila, Zambia/South Africa

Catholic Members

Bishop Shane Mackinlay (Co-Chair), Australia
Rev. Martin Browne OSB (Co-Secretary), Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Rome
Prof. Catherine E. Clifford, Canada
Rev. Prof. Gerard Kelly, Australia
Sr. Prof. MarySylvia Nwachukwu DDL, Nigeria
Rev. Prof. Daniel Franklin Pilario CM, Philippines
Rev. Prof. Jorge Scampini OP, Argentina
Dr. Clare Watkins, United Kingdom